Nixon Orders Christmas Bombing: Vietnam Peace Collapses
Nixon's answer to stalled peace talks: eleven days of B-52s over Hanoi and Haiphong, starting December 18th. The largest bombing campaign since World War II. Over 20,000 tons dropped. Fifteen B-52s lost, ninety-three airmen killed or captured. North Vietnam called it "the most barbaric air raids in the history of aviation." The U.S. called it "maximum pressure." Hanoi's hospitals filled. International outrage erupted. Sweden compared Nixon to Hitler. But by December 26th, North Vietnam agreed to return to Paris. Nixon declared victory. The war would drag on another two years anyway, and when Saigon fell in 1975, none of those Christmas bombs mattered at all.
December 18, 1972
54 years ago
Key Figures & Places
United States
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Christmas
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President of the United States
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Richard Nixon
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Vietnam War
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President
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North Vietnam
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Operation Linebacker II
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Vietnam War
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President
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Richard Nixon
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Democratic Republic of Vietnam
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Operation Linebacker II
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Christmas
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