We didn't lose. Ever hear of the Paris Peace Accords that the North signed, promising to end all hostilities? They didn't sign it because they wete winning.
They signed the Paris Peace Accords because they (North Vietnam) couldn't hold out any longer.
Many Presidents after leaving the White House are asked what was the biggest mistake you made during your Presidency ?
Ronald Reagan said his was signing the 1986 Immigration Reform Act (Amnesty) into law.
Nixon said his was not mining Haiphong Harbor and sending American troops across the Cambodia and Laos borders to attack the NVA in their sanctuaries of safety in early 1969. Nixon said if he would have done that, the war would have been over by late 69.
Both Nixon and Kissinger both said that it was the mining of Haiphong Harbor starting in 1972 that brought Hanoi to their knees and would sign the Paris Peace Accords. No ships could enter Haiphong Harbor to unload war supplies, fuels and food to continue the fight and you had many Soviet freighters trapped in Haiphong Harbor.
North Vietnam didn't have mine sweepers or the knowledge of counter mine warfare. When North Vietnam signed the treaty, part of the deal was that the U.S. Navy had to go into Haiphong Harbor and clear all of the mines. And that's what they did. In 1973 you saw U.S. Navy warships and mine sweepers inside Haiphong Harbor, who won ? That would have been like seeing Japanese warships inside of Pearl Harbor in September of 1945.
Nixon's biggest mistake occurred in 1969. He was bluffing and Uncle Ho called his bluff. That's why after almost a decade after the war Nixon said he should have followed through with his threats and did what he did in 1972 back in 1969.
Video: The Nixon tapes.
Pay attention to the polls.
Re: Other mentioning of polls on another thread, Americans saying that America's involvement in the Vietnam War was a mistake didn't mean that they called for retreating from Vietnam. Most Americans supported the American soldier and the war effort even though they knew it was a mistake getting involved in Vietnam. Liberals can't make that claim. It was JFK who refused to listen to his elders who were smarter and more knowledgeable than he and those who JFK surrounded himself with known as the "young and Brightest."