Advance
organizer
 Richard Nixon rose through the political ranks as a staunch anticommunist; 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 ITreaty, 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.
House Un-American
Activities Committee
TH
E
PIN
K
LA
Ike & Dulles
M.A.
D.
Mutually Assured Destruction
BRINKMANS
HIP
FLEXIBLE
RESPONSE
Kennedy & Johnson
Photo © Daniel Siskind
Used with Permission
LIMIT
ED
WAR
Photo by: Fank Wolfe
ER
THAN
A relaxing of
Cold War tensions
Photo © Ben Pascoe
Used with Permission
Photo by johnrudolphmueller
Secretary of State
Deal with other
nations based on
practical rather
than ideological
considerations.
CHE
ERS,
COM
MIES!
Only
Nixon
could go
to China.
Photo by Jakub Hałun
SALT
Strategic 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.
Nixon
doctrine
Money?
YE
Nixon
doctrine
Weapons?
YE
Nixon
doctrine
Troops?
Vietnamizat
ion
The Nixon Doctrine in Action
YOU
R
TROOPS
O
ur
South 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 anticommunist; 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 ITreaty, 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.