The Bill to End the War

Be it enacted... that this Act may be cited as the "Vietnam Disengagement Act of 1969."

Sec. 2. (a) Congress finds that the broad foreign policy interests of the United States require that the American military presence in Vietnam be removed at the earliest possible time, and that such action will promote the social and political well being of the people of South Vietnam; that the prosecution of the war in Vietnam with American troops must be ended, not merely reduced; ... and that the responsibility for ending the American involvement in Vietnam is not the President's alone, but must be shared by the Congress under its constitutional authority to "raise and support armies" and to "declare war."

(b) It is the purpose of this Act-

(1)... to share with the President the task of extricating this nation from the Vietnam war; and to involve Congress in setting a clear and unequivocal timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam;

(2) to express the clear intent of Congress that all American military personnel be withdrawn from Vietnam on or before December 1, 1970; so that the retention even of non-combat military training personnel in Vietnam after that date would not be permitted without the enactment by Congress of further legislation specifically approving such retention;

(3) to give clear notice to the government of South Vietnam that following December 1, 1970 it must assume the burden of fighting; and to permit the withdrawal of American military personnel and the assumption of their combat functions in an orderly fashion on a schedule set by the President with a required termination date of December 1, 1970.