But they hoped strategic military escalation would help the US gain concessions from the North Vietnamese - and shore up the South Vietnamese - as the United States pulled out of the war. Richard Nixon and his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, knew they could not win the war, says Historian Mel Small, author of The Presidency of Richard Nixon. At the same time, he ordered intense bombing campaigns over North Vietnam and covert attacks and incursions into neighboring Cambodia and Laos, which he often tried to hide from the American public. Over the next three years, the president took a two-track approach: he brought home troops by the tens of thousands, announcing to the nation another withdrawal every few months. He also knew the American public would no longer tolerate the deaths of 1,000 GIs each month. Nixon had thought he could convince the Soviet Union to nudge communist North Vietnam into a peace agreement, but he soon concluded that diplomacy alone wouldn't get him out of the war. He pledged "peace with honor." But after more than three years, the United States was still mired in the conflict. Richard Nixon took office in 1969, promising to end the war with Vietnam quickly. Nixon thought the war in Vietnam was unwinnable, but launched an increasing number of covert operations to coerce concessions from North Vietnam.
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