Political Will has always been a Debased Coin

Gary Farber lays out the details of who the real "silent majority" were in the Nixon Administration's approach to Viet Nam, using Nixon's own words.

Such as this, from 20 January 1973—two years and three months before the ultimate U.S. withdrawal:

Nixon realized that the Communists were going to win in Vietnam. "I look at the tide of history out there," he said in the Oval Office, "South Vietnam probably can never even survive anyway."

Go read the whole thing.