Withdrawal and fall of South Vietnam

President Nixon, elected in 1968, pursued "Vietnamization": gradual withdrawal of American troops while training South Vietnamese forces to fight on their own. American troop levels dropped sharply through 1969-1972. The Paris Peace Accords (January 1973) ended direct American military involvement and provided for the release of American POWs.

North Vietnamese forces resumed major offensives in 1975. The South Vietnamese army collapsed rapidly. On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon. The Vietnam War ended in communist victory. Vietnam was reunified in 1976. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.