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Richard Nixon Ends the Vietnam War The Cold War was a dark time period. Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, had two wars on his hands. The first war was the fight to defeat the communists, and the second war was in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a difficult war to win because it was against the communists, but Nixon found a way to end it. With the help of HUAC he was able to hunt down the communist. A major person he brought down was Alger Hiss. Richard Nixon ended the Vietnam War because of his tough anti-communist background with HUAC and Alger Hiss.
Richard Nixon was a tough anti-communist. Anti-communists are those who try to defeat the influence of communist political views (Anticommunism). The government created programs to help anti-communists. A major committee that the government created to investigate communist activity in the United States during the Cold War was called HUAC, the House of Un-American Activities Committee; furthermore it made the law Internal Security Act of 1950 which made communist organizations to register their members with the government (House Un-American).
To help even more in confining the groups the HUAC made sure no communist was left uncounted. Individuals were identified by HUAC as a former or current member of the Communist Party (Anticommunism). With HUAC, the government kept a good watch on the communists. With all the help from HUAC it was near impossible for any communists to gather without someone knowing. Through his tough background Nixon became a leading force in anti-communistic groups. Predominately he was noticed for being very persuasive and political when it came to communism.
He was a famous, notable anti-communist of his time (Fried 19). Nixon found himself in the middle of many cases dealing with taking down communists. He always tried to succeed in making sure communism did not spread far and wide in Asia. Richard Nixon’s famous case consisted of taking down Alger Hiss. With the help of HUAC, Nixon accused Alger Hiss of espionage (House Un-American). Alger Hiss denied the allegations that he was connected to a communist espionage ring, but eventually he was convicted of perjury which helped further Richard Nixon’s political career (Hiss Trails). Richard Nixon’s ame became popular with the help of the Alger Hiss trial. He had his name out for the world to know about him. Nixon also took down Helen Gahagan Douglas with the same anti-communist theme (Deacon). He made sure that he took down the communists. Richard Nixon gained himself a reputation of toughness on communists which gave him an advantage over domestic conservatives (Dallek 147). Because of his credentials as an anti-communist Nixon became Eisenhower’s running mate for the election of 1952 (Fried 22). Richard Nixon was a very strong anti-communist and he made sure everyone knew that.
Richard Nixon soon came into office as president, and had the Vietnam War on his hands. Nixon was mourned by Vietnamese refugees because they felt he tried his hardest to save their homeland (Richard Nixon: 1913-1994). In that same article, Dr. Co. D. L. Pham stated, “Nixon was the greatest President of the U. S. and one of the greatest leaders of the world,” and Nguyen said, “He killed Communists, that’s good, I love Nixon, I respect Nixon. ” Vietnamese refuges were glad that Nixon came to help them out with the communistic North Vietnam.
After fighting the war in Vietnam, the time to end the war had come. In order to end the War, Nixon first made speeches to the American public about ending the war. In the article of “Richard Nixon: Vietnam War Speech”, it addresses the Silent Majority Speech given on November 3, 1969. Nixon talked about the 7 years in Vietnam and how the withdrawal of the American forces would be a disaster and instead he wanted to pursue for peace. He stated, “We have offered the complete withdrawal of all outside forces with in one year… offered free elections…” Nixon also says. But I do say this: I have initiated a plan which will end this war in a way that will bring us closer to that great goal…of a just and lasting Peace…I Pledge to you tonight that I shall meet this responsibility with…strength and wisdom…” (Richard Nixon: Vietnam). His speech showed his plans to end the Vietnam War. The plans consisted of keeping the peace and using his knowledge in anti-communism to do so. Nixon took what he knew in order to create his plans for peace. He knew it would be hard to get both sides to agree, but he was ready for the challenge.
The article “Ending the War and Restoring Peace” shows Nixon ending the war with the terms of peace. Also, it shows the hope from the United States and the Republic of Vietnam to have a stable peace in Vietnam. In the speech Nixon gave, he states, “We must recognize that ending the war is only the first step toward building the peace” (Ending the War). Nixon didn’t want to give the communists the satisfaction of the withdrawal of his troops. He decided to end the war himself, but in a peaceful, orderly fashion.
Nixon gave the country hope that it would come out on top (Dallek 27). The American public believed that their president would end the war. The Treaty of Paris, the agreement to end the war, was signed on January 27, 1973 in Paris (Great Neck Publishing). With the treaty signed, the Vietnam War had ended. Richard Nixon made it possible for the treaty to be singed because he never backed down from the communist. Richard Nixon showed his anti-communism in the Alger Hiss trial. He was known to be tough on communism. The Vietnam War gave him a chance to show how tough he could be.