Nixons Foreign Policy
Nixons Foreign Policy
Richard Milhous Nixon ran for the United States presidency during 1968, the main platform of
his candidacy during the election dealt with the issue of Vietnam. Nixon promised the
American people that if elected, his administration would navigate the foreign affairs of Vietnam
carefully and wisely, allowing for the United States to exit from the pacific theatre with "peace
and honor". However due to the lack of support for his administrations policies in the form of
student uprisings, and in particular lack of support from congress, Nixon's idealistic goals to exit
the war in a "peaceful" manner would be impossible to achieve on his terms.
In January of 1969, once in office, the Nixon's administrations main concern clearly became
the issue of the Vietnam War. The previous year had been the deadliest for Americans since
entering Vietnam, and Nixon understood he needed to end the war which "had led to
unprecedented domestic turbulence and the alienation of a good part of the next generation"
[i]quick. And although Nixon said during his campaign run in 68' he had a "secret" plan to end
the war, he really didn't. Nixon foreign policy adviser Melvin Laird later stated Nixon "had no
plan" at all[ii].
Nixon would begin his policies much like Lyndon Johnson ended his -observing a stop of
bombing, and trusting the Soviets would influence Hanoi at the negotiating table. The
assumption of the administration was that the "South Vietnamese could make the needed
economic and military progress to confront the north with a formidably opponent"[iii]. Arguably
though the most important policy offered by the Nixon Administration was "Vietnamization"
though, described as the shifting of the burden of warfare to the ARVN while continuing to
support Saigon with huge amounts of materials and money, while also withdrawing American
troops[iv].
Nixon hoped this policy would be justifiably answering the question of how to achieve an end to
the war with peace and honor. And although Nixon would start to withdraw troops, his policy of
Vietnamization was contradictory - while removing ground troops he would simultaneously
approve a large scale increase in air power, not only in Vietnam but in neighboring Laos and
Cambodia as well. This showed that while Nixon had wished to slow the war with his new
policies he would actually expand it.
Nixon's policies on Vietnam were met with much opposition on the home front; he lacked
support from two main groups within the states; college students and more importantly the
senators who were growing tired of Nixon's "madman" policies in Vietnam. His crazy antics
and expansion of bombing tested the limited patience of the American people, and these two
groups would largely affect Nixon's future plans in Vietnam.
By 1968 a majority of Americans had believed being involved in Vietnam was a mistake. This
was ever apparent on college campuses as the anti war movement raged on. Nearly 90 percent of
private universities and nearly 80 percent of public universities experienced strikes, closures, or
takeovers[v].
Thinking he could outlast the "hippies" and believing the beatnik movement would lose force,
he would attempt to appeal to the less vocal part of the population - the unyoung, unblack, and
unpoor, the silent majority to become re-elected. Nixon was quoted in his now infamous speech
saying "north Vietnam cannot humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that".
And on May 4th in Ohio in front of national media, he proved just that. A student movement at
Kent state in Ohio, involved students protesting the Nixon administrations April 30th decision to
invade Cambodia. On that day the National Guard was called in resulting in four
demonstrators's deaths and nine others being injured. This tragedy had a lasting impression on
the American people and will forever be remembered in songs such as "Ohio" written by Neil
young. However more importantly this demonstration would led to media expanding distrust of
Nixon's policies, and overall administration. If Nixon felt only Americans could humiliate
themselves, the misfortunate incidents at Kent state did a fine job.
Along with protest from students for the intensification of the war, criticism for Nixon's
policies would grow from within his own camp. Important members of the NSC, including
Roger Morris, Anthony Lake, and William Watts would resign just prior to Kent state incident
because of the Cambodian incursion[vi]. More importantly though Nixon also lost support in the
senate; many no longer believed that he could end the war in a peaceful manner.
The senate therefore past the Cooper-Church Amendment, cutting funds from the Cambodian
operation[vii]. More importantly was the passing of the McGovern Resolution which called for
the complete removal of United States troops to Vietnam[viii], along with that between April and
July of 1971 congress voted seventeen times on measures to restrict Nixon's actions in Southeast
Asia.
Nixon's policy of Vietnimazation had successfully withdrawn 365,000 American troops by
April of 1971[ix], Nixon's only major success. But the fact was, for the Nixon Doctrine to work,
the South Vietnamese would have to take over the fight. This government was weak, lacked
good leadership, could easily be defeated, and more importantly was corrupt.[x] Southern
weakness is shown in Nixon's Lam Son 19 plan which consisted of a South Vietnam military
attack on the Northern forces, this attack was easily thwarted.[xi] Nixon claimed in the days
prior to the operation, it would show Vietnamization was working, instead it showed the
American people, and that the South Vietnamese were not up to the task of defeating the North.
Again a humiliating defeated for Nixon and his objectives. "Privately, Nixon, and Kissinger
knew that the incursion demonstrated the South Vietnamese weren't ready to go it alone"[xii]
"Nixon and Kissinger… thought military action might convince North Vietnam to make
concessions at the peace table" [xiii]but it didn't and in 1973 Nixon would sign an Agreement on
Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam; it included the cessitation of bombing and
complete withdrawal of troops. Nixon's policies would not be very effective as Americans grew
weary of the war, added to this the public no longer held anticommunism in the same manner it
once had.
In the end the humiliation Nixon feared had set in - the American public became increasingly
aware of American brutality and clearly incompetent policies in south East Asia during the
Nixon administration delivered by their nightly newscasts. The T.V networks and the press
played a major role in shifting opinion as millions now watched negative reports on Nixon. The
American people and more importantly Nixon realized the peace they wanted would be on the
North Vietnamese terms, because after years of downplaying their legitimacy we could not
accomplish "peace with honor" by carpet bombing them.
[i] Small, Kevin. Nixon's flawed search for peace. Kansas University Press 1999. Pg 405
[ii] Small, Kevin. 406
[iii] Small, Kevin. 406
[iv] Buzzanco, Robert. Vietnam and the Transformation of life. Blackwell Publishers 1999. Pg.
101
[v] Small, Kevin. 414
[vi] Small, Kevin. 414
[vii] Small, Kevin. 415
[viii] Small, Kevin. 416
[ix] Small, Kevin. 417
[x] Department of State Telegram
[xi] Buzzanco, Robert. Pg 104
[xii] Small, Kevin 417
[xiii] Small, Kevin 409