Which US president ordered the 1970 Cambodian Campaign during the Vietnam War?

President Richard Nixon ordered the 1970 Cambodian Campaign during the Vietnam War.

The campaign began in late April 1970, when U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacked Communist base areas in eastern Cambodia. Nixon announced the American operation in a televised address on April 30, describing it as an effort to destroy sanctuaries used by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces operating against South Vietnam.

The operation expanded the war beyond Vietnam’s borders while Nixon was publicly pursuing Vietnamization—the policy of shifting more combat responsibility to South Vietnamese forces. U.S. troops were withdrawn from Cambodia by June 30, although South Vietnamese operations continued into July. The campaign captured weapons and supplies but failed to eliminate Communist leadership and bases permanently.

Nixon’s decision provoked major protests in the United States, especially after the May 1970 killings of student protesters at Kent State University. The campaign is sometimes called the Cambodian incursion, but that term describes the same 1970 operation rather than a different presidential decision.