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 terms of the draft peace agreement and accused the United States of negotiating in bad faith. In Washington, despite the opposition of South Vietnam to the draft peace agreement and the charges by North Vietnam that the U.S. was negotiating in bad faith, National Security Adviser Kissinger declared "peace was at hand" in Vietnam. President Nixon of the United States won reelection with 60.7 percent of the vote. In an attempt to overcome President Thieu's objection to the draft peace agreement, President Nixon wrote him that "You have my absolute assurance that if Hanoi fails to abide by the terms