Nixon Foreign Policy:
Nixon’s aims in vietnam:
● Recognised there were limits to US power so aimed to
1. End the Vietnam War
2. Decrease Tensions with USSR and China, which would help slow the costly arms race
1.End the Vietnam War
Nixon’s objectives:
● Nixon had claimed ‘Vietnam is essential to the survival of freedom’ and urged Johnson to escalate in Vietnam but
as president he withdrew the US because:
- Tet Offensive (1968) convinced him US needed to exit. ‘The nations objective should be to help the South
Vietnamese fight the war and fight it for them’
- Cold war dynamic had shifted since Eisenhower’s era, with Sino-Soviet tensions weakening the
communist bloc.
- Nixon said in his inaugural address ‘the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker’.
- He knew Johnson’s presidency had been ruined by ‘that damn war.. Im going to stop that war. Fast!’
● Determined not to be the first president to lose a war so sought ‘peace with honor’- allows continued existence of
anti-communist South Vietnam under Thieu.
● His methods included:
- Vietnamisation- Shifting combat responsibility to South Vietnamese forces. This aligned with the Nixon
Doctrine (Guam, 1969), which stated that America’s Asian allies should defend themselves.
- Diplomatic pressure on USSR and China
- MIlitary pressure on North Vietnam until it agreed to his peace terms
Background:
● JFK
- Authorised sending troops and military advisors
- Steadily increased numbers throughout his presidency
- Authorised assassination of Diem
● LBJ
- escalated US involvement dramatically after 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution
- Committed hundreds of thousands of US troops, made it ‘America’s war’
● Sv leadership
- Diem was assassinated by US approved coup 1963
- Replaced by Big Minh
- Thieu took over in 1965 and ruled South Vietnam until 1975
- He had a reputation for corruption. Eg only won 1967 elections with only 35% popular vote
- US puppet, deeply corrupt.
● Creighton Abrams- replaced Westmoreland as Commander in Vietnam 1968-1972.)
- Strategy shift from attrition (wearing down enemy) and body counts (tracking enemy deaths) to a focus
on winning battle for ‘hearts and minds’
- Marked the end of search and destroy missions
- Heavily involved in promoting the idea of vietnamisation
- Led attack into Cambodia in 1970 (caused Kent State). Incursion to destroy Ho Chi Minh trail and
vietcong bases
- Stepped down in 1972
- Nixon and Kissinger were highly reliant on his service ‘If Abrams strongly recommends it we will do it’
Why did Nixon take so long to end the war in Vietnam?
● 1968- ‘peace with honor’ - wanted to avoid a defeat or it looked like a defeat. Did not want the US to look weak.
- Negotiations took a long time. Wanted to maintain US credibility whilst allowing them to withdraw.
- NV were stubborn
- Paris peace talks dragged on
● Vietnamisation strategy took a while
Plan:
● Vietnamisation- building up the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) so that they can fight the war without the help of
US troops
, ● Negotiation (started under LBJ)
● ‘Madman theory’ Nixon wanted the USSR, China and North Vietnam to believe he was irrational and volatile so
that they would avoid provoking the U.S. in fear of an unpredictable response.
● Used massive bombing (Ho chi Minh Trail, Cambodia, Laos) to force NV to negotiate
● Improved relations with USSR and China to pressure NV to settle
● By 1973, U.S. troops withdrew, ending direct American involvement. However, South Vietnam collapsed in 1975,
proving that Nixon's strategy only delayed the inevitable.
Timeline:
1969
● Tried to pressure NV into peace agreement by bombing Ho Chi Minh trail
● Excluded Thieu from Paris Peace talks as he was offering NV concessions that thieu opposed
● Failure- Millions participated in anti war protests autumn 1969
● Eg ,Nov- 250,000 peaceful marchers converged on washington
1970
● Jan- appeared to be escalating the war. Even as he withdrew troops he carpet-bombed North Vietnamese bases
and the ho chi minh trail in laos and cambodia
● Sent 30,000 american and SV soldiers to cambodia
● Cambodian offensive caused protests and controversy 50% America approve, 39% disapprove
● Fearful of protests and ‘imperial presidency’- congress threatened to cut of funding for vietnam war
● Imperial presidency- during cold war presidential power increased so much that some commentators thought the
president was becoming like an emperor
1971
● Nixon tested vietnamisation feb 1971. 5000 elite SV troops began the lam son offensive in laos but failed.
