ON THIS DAY
15 January 1973: Nixon orders ceasefire in Vietnam. President Nixon has ordered a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam following peace talks in Paris. The decision comes after Dr Henry Kissinger, the president’s assistant for National Security Affairs, returned to Washington yesterday from France with a draft peace proposal. Representatives from North and South Vietnam and the United States have been at the negotiating table and reports from Paris say progress has been made with compromises on all sides. But many political issues remain to be resolved. Although attacks against the North have been halted, air assaults are continuing against communist forces in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Communist negotiators in Paris are now calling for the ceasefire to be extended to these areas. President Nixon’s special envoy to Saigon, General Alexander Haig, is in the South Vietnamese capital briefing the president on the 25 article peace agreement worked out in Paris. Initial discussions with President Nguyen Van Thieu lasted nearly three hours. Afterwards, the president ordered a five-man delegation to fly to France to consider the proposals in more detail. Senator Barry Goldwater, who previously supported the American role in Vietnam, said: “I can’t say peace is at hand, but I feel that we’re making progress.” The Daily Telegraph correspondent in Saigon says President Thieu may feel it is unwise “to jeopardise further American support by holding out against an agreement which Washington considers just”. (Source: BBC)