advance organizer richard nixon rose through the political ranks as a staunch anti- communist;...
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RICHARD NIXON’S FOREIGN POLICY
Advance organizer Richard Nixon rose through the political ranks as a
staunch anti-communist; however, the policy of his predecessors brought the world to the brink of nuclear war and brought the U.S. into an expensive and increasingly unpopular war.
Nixon embraced the policy of détente, a relaxing of tensions with the communist world. He negotiated the SALT I Treaty, established relations with Communist China, and established the Nixon Doctrine of assisting allies with money and weapons, but not with U.S. troops.
The Nixon Doctrine was applied in Vietnam with the Vietnamization of the war. Nixon declared “Peace with Honor” when the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, but Saigon fell to the communists just two years later.
Nixon employed the Madman Theory so that his adversaries would believe he was unpredictable.
THE RISE OF NIXON
HUAC
House Un-AmericanActivities
Committee
ALGER HISS
THE PINK LADY
MASSIVE
RETALIATIONIke &
Dulles
M.A.D.Mutually Assured Destruction
BRINKMANSHIP
The stakes
FLEXIBLE RESPONSE
Kennedy & JohnsonPhoto © Daniel Siskind
Used with Permission
LIMITED
WAR
VIETNAM
Photo by: Fank Wolfe
The stakes
BETTER RED THAN DEAD?
DÉTENTE A relaxing
of Cold War tensions
Photo © Ben PascoeUsed with Permission
DETENSIONPhoto by johnrudolphmueller
Henry KissingerSecretary of State
REALPOLITIK
REALPOLITIK
Deal with other nations based on practical rather than ideological considerations.
NIXON GOES
TO CHINA
CHEERS, COMMIES!
Only Nixon
could go to China.Photo by Jakub Hałun
SALTStrategic Arms Limitation Talks Photo by JD Hancock
First discussions between U.S. and U.S.S.R. on arms limitations.
Photo by JD Hancock
Nixon and Brezhnev (1973)
Nixon doctrine[The U.S.] shall furnish military
and economic assistance when requested in accordance with our treaty commitments. But we shall look to the nation directly threatened to assume the primary responsibility of providing the manpower for its defense.
Money?
YES!
Nixon doctrine
Weapons?
YES!
Nixon doctrine
Troops?
Nixon doctrine
NO!
VietnamizationThe Nixon Doctrine in Action
YOUR
TROOPS
Our TANK
S
PEACE WITH HONORSouth
Vietnamese refugees on a U.S. Navy vessel (1975)
MADMAN
MADMAN THEORY“I call it the Madman Theory… I want
the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll just slip the word to them that, ‘for God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry—and he has his hand on the nuclear button!’”
Art by wamsler
SUMMARY Richard Nixon rose through the political ranks as a
staunch anti-communist; however, the policy of his predecessors brought the world to the brink of nuclear war and brought the U.S. into an expensive and increasingly unpopular war.
Nixon embraced the policy of détente, a relaxing of tensions with the communist world. He negotiated the SALT I Treaty, established relations with Communist China, and established the Nixon Doctrine of assisting allies with money and weapons, but not with U.S. troops.
The Nixon Doctrine was applied in Vietnam with the Vietnamization of the war. Nixon declared “Peace with Honor” when the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, but Saigon fell to the communists just two years later.
Nixon employed the Madman Theory so that his adversaries would believe he was unpredictable.