The Nation: Chronology: How Peace Went off the Rails

IN early October Henry Kissinger flew to Washington with a 58-page document in his briefcase. It was the draft of an agreement that he believed—and millions of others were soon led to believe—would lead to a rapid settlement of the Viet Nam War. What went wrong? TIME correspondents in Washington, Paris and Saigon have reconstructed the chronology of events, both public and hitherto secret, since peace first appeared a possibility in 1972:

SEPT. 11. For the first time since Kissinger began secret talks with Hanoi in August 1969, the North Vietnamese hinted that they...