America capitulated when Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho (Nobel Peace Laureates) negotiated secretly to end the war. It was Nixon, a Republican, who capitulated to the enemy.
Actually it was congress.. Nixon did linebacker. Nixon previously presented congress with a decision; either ramp up the attacks or get out. Continuing as it has been would only mean more deaths for our armed forces. Ramping up was unpopular.. so the political decision was to get out.
Quote ‘president feared that the heavily Democratic legislative branch would preempt his pledge of “peace with honor” by legislating an end to the conflict’. — can’t claim it was ‘a Republican, who capitulated.
As for winning the war.. I don’t think so.. but we did win them over ideologically.. eventually.
NOTE: An interesting sidenote on Linebacker II was that it almost caused the North Vietnamese to surrender (according to a North Vietnamese). Most of the North Vietnamese infrastructure was destroyed. Of course the politicians rescued defeat from the jaws of victory. So why didn’t the military brass use the linebacker attack near the beginning of the war?.. dunno, but that would be a good question. It would have won Vietnamese war quickly.
NOTE: If you read through the Wiki reference from a military tacticians perspective, you will note many glaring problems that make you wonder what the military establishment was thinking tactically. Same path into North Vietnam each time? Not going after SAM bunkers until the last day? The planners needed to read “The Art of War”. Being predictable and allowing your opponent the ability to strike back are not the ways you win a war. Vietnam was a war planned by military brass in Washington down to the nit. The military had to execute it the ‘brass’s way even if it did not make sense.
