Nixon sets new deadline for next troop withdrawal
President Richard Nixon sets February 1 1972 as the deadline for the withdrawal of an additional 45000 U.S.troops.U.S.
troop withdrawals had begun in the fall of 1969.After the February withdrawals were complete the total U.S.force strength in South Vietnam was 139000.
Nixon said that most offensive activities were now being undertaken entirely by the South Vietnamese and that U.S.ground forces were now in defensive positions.He further stated that 80 percent of the forces that were in Vietnam when he took office had come home and that American casualties had dropped to less than 10 a week.
