Vietnamization
In 1969 President Richard Nixon took office, soon initializing the policy known as vietnamization. The goal of this process was to gradually transfer over a larger portion of the responsibility for the Vietnam war onto the ARVN forces while initiating the removal of many of the American combat troops. A seemingly successful venture which brought about the removal of approximately 69,000 troops from Vietnam solely by the end of the year, this lead the recall process of the majority of the 549,000 troops located in Vietnam during 1969 to only 69,000 remaining in the year 1972. President Nixon was attempting to give the South Vietnamese a chance to stand up for themselves after years of aid and council, without presenting the image that America was simply abandoning them. Even with the massive improvement in the ARVN military structure attacks throughout those very years demonstrated the heavy reliance the ARVN had placed on the Americans as they faltered in their surge giving vietnamization an image of failure. At this point however the USA was committed to their withdrawal, though they did negotiate a peace treaty with North Vietnam as well as the return of their POW. In all, the process of vietnamization was positively received by the public as it withdrew Americas involvement from foreign affairs that many believed they should not be involved with though it left Vietnam to be taken over by North Vietnam by the year 1975.