The Mayaguez Incident: Testing America's Resolve in the Post-Vietnam Era

On May 12, 1975, just days after the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, the American merchant cargo ship SS Mayaguez was seized by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge in international waters. President Gerald Ford found himself in the midst of an intense four-day international crisis with significant historical ramifications. The Mayaguez incident was the first test of the president's role as commander-in-chief since the enactment of the 1973 War Powers Act, which was intended to limit presidential power. While the Ford administration's swift and violent reaction achieved its stated goalss of enhancing U.S. prestige and rescuing the ship and crew, Robert J. Mahoney's analysis of the events demonstrates that the end result was largely a matter of extreme good fortune. With access to recently declassified primary sources, Mahoney shows how this short but intense crisis highlights issues of access and information that still reverberate today.