This book describes the negotiations during the late Ford and early Carter administrations and discusses the repercussions the diplomatic stalemate had on the domestic and international politics of the United States and Vietnam, emphasizing the conflicting priorities of both countries, at home and abroad. Covered here are issues such as Hanoi's constant exultation over the victory, American denial of responsibility, the division between the presidents? public declarations and congressional policies, and both sides? use of the MIA issue. Based primarily on recently declassified documents and former official Douglas Pike's uncensored collection, the work also uses media sources from America, Vietnam, Britain, France and China. Appendices contain the February 1973 correspondence between President Nixon and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, six diplomatic notes from 1976, and a January 30, 1979, letter from President Carter to Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.