Invasion of cambodia - 1970
President Richard Nixon anouncing the invasion
to a television audience
On April 30th, 1970, President Richard Nixon declared to a television audience that both U.S. and Southern Vietnamese troops were to invade the Kingdom of Cambodia. President Nixon stated that the reasons behind the invasion were to disturb the Northern Vietnamese supply lines transported from Cambodia. Other reasons why they invaded were to bomb and destroy the Viet Cong base camps that were interfering with operations in Southern Vietnam. What very few American citizens knew about the U.S. involvement with Cambodia was months before President Nixon announced the Invasion he had been ordering bombing of the country. The result of the invasion resulted in a firestorm of protesters across the country and gave the antiwar movement a new rallying point. College students across the nation, more than 200 colleges and universities closed completely and affected about 400 schools due to the strikes, intensified their antiwar protest with marches, rallies, and sometimes even relying on violence. In President Nixon’s defense on U.S. troop’s movement into Cambodia, Nixon stated over a news conference that the operation would provide six to eight months of time for training Southern Vietnam troops and thus would shorten the fighting for American troops and allowing 150,000 American soldiers to withdraw from the fighting.