RICHARD NIXON’S FOREIGN POLICY

Advance organizer Richard Nixon rose through the political ranks as a

staunch anti-communist; 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 I Treaty, 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.

THE RISE OF NIXON

HUAC

House Un-AmericanActivities

Committee

ALGER HISS

THE PINK LADY

MASSIVE

RETALIATIONIke &

Dulles

M.A.D.Mutually Assured Destruction

BRINKMANSHIP

The stakes

FLEXIBLE RESPONSE

Kennedy & JohnsonPhoto © Daniel Siskind

Used with Permission

LIMITED

WAR

VIETNAM

Photo by: Fank Wolfe

The stakes

BETTER RED THAN DEAD?

DÉTENTE A relaxing

of Cold War tensions

Photo © Ben PascoeUsed with Permission

DETENSIONPhoto by johnrudolphmueller

Henry KissingerSecretary of State

REALPOLITIK

REALPOLITIK

Deal with other nations based on practical rather than ideological considerations.

NIXON GOES

TO CHINA

CHEERS, COMMIES!

Only Nixon

could go to China.Photo by Jakub Hałun

SALTStrategic 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.

Money?

YES!

Nixon doctrine

Weapons?

YES!

Nixon doctrine

Troops?

Nixon doctrine

NO!

VietnamizationThe Nixon Doctrine in Action

YOUR

TROOPS

Our TANK

S

PEACE WITH HONORSouth

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 anti-communist; 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 I Treaty, 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.