● Generated more protests. Spring 300,000 marched on washington
● Negotiations with NV went badly
● The ussr and china desired detente with the US so urged NV to compromise
● However NV remained insistent upon new sv gov with communists
1972
● Communists staged ‘great spring offensive’ and sv forces crumbled
- Nixon decided these ‘bastards have never been bombed like they are going to be bombed this time’
- Bombed hanoi and bombed and mined Haiphong in North vietnamese port
- Congress threatened to cut off his money but Nixon remained defiant
● Public support and silent majority
- Despite the protests nixon knew the silent majority was behind him
- He tried to rally us people- Polls sowed- 55% backed heavy bombing, 74% wanted South Vietnam to
survive.
● Paris Peace negotiations
- NV being drawn to settlement by destructive bombing, american concessions, sino soviet pressure and
probable re election of nixon
- Both sides compromised in paris
- NV conceded that thieu could stay in power but demanded a say in vietnamese gov
- Kissinger proposed a Committee of National Reconciliation (1/3 Communists, 1/3 South Vietnamese, 1/3
neutral) to recognise the communists as a legitimate political force in the south
● Nixon’s delays and the Christmas bombing:
- October- kissinger announces ‘peace is at hand’ but Nixon delayed unsure if the agreement met his
peace with honor goal
- After his re-election, Nixon shocked the world by launching the Christmas Bombing- a brutal 12-day air
assault on Hanoi and Haiphong. Condemned by the Pope, described as ‘war by tantrum’
- media and public questioned his sanity, viewing the bombing as excessive and unnecessary
Paris Peace Accords, 1973:
● Peace Settlement negotiated by Kissinger and signed in Paris Jan 1973:
- POW exchange
- North Vietnamese forces were allowed to stay in SVietnam but could not fight and their number could not
increase
- SVietnam would continue to exist and Thieu would remain in power
- The Committee of national Reconciliation would contain Communism
Nixon’s aims in vietnam:
● Recognised there were limits to US power so aimed to
1. End the Vietnam War
2. Decrease Tensions with USSR and China, which would help slow the costly arms race
1.End the Vietnam War
Nixon’s objectives:
● Nixon had claimed ‘Vietnam is essential to the survival of freedom’ and urged Johnson to escalate in Vietnam but
as president he withdrew the US because:
- Tet Offensive (1968) convinced him US needed to exit. ‘The nations objective should be to help the South
Vietnamese fight the war and fight it for them’
- Cold war dynamic had shifted since Eisenhower’s era, with Sino-Soviet tensions weakening the
communist bloc.
- Nixon said in his inaugural address ‘the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker’.
- He knew Johnson’s presidency had been ruined by ‘that damn war.. Im going to stop that war. Fast!’
● Determined not to be the first president to lose a war so sought ‘peace with honor’- allows continued existence of
anti-communist South Vietnam under Thieu.
● His methods included:
- Vietnamisation- Shifting combat responsibility to South Vietnamese forces. This aligned with the Nixon
Doctrine (Guam, 1969), which stated that America’s Asian allies should defend themselves.
- Diplomatic pressure on USSR and China
- MIlitary pressure on North Vietnam until it agreed to his peace terms
Background:
● JFK
- Authorised sending troops and military advisors
- Steadily increased numbers throughout his presidency
- Authorised assassination of Diem
● LBJ
- escalated US involvement dramatically after 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution
- Committed hundreds of thousands of US troops, made it ‘America’s war’
● Sv leadership
- Diem was assassinated by US approved coup 1963
- Replaced by Big Minh
- Thieu took over in 1965 and ruled South Vietnam until 1975
- He had a reputation for corruption. Eg only won 1967 elections with only 35% popular vote
- US puppet, deeply corrupt.
● Creighton Abrams- replaced Westmoreland as Commander in Vietnam 1968-1972.)
- Strategy shift from attrition (wearing down enemy) and body counts (tracking enemy deaths) to a focus
on winning battle for ‘hearts and minds’
- Marked the end of search and destroy missions
- Heavily involved in promoting the idea of vietnamisation
- Led attack into Cambodia in 1970 (caused Kent State). Incursion to destroy Ho Chi Minh trail and
vietcong bases
- Stepped down in 1972
- Nixon and Kissinger were highly reliant on his service ‘If Abrams strongly recommends it we will do it’
Why did Nixon take so long to end the war in Vietnam?
● 1968- ‘peace with honor’ - wanted to avoid a defeat or it looked like a defeat. Did not want the US to look weak.
- Negotiations took a long time. Wanted to maintain US credibility whilst allowing them to withdraw.
- NV were stubborn
- Paris peace talks dragged on
● Vietnamisation strategy took a while
Plan:
● Vietnamisation- building up the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) so that they can fight the war without the help of
US troops
, ● Negotiation (started under LBJ)
● ‘Madman theory’ Nixon wanted the USSR, China and North Vietnam to believe he was irrational and volatile so
that they would avoid provoking the U.S. in fear of an unpredictable response.
● Used massive bombing (Ho chi Minh Trail, Cambodia, Laos) to force NV to negotiate
● Improved relations with USSR and China to pressure NV to settle
● By 1973, U.S. troops withdrew, ending direct American involvement. However, South Vietnam collapsed in 1975,
proving that Nixon's strategy only delayed the inevitable.
Timeline:
1969
● Tried to pressure NV into peace agreement by bombing Ho Chi Minh trail
● Excluded Thieu from Paris Peace talks as he was offering NV concessions that thieu opposed
● Failure- Millions participated in anti war protests autumn 1969
● Eg ,Nov- 250,000 peaceful marchers converged on washington
1970
● Jan- appeared to be escalating the war. Even as he withdrew troops he carpet-bombed North Vietnamese bases
and the ho chi minh trail in laos and cambodia
● Sent 30,000 american and SV soldiers to cambodia
● Cambodian offensive caused protests and controversy 50% America approve, 39% disapprove
● Fearful of protests and ‘imperial presidency’- congress threatened to cut of funding for vietnam war
● Imperial presidency- during cold war presidential power increased so much that some commentators thought the
president was becoming like an emperor
1971
● Nixon tested vietnamisation feb 1971. 5000 elite SV troops began the lam son offensive in laos but failed.
● Generated more protests. Spring 300,000 marched on washington
● Negotiations with NV went badly
● The ussr and china desired detente with the US so urged NV to compromise
● However NV remained insistent upon new sv gov with communists
1972
● Communists staged ‘great spring offensive’ and sv forces crumbled
- Nixon decided these ‘bastards have never been bombed like they are going to be bombed this time’
- Bombed hanoi and bombed and mined Haiphong in North vietnamese port
- Congress threatened to cut off his money but Nixon remained defiant
● Public support and silent majority
- Despite the protests nixon knew the silent majority was behind him
- He tried to rally us people- Polls sowed- 55% backed heavy bombing, 74% wanted South Vietnam to
survive.
● Paris Peace negotiations
- NV being drawn to settlement by destructive bombing, american concessions, sino soviet pressure and
probable re election of nixon
- Both sides compromised in paris
- NV conceded that thieu could stay in power but demanded a say in vietnamese gov
- Kissinger proposed a Committee of National Reconciliation (1/3 Communists, 1/3 South Vietnamese, 1/3
neutral) to recognise the communists as a legitimate political force in the south
● Nixon’s delays and the Christmas bombing:
- October- kissinger announces ‘peace is at hand’ but Nixon delayed unsure if the agreement met his
peace with honor goal
- After his re-election, Nixon shocked the world by launching the Christmas Bombing- a brutal 12-day air
assault on Hanoi and Haiphong. Condemned by the Pope, described as ‘war by tantrum’
- media and public questioned his sanity, viewing the bombing as excessive and unnecessary
Paris Peace Accords, 1973:
● Peace Settlement negotiated by Kissinger and signed in Paris Jan 1973:
- POW exchange
- North Vietnamese forces were allowed to stay in SVietnam but could not fight and their number could not
increase
- SVietnam would continue to exist and Thieu would remain in power
- The Committee of national Reconciliation would contain Communism
