Nixon: foreign affairs

Nixon’s right-hand man: Henry Kissinger

National Security Advisor, 1969-73

Secretary of State, 1973-77 Master of “realpolitik:”

pragmatic politics to advance the US national interest, check Soviet expansion

Specialized in personal, top secret negotiations

The Vietnam War Finally Ends Vietnamization: more bombing, fewer U.S. troops (down to 30,000

by 1972) Nixon’s bombing continues through 1972; peace talks collapse in

fall of 1972, followed by more bombings at Christmas Paris Peace Accords signed: January 27, 1973

Withdrawal of all US troops (only 50 left by Christmas) Return of US POWS N Vietnamese forces allowed to remain in S Vietnam

April 1975: North Vietnamese take over Saigon, and unite the country as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Communists took over neighboring Laos and Cambodia (new leader, Pol Pot, kills 2.5 million Cambodians)

Nixon’s most important contribution: Detente A period of relaxed of

tensions with Communist countries (China, Soviet Union)

Nixon and China Nixon: "There is no place on this small planet for a

billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation.”

Relations between the Soviet Union and China had been deteriorating since the 1950s and had erupted into open conflict with border clashes in 1969

Nixon officially recognizes the People’s Republic of China in 1970; stops calling it “Red China”

Nixon and China (cont.) China admitted to UN in 1971 April, 1971: “ping pong diplomacy” Nixon visits China for a week in February, 1972 In 1973, the two nations open offices in each

other’s countries Nixon’s strategy: split up the two Communist

powers and pit them against each other; force each side to develop better relations with the U.S.

Nixon’s Visit to China

Nixon and the Soviet Union Nixon: “There must be room in this world for two great

nations with different systems to live together and work together.”

1st U.S. President to visit Moscow; May, 1972 to negotiate the First Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) Limited the construction of anti-missile systems Each nation limits itself to existing number of ICBMs

Nixon and Latin America U.S. works to destroy Chile’s elected socialist leader,

Salvador Allende Nixon secretly gave the CIA $10 million to fund opponents to

Allende Nixon cuts aid to Chile, blocks banks from lending money to

them New U.S. supported-military dictator General Augusto

Pinochet overthrows government and kills Allende Allende supporters were rounded up and detained in

Santiago's National Stadium; over 1,000 executed.

The Middle East In 1967, Israel launched a preemptive attack on

Egypt, Syria, and Jordan: “6 Day War” Israel occupied Egypt-controlled Gaza Strip and

Sinai, Jordanian-controlled West Bank and East Jerusalem, Syria’s Golan Heights

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO): hijackings, murder of 11 Israeli athletes at 1972 Munich Olympics

1972 Olympics

Nixon and the Middle East (cont.) Yom Kippur War, October 6-25, 1973:

Egypt and Syria attack Israel, invade Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula

Arab states embargo oil to the U.S. and its allies from October 1973- March 1974

Kissinger negotiates end to embargo, ceasefire between Egypt and Israel

“Nixinger”