<text id=00he2101><title>Nixon's Change of Direction</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>Nixon's Change of Direction</hdr><body>
<p>The inauguration of Richard M. Nixon as President brought about a stated change in policy. It was a important that South Vietnam take over the responsibility for its own defense, said Nixon, and he promised to bring US troops home as the Vietnamese began to take over the military burden.
</p>
<p>Within two months, Nixon had sent B-52 strikes against Cambodia in an open violation of the borders of a neutral country, had directed that it be kept secret and had set out on a long road of deception that led inexorably to his own downfall. The complicity of the USAF in hiding the location of the strikes did not reflect the ideals of that, or any, military service.
</p>
<p>Further, since false reports were filed on the B-52 raids, some officers were quite concerned that their own deeds were actionable, even though they acted under orders. Article 107 of the Military Code of Justice states that any serviceman " ... who, with intent to deceive, signs any false record, return, regulation, order or other official document, knowing the same to be false ... shall be punished as a court martial may direct." Yet the post-strike reports of the Cambodian raids officially showed that the targets were in South Vietnam.
</p>
<p>At about the same time, since it was obvious that the military might of South Vietnam was something less than advertised, the USAF continued to maintain some pressure on the North in attacks that were euphemistically called 'protective reaction' strikes. That action followed the apparent breakdown of an understanding reached between North Vietnamese and American negotiators in Paris, which had led to the bombing halt of November 1968. The understanding permitted reconnaissance missions over the North, according to the Americans. There's always somebody who doesn't get the word, and the North Vietnamese occasionally fired on one of the reconnaissance runs. By February 1970 they had done it once too often, and Nixon authorized the 'protective reaction' strikes to hit back at those doing the shooting. Later, they were changed to 'reinforced protective reaction' strikes, and were directed broadly against the whole NVN defense system.
</p>
<p>The magnitude of the latter strikes can be seen in one of them, a minor air campaign that lasted from 1 to 4 May 1970. Almost 500 sorties were flown by USAF and USN planes against SAM and anti-aircraft artillery sites north of the DMZ, specifically at two passes on the Ho Chi Minh trail.
