ON APRIL 20 I announced that progress under the Vietnamization program would permit a reduction of 150,000 Americans in our authorized troop ceiling between then and the spring of 1971. The first 50,000 increments of these withdrawals has already been completed ahead of the October 15 date which I set on June 3.
The continued progress of the Vietnamization program has made possible an acceleration rate of withdrawal within the overall schedule announced previously. .
Accordingly, I have instructed Secretary Laird to reduce the authorized ceiling of our forces in Vietnam by another 40,000 between now and Christmas. As a result of this decision, there will be authorized 205,500 fewer Americans in Vietnam by Christmas of this year than when I took office.
Note: The statement was released at Hartford, Conn.
Richard Nixon, Statement Announcing Further Withdrawals of U.S. Forces From the Republic of Vietnam Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241029