• Episode 9: Crossing into Cambodia

    Nixon’s Cambodian campaign fans antiwar flames and deepens divide between Americans

    Black and white photograph of President pointing to a map of Cambodia

  • I’m not going to be the first American President to lose a war. - President Richard Nixon, 1969

    In a coup strongly encouraged by the United States, a U.S.-friendly government came to power in Cambodia. The Vietnamese Communists had long used neutral Cambodia as a place to regroup and store weapons. President Nixon planned to send ground groups to Cambodia to attack Communist sanctuaries and central headquarters. One historical interpretation of Nixon’s strategy is that he hoped to destabilize the enemy in order to provide a “decent interval” in which South Vietnam could fend for itself while American troops pulled out.

    Nixon televised his decision to initiate the Cambodian campaign. This apparent expansion of the war detonated an explosion of antiwar activity that escalated to a national crisis when four students were shot at a protest at Kent State University in Ohio. The public was unaware that Nixon had been secretly bombing Cambodia since mid-March 1969—an escalation of a covert bombing campaign started by Johnson in 1965.

  • Nixon’s directive to send U.S. and South Vietnamese ground forces into Cambodia outraged many Americans.

    Memorandum with black typewritten text and signature

    National Security Decision Memorandum 57, April 26, 1970. National Archives, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

  • During a televised address, Nixon pointed out the locations of suspected Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.

    Black and white photograph of President pointing to a map of Cambodia

    Nixon with map of Cambodia, April 30, 1970. National Archives, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

    View in the National Archives Catalog

  • This map, prepared for the Commission on Campus Unrest, shows “the Commons” area on the Kent State Campus, the movement of the National Guardsmen, and the locations where students were shot.

    Black and white map of Kent State University

    Map of site of shootings at Kent State University, May 4, 1970. National Archives, Records of Temporary Commissions, Committees, and Boards...Read more

    Map of site of shootings at Kent State University, May 4, 1970. National Archives, Records of Temporary Commissions, Committees, and Boards

    Read less
    View in the National Archives Catalog

  • Key Dates

    • March 18, 1970: Coup in which Lon Nol comes to power in Cambodia
    • April 23, 1971: Hundreds of Vietnam veterans throw away their medals at the United States Capitol
    • April 29, 1970: Cambodian incursion begins
    • April 30, 1970: Nixon’s speech on Cambodia
    • May 4, 1970: Kent State shooting
    • February 8, 1971: South Vietnamese army suffers devastating losses in Operation Lam Son 719
    • June 13, 1971: New York Times begins publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers
    • July 15, 1971: Nixon announces plans to visit China
  • Black and white photograph of President pointing to a map of Cambodia
    • Memorandum with black typewritten text and signature
    Black and white photograph of President pointing to a map of Cambodia
    Black and white map of Kent State University
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