Nixon’s Presidency:
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
• Seen as Nixon’s greatest achievement
• Helped ease Cold War tensions,
established ties with China, and crafted
stronger relations wit the Soviet Union
• Henry Kissinger = Greatly aided Nixon’s
foreign policy through his skillful
diplomacy
Henry Kissinger
• Nixon relied heavily on
Kissinger in dealing with
foreign policy
• Public Opinion
– Knew how to use media
to his advantage
– 1973: one of the mostadmired Americans in
the Gallup Poll
Relaxing Tensions
• Détente – relaxation of tensions
• Nixon was willing to conduct talks with
Communists
– this was a complete reversal in direction of postwar
American foreign policy
• Kissinger realized Soviet
Union and China became
bitter enemies and this
had the potential to
reshape global politics
China
• 1949, China became Communist
– U.S. did not formally recognize the People’s
Republic of China
1. American and Chinese Ambassadors met in Warsaw,
Poland
2. Nixon began referring to China by its official title (PR
of C)
3. U.S. gov’t lifted restrictions on travel to China
4. “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” – U.S. table tennis team
accepted a Chinese invitation to visit the mainland
• Nixon went to China in February 1972
• Result: tensions eased between the U.S. and China!
• Nixon met with Premier Leonid
Brezhnev in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
– to figure out how to work together to
explore space
– to ease longstanding trade limits
– to complete negotiations on a
weapon pact
• Arms control was a vital part of
Nixon’s foreign policy
• U.S. and Soviet Union were
making bigger and more
powerful bombs
“Shuttle Diplomacy”
• Kissinger traveled between Middle
Eastern capitals to arrange peace
after the Arab-Israeli War in 1973
• 1974 – Kissinger secured a ceasefire
agreement between Israel and Syria
• Nixon visited Middle East to show
his support of the efforts to reduce
tensions
• All Secretary of States since
Kissinger have used shuttle
diplomacy to further U.S. foreign
policy goals