Section
21.2
American personnel being evacuated from
US embassy in Saigon, April 1975

• Nixon’s policy of withdrawing US troops while training S. Vietnam to take over the fighting
–
Part of Nixon Doctrine
•
Nixon Doctrine
–
US would provide financial & weapon support to anti-communist allies
–
But no US troops!
Above: South V. army officer; below: as labeled

Capture from clip on Vietnamization

•
Peace conferences between
US/S. Vietnam and N.
Vietnam
•
Started in 1968
•
S.V. and U.S. insisted N.V. withdraw from South, and that the Thieu (regime in
South) remain in power.
•
N.V. demanded U.S. withdraw and a coalition government w/Vietcong
Above: cartoon shows exhausted dove labeled ‘Vietnam Talks’ impaled atop the Eiffel Tower; below: U.S. negotiators in Paris

• Nixon’s chief foreign policy adviser
• Eventually Nixon’s Secretary of State.
Above: Kissinger on the phone; below:
Kissinger on cover of Time •
German Born Jewish escapee of Nazi oppression.
•
Harvard Professor.
• kept foreign policy secret from press b/c of unpopularity of war

Describe the the Secret War of Nixon and
Kissinger:
•
Massive bombing of communist bases in Laos and Cambodia
•
Wanted to cut off supply line and bring N.V. to the negotiating table
•
Utilized Madman Theory
– Nixon wanted N.V. to think he was crazy enough to Nuke
• From 1969-1973 US conducted over 3, 600 missions
• Did not work
•
Led to invasion of Cambodia
(April 1970)
Above: Nixon and Kissinger confer; below: aerial photo of bombing Cambodia

Capture from clip on Cambodia bombing and the issue of secrecy

•
Kent State University
– 4 students died during violent protests
•
Pentagon Papers
– NY Times article revealed that US
Govt. had lied to the American public about war
•
Did not directly implicate
Nixon
•
But public now believed that the government (Nixon) could not be trusted
•
Significance: Nixon becomes obsessed with stopping leaks of info to the press
Below: Time magazine further spreads the story the NY Times had broken

Capture from clip on Pentagon Papers

• Vietnamization failed
–
S.V. troops defeated handily by
N.V. troops
•
October 1972- U.S. and N.V. agree to cease-fire.
•
All U.S. troops would leave Vietnam,
POWs would be returned, VC could play an active role in a coalition government in the South
• Kissinger: “Peace is at hand.”
•
Thieu refused to sign the treaty and peace fell apart
Above: Kissinger meets with
Vietnamese leaders; below:
Nixon does the same

• To force peace, Nixon intensified bombing during a 12 day campaign
– lasted from December
18-30.
•
Bombed major N.V. cities and installations in Laos and Cambodia
•
Killed thousands of civilians
•
NY Times called the bombing “diplomacy through terror.”
Above and below: USAF carpet-bombing SE
Asia to ‘force peace’

Capture from clip on US POWs

•
US and NV agreed to peace terms (1/1973)
•
Last US troops left in
March of 1973
•
War b/t South and North resumed
•
Saigon scene of chaos as
S.Vietnamese desperately tried to flee on US helicopters
•
April 1975 Saigon fell
Above: another image of fleeing S.V. civilians boarding helicopter; below: desperate civilians try to climb wall of US embassy

Capture from clip on the fall of Saigon

•
58,000 Americans dead
• 300,000 wounded
•
$150 billion dollars
•
American selfconfidence of WWII gone
– US lost its first war
•
Two million
Vietnamese died
– land lay in ruins
Above: still from “Goodnight Saigon”; below: at the
Vietnam Veterans’ memorial

Capture from clip about the cool reception returning soldiers got and the disinterest of the public in the end of the war

•
An easing or relaxing of tensions
• Period during Nixon’s presidency noted for better relations between the US and USSR/Red
China
•
Hawks saw it as sign of our weakness and loss of resolve
Above: Nixon with Mao Zedong; below:
Nixon with Leonid Brezhnev

How was the world different in the 1970s from the 1950s?
•
US and USSR not
Composite night-time satellite shot indicates spread of the only powers prosperity (electricity for lighting) around the world by the mid-70s •
Five Economic
Superpowers had developed
•
US, USSR, Japan,
China, EEC
(European
Economic
Community)
•
USSR and China were enemies!

Describe Nixon and Kissinger’s view of foreign policy:
•
Believed in Realpolitik
–
The politics of reality
•
US should form alliances based on its national economic interests rather than on ideology, i.e.:
–
Form alliances even with communist nations!
•
N+K wanted balance of power
•
Several powerful nations would prevent one from getting too powerful
• Is there any irony to Cold
Warrior Nixon’s new policy?
Otto Von Bismarck

Describe the US policy toward China from
1949-1970:
•
Refused to recognize communist government
•
No diplomatic relationship
•
Formed alliance with Taiwan
–
Where Chiang Kai-shek’s anticommunist govt. had formed after 1949 Above: map shows the tiny island of
Taiwan; below: Chiang’s nationalists march
•
Blocked admittance into UN
•
China had aided communists in Korean and Vietnam Wars

How was détente between the US and China achieved?
•
Nixon expressed desire to visit
China to Time magazine reporter
(1970)
•
US Table Tennis Team (ping pong) visited China (4/71)
•
Trade embargo ended days later
•
US allowed China admittance into UN (as a permanent member to the Security Council)
•
Kissinger went on secret mission to lay groundwork
•
Nixon traveled to China (2/72)
•
Visited Great Wall & Mao
Above: Nixon and Mao shake on it; below: Nixon toasts Premier (second in command) Chou En-Lai

How was détente between the US and the
Soviet Union achieved?
•
Nixon traveled to Russia
•
Signed Strategic Arms
Limitations Treaty
(SALT) with Brezhnev
Above: Nixon and Brezhnev toast; below:
Brezhnev sees an advantage to détente  •
SALT curtailed number of ballistic missiles
•
Agreed to trade technology and grain

• Democrats nominated George
McGovern
–
Liberal Anti-war platform
–
Immediate end to war, $30 billion cut in defense spending, pardoning of draft dodgers
•
Nixon threatened by third party candidate George Wallace
– Appealed to Southern and blue collar voters
– Paralyzed by would-be assassin and dropped out
•
Nixon won by landslide
–
But his downfall had begun
Top: George McGovern on Time cover; below:
Wallace button from before the shooting