 The President was to make a televised address to the nation on Vietnam policy on 31 March and was deliberating on both the troop request and his response to the military situation . By 28 March Clifford was working hard to convince him to tone down his hard @-@ line speech , maintaining force levels at their present size , and instituting Rusk 's bombing / negotiating proposal . To Clifford 's surprise , both Rusk and Rostow ( both of whom had previously been opposed to any form of deescalation ) offered no opposition to Clifford 's suggestions . On 31 March , President Johnson announced the unilateral ( although still partial ) bombing halt during his television address . He then stunned the nation by declining to run for a second term in office . To Washington 's surprise , on 3 April Hanoi announced that it would conduct negotiations , which were scheduled to begin on 13 May in Paris . 
