1968 in the Vietnam War Adams' iconic image of South Vietnamese General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan's execution of a Viet Cong operative was taken in 1968. The year also saw Walter Cronkite's call to honourably exit Vietnam because he thought the war was lost. This negative impression forced the US into the Paris peace talks with North Vietnam. US troop numbers peaked in 1968 with President Johnson approving an increased maximum number of US troops in Vietnam at 549,500. The year was the most expensive in the Vietnam War with the American spending US$ (US$ in 2019) on the war. The year also became the deadliest
1972 in the Vietnam War Abrams cabled Washington that "the enemy [North Vietnam] is preparing and positioning his forces for a major offensive... There is no doubt this is to be a major campaign." Abrams requested additional authority to use U.S. American air power to mount an effective defense. President Richard Nixon revealed that National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger had been meeting secretly with North Vietnam representatives for more than 2 years. He also revealed the U.S. peace plan that had been proposed to Hanoi. Nixon proposed that, within six months of an agreement, all U.S. military be withdrawn from South Vietnam, Prisoners of War