AIM: WHAT NEW DIRECTIONS WERE TAKEN IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS UNDER PRESIDENT NIXON?

Richard M. Nixon

4. Nixon and Foreign Affairs Nixon, as President, inherited the problems of his predecessors, Johnson and Kennedy left him….Vietnam. Besides Vietnam, troubles brewed again in the Middle East, another foreign policy headache for the Nixon administration. Nixon also made attempts at improving relations between the US and China and US and the Soviet Union.

4.1 War In Vietnam During the campaign, Nixon made promises to get the United States out of the Vietnam War. One of Nixon’s promises was “peace with honor”. For support, Nixon called on his base, “the silent majority”, for support. The base were Americans who believed in hard work, law and order and love of country.

In March 1969, Nixon began a policy of Vietnamization, in which the United States would train and equip the South Vietnamese military until they were ready to fight for themselves. In June 1969, Nixon announced that 25,000 troops would return from Vietnam. Nixon went on television to get support from the American people when he promised all troops would be pulled out slowly from Vietnam.

The peace talks that were started under Johnson kept going on under the Nixon administration. Nixon was asked by the President of Cambodia to invade and remove communists from his country. Nixon agreed and invaded Cambodia in 1970. This agitated more Americans in that they started to believe Nixon was following the same course as Johnson. Huge demonstrations went on in American cities and on American college campuses.

Four students were shot and killed at Kent State University in Ohio. Two were killed at Jackson State College in Mississippi. The killings angered Americans even more. Almost three years would pass until our involvement in Vietnam ended. In January 1973, the major players in Vietnam made peace-the US, the Viet Cong, the South Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese came to terms.

The United States agreed to remove all its troops from Vietnam. The North and Viet Cong agreed to free American prisoners from North Vietnamese prison camps. It was also agreed that there would be elections held in South Vietnam. By the end of March 1973, the last troops left Vietnam. The war continued and due to our involvement, 46,000 were killed and 300,000 had been wounded.

Senator John McCain-P.O.W.

Question 1 What did Nixon promise regarding Vietnam?

Question 2 What was Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization?

Question 3 What big error did Nixon make in 1970 that agitated many Americans?

Question 4 What were the terms of the agreement reached on the Vietnam War in 1973?

Kent State Massacre

Images of the Vietnam War

Images of the Vietnam War

The Most Famous Image

4.2 Improving Relations With the Soviet Union As the United States was fighting in Vietnam, relations between our nation and the Soviet Union were beginning to improve. In 1969, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The treaty stated that nations that had nuclear weapons would not help nations that did not have them. That same year, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the SALT Treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) that limited the production of certain nuclear weapons.

In May 1972, Nixon became the first American President to visit Moscow when he signed the SALT Treaty. Nixon felt that the two superpowers should have close business and economic ties. The US backed up this promise by selling American wheat-the largest American export shipment in our history. This policy called détente was a relaxing of tensions between the two big superpowers.

Then, in 1973, Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev visited Washington. There he met with Nixon, American business leaders and members of Congress. The meetings achieved a few objectives: (1) the United States and the Soviet Union would work on another SALT agreement (2) the two nations would use nuclear war as a last resort in conflict (3) the two nations would work together in areas of business, culture and science.

Leonid Brezhnev

Question 5 What treaty did the US and the Soviet Union sign in 1969?

Question 6 What new policy was developed by Nixon in regard to the Soviet Union?

4.3 Improving Relations With China At the same time of the Vietnam War and discussions with the Soviets, Nixon was also improving relations with the Communist Chinese government of Mao Tse-Tung. The Chinese government invited the American table tennis team to China in April 1971. In July, Nixon stated that he would visit China in 1972.

With China, Nixon promised a policy of normalization-a return to normal conditions-of relations between the two nations. In September 1971, the United States finally allowed Communist China membership in the United Nations. It took over the seat that was occupied by Taiwan. In February 1972, Nixon went to China where he met with Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai and Chairman Mao Tse-Tung.

At the meetings, the two nations agreed to establish closer trade relations. Nixon also declared that Taiwan was part of Mainland China. Nixon pledged to remove American soldiers from Taiwan and allowed for China to settle this matter. In 1979, the United States formally recognized Communist China (People’s Republic of China).

Nixon Visits China

Question 7 How did American policy toward China change under the Nixon administration?

Question 8 When did Nixon first visit China? What was accomplished by the visit?

4.4 Trouble in the Middle East There was also trouble in the Middle East during Nixon’s administration. On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur. The United States was upset that the Soviet Union was helping the Arab nations, so they began to help Israel. This action led many Arab nations to stop selling oil to the United States.

In late October, the United Nations sent in troops to maintain a cease-fire in the area. This calmed down the US and Soviet Union. Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, was instrumental in the peace. He called his policy, shuttle diplomacy, in that, Kissinger went from capital-to-capital to handle the terms of the agreement. A few weeks later, Nixon visited Arab nations as a way of bettering relations between the US and the Arab world.

Yom Kippur War (1973)

Henry Kissinger

The Arab Oil Embargo (1973)

Price of Gas (1947-2007)