ong pointed out the importance of the Nixon foreign policy. What is almost as remarkable as the change in policy itself is that this change was carried out by one of the most hardline Cold Warriors of the 1950s.
When Richard Nixon assumed office in 1969, the most important problem facing American foreign policymakers was the continuing war in Vietnam. Nixon had campaigned partly on the promise that he would end American involvement in the war without betraying South Vietnam. He quickly found out, however, that this promise was going to be nearly impossible to keep and he actually ordered the expansion of the war into Laos and Cambodia, as well as a stepped up bombing campaign in North Vietnam. Although he had not mentioned it during the campaign, Nixon had also formulated new ideas concerning relation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. He was ready to jettison the traditional policy of containment, which had been directed at all communist nations. In an article in the journal Foreign