Office of the Historian

208. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1

Washington, May 31, 1971.

SUBJECT

  • Statements on Ground U.S. Combat Role in Vietnam

Secretary Laird first began speaking about the termination of U.S. ground combat responsibility in Vietnam in January 1970 when he defined the three phases of Vietnamization:2

  • —The first phase is to turn over the combat responsibility;
  • —The second phase is to turn over the support and fire power responsibilities;
  • —The third phase is to phase down the military MAAG mission.

Since January 1970 Secretary Laird has made some 15 on-the-record statements referring to the termination of the ground combat role. On October 8, 1970 the Secretary stated:

  • —“I anticipate the South Vietnamese by next summer will be capable of assuming responsibility for all ground combat operations.”3

Secretary Rogers picking up on Secretary Laird’s remark stated on October 9:

  • —“I think that by May 1 as the President said, he is going to withdraw 95,000 troops from South Vietnam. By that time most of our forces will be out of the combat role—maybe some in the combat role, but by-in-large they will be out of the combat role by that time.”4

The two Secretaries jointly appeared on “Issues and Answers” on October 11 and were pressed as to whether the ground combat role [Page 669] would end by May 1. Both Secretaries declined to state categorically that the ground combat role would be totally transferred by May 1 and preferred to emphasize that the major portion of U.S. troops would be out of the ground combat role by that date. Administration spokesmen at this time began to point out that while the assigned ground combat role would end with the completion of Phase One, a number of U.S. troops remaining in Vietnam at that time would be assigned a security role to protect the air and logistic forces still in Vietnam during Phase Two.5

Secretary Laird when he made his trip to Vietnam in early January 1971 made a flurry of statements on the ground combat role. The most specific of which was in Paris on January 6, 1971 when he stated:

  • —“We will be in a position in the course of this year where the American combat responsibility will be removed as far as South Vietnam is concerned. We are approaching that position on our May 1 troop ceiling deadline. Now the position of American forces in South Vietnam after the midsummer period of 1971, calendar 1971, will be such that we will have a logistic role.”6

You will recall that following that statement, we backchannelled the Secretary and asked him to refrain from discussing the possible date for the termination of the ground combat responsibility and thereby avoid feeding press speculation which had begun to develop. In the Secretary’s subsequent statements during the spring of the year he has avoided referring to any specific date and has simply stated:

  • —“We expect to complete Phase One by this summer.”7

Secretary Laird’s most recent specific statement on this subject was at his April 13th press conference where he stated:

  • —“Phase One of the Vietnamization program, as far as the turning over of ground combat responsibilities in country, would be completed during the summer period.”8

In comparison to Secretary Laird who has discussed this subject some 15 times on-the-record in a little over a year, Secretary Rogers has commented on it publicly six times, usually picking up on a Laird statement made a few days before.

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 154, Vietnam Country Files, Viet 1 May–31 May 71. Confidential. Haig drafted this memorandum on May 25 using information in a May 25 memorandum to him from Houdek. (Ibid., Box 1043, Staff Files, Houdek Chron, Bob Houdek’s Chron May 3–July 71, 2 of 2) Nixon wrote the following across the top of the page: “K—Perhaps we can move up the date for ‘end of ground combat’ and announce it as Dec. 1. Would be interpreted as a change from this. The problem, of course, is not to do anything that will create a constant query as to the nature of our continuing activities (à la Laos). Perhaps the term, ‘No ground combat except in defense of our remaining forces.’”↩
  2. According to Houdek’s memorandum to Haig, Laird spoke at a news conference in Los Angeles on January 25, 1970.↩
  3. Houdek noted that Laird made this comment at the Civic Clubs of Duluth, Minnesota.↩
  4. The statement was made during an October 9 news conference. The transcript is in the Department of State Bulletin, October 26, 1970, pp. 471–478.↩
  5. The transcript of the interview is ibid., November 2, 1970, pp. 542–553.↩
  6. Houdek noted that Laird made this statement at a news conference in Paris.↩
  7. According to Houdek, Laird made seven similar statements between January 11 and March 9.↩
  8. According to Houdek, Laird made the statement at a press conference at the Pentagon on April 13.↩