When Nixon entered the rush for the presidency, he promised that he would become the president who ended the Vietnam War. However, he was driven by the idea of achieving peace with honor. Even though, in theory, his approach seemed viable and effective, in real life, it faced several notable obstacles. Still, before addressing the obstacles, one aspect of Nixon’s strategy should be considered – the bombing of Laos and Cambodia and US troop incursions into neutral territories. It was a part of the strategy developed to achieve peace, and the main justification for it was the willingness to demonstrate that the United States would initiate full-scale attacks if Hanoi did not back down (Rudd 209). By unleashing the incursions and bombing, Nixon wanted to show that he was serious declaring that the US would act as a giant in this war if the country’s conditions (achieving peace) are not met.
As for obstacles experienced in achieving peace with honor, they were both domestic and foreign. Even though the strategy seemed effective, it had numerous shortcomings that could not but result in national unrest because the ordinary Americans wanted the President to keep his promise and bring the Vietnam War to an end. Seeing no progress, they went out to the streets and demanded the end of the war. They were especially notable after the bombing in Cambodia. Usually, these riots were violent because the police opposed them with the aim of preserving social order so that the protesters would initiate armed struggle against the police (Rudd 189).

Except for the domestic obstacles, there were some other significant issues Nixon faced in achieving peace with honor. To be specific, regardless of the effort made to force Hanoi back down, it would not accept Nixon’s conditions. It was mainly caused by the unwillingness of Moscow to impose pressure on Hanoi as Nixon expected when developing the peace strategy. Having no support from Moscow was another vital obstacle Nixon faced. More than that, as the effort to bring the war to an end was not successful, numerous soldiers in South Vietnam would attack their officers because they did not want to participate in military operations. This unwillingness to fulfill order was associated with the fact that thousands of American soldiers had been killed regardless of the promise to pull troops out of Vietnam. Because of it, soldiers refused to participate in dangerous missions, which resulted in significant discipline-related issues in the US troops in Vietnam and, to an extent, undermined opportunities for the achievement of the initial goals in Vietnam and almost led to the collapse of the strategy.

These obstacles exhausted Nixon, and he agreed to sign the Paris agreement that helped officially restore peace in Vietnam. Still, regardless of bringing the war to an end, this treaty was associated with some critical complications. For example, the agreement was designed in a way that the communists could continue to increase the area of their influence so that by the end of the year, they became more influential in Vietnam. Besides, North Vietnam still had enough potential to unleash the military activities whenever the authorities would find it needed. In fact, they used this chance and initiated attacks against South Vietnam shortly after signing the agreement.

Although the US withdrew the troops from Vietnam, they still continued to support it financially with the aim of precluding the further expansion of communism. This outflow of funds from the domestic budget was another complication of the Paris agreement. All in all, although peace with honor was achieved officially, this strategy was a failure, not a success.