During the previous administration, President Johnson both approved the intensive bombing of North Vietnam in 1965 and ordered a halt to the raids in 1968 amid intense debate on their efficacy and morality (via History). When Nixon took office in 1969, he opted to maintain Johnson’s moratorium on such massive air raids until 1972 and instead focus on neighboring Laos and Cambodia. In his view, this decision was a principle factor in the American defeat and the greatest stain on his career (via The New York Times). 

At the time however, his decision to resume bombing in the North may not have even materialized at all had the 1972 peace talks been fruitful from the outset. Due to the breakdown in the negotiations, Nixon ordered a massive bombing campaign over an 11-day period in December, known as the “Christmas Bombing.” The goal was in part to convince the South that American air power would back them if the North broke the agreement (via HistoryNet). Given that America could ultimately not be replied upon, the civilian casualties induced by the raid, and Nixon’s dissatisfaction with the outcome, the bombing therefore seems to have benefited nobody.