President Nixons Secret Bombing of Cambodia Essay -- American America

In the sixties and 1970s, the most controversial war the United States had ever been involved in during its rich two-hundred year history would engulf the country, ultimately leading to the lose it of a president, and the division of a nation. The Vietnam War was a military dispute fought in Vietnam and neighboring countries from 1959-1975 involving the North Vietnamese and NLF (National Liberation Front) versus the United States and the southeast Vietnamese (The Vietnam...). In 1969, newly elected President Richard M. Nixon, aiming to achieve relaxation with honor in Vietnam, began to put his Vietnamization policy into place -- removing the number of American military personnel in the country and transferring combat roles to the South Vietnamese (Speeches...). But at the same time, Nixon resumed the secret shelling of North Vietnam and launched B-52 bombing raids over Cambodia, intending to wipe out NLF and North Vietnamese base camps along the border. The intensive secret bom bing, codenamed Operation Menu, lasted for four years and was intentionally concealed from the American public meanwhile, Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia by United States troops, inclination that it was necessary to protect the security of American units. This invasion into an allegedly torpid country was cause for much protest in the States, especially on college campuses such as Kent State University, where students rioted and held walk-outs. Ultimately, the secret bombing of neutral Cambodia was on purpose conducted without the consent of Congress, violating the conditions outlined in the United States Constitution, and would have been grounds for impeachment had Nixon not resigned under the cloud of the Watergate scandal in August of 1974 (Richard M.... ...ple Mystified as Direct U.S. Role Ends At a Time of Military Adversity. new-sprung(prenominal) York Times 15 August 1973.Public Broadcasting System (PBS). The American Experience Vietnam. <http//www.pbs.org/wgb h/amex/vietnam/109ts.html Accessed 5 March 2001.Richard M. Nixon Foreign Affairs. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. <http//www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/3/0,5716,57373+6+55968,00.html Accessed 3 March 2001.Speeches by Richard M. Nixon Vietnamization. Texas A&M University. <http//www.tamu.edu/scom/pres/speeches/rmnvietnam.html Accessed 4 March 2001.The Vietnam War. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. <http//www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,77300+1+75317,00.html Accessed 3 March 2001.Vassar College. President Nixons Speech on Cambodia April 30, 1970. <http//students.vassar.edu/vietnam/doc15.html Accessed 28 February 2001.