Approximately 540,000 American troops were recorded in Vietnam by December 1968. This was the highest number of US troops operating in Vietnam since 1959, when there were only 760 soldiers on the ground in Vietnam. From this point on, Richard Nixon, the new President of the United States, would begin a gradual troop withdrawal from Vietnam, putting into effect his concept of Vietnamisation. By 1973, there would be only 50 American military personnel in Vietnam.
