[133]
As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam, funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.[115] Senator Jacob K. Javits offered "...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid".[115] President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.[134] Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech at Tulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over "...as far as America is concerned".[132] The announcement was met with thunderous applause.[132]
1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third-country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees.[135] In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed.