The White House orders a suspension of bombing above the 20th
parallel as a signal of U.S. approval of recent North Vietnamese
concessions at the secret peace talks in Paris. According to
Nixon administration officials, the principal obstacle to a
cease-fire was in Saigon. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van
Thieu broadcast a denunciation of the cease-fire treaty, calling
all peace proposals discussed by Kissinger and Hanoi in Paris
unacceptable, and urged his troops to wipe out Communist
presence in the South "quickly and mercilessly." Thieu feared
the peace treaty because it did not address the 160,000 North
Vietnamese troops that were currently in South Vietnam.
Ultimately, he would sign the accords, but only after repeated
promises by President Nixon that he would come to the aid of
South Vietnam if the North Vietnamese violated the terms of the
agreement. However, the Watergate scandal erupted and Nixon was
forced to resign. His successor could not make good Nixon's
promises and the South Vietnamese go