Question

Nixon’s administration would have preferred

negotiation rather than Vietnamization.

Vietnamization rather than negotiation.

a slow withdrawal of American troops.
The path of negotiation was, and is, the path we prefer. But it takes two to negotiate; there had to be another way in case the other side refused to negotiate.

That path we called Vietnamization. What it meant was training and equipping the South Vietnamese to defend themselves, and steadily withdrawing Americans, as they developed the capability to do so.

– President Richard Nixon
January 25, 1972

Answer 1

Negotiation rather than Vietnamization.

Nixon explicitly says “The path of negotiation was, and is, the path we prefer,” noting Vietnamization was the alternative if talks failed (training South Vietnamese and steadily withdrawing U.S. troops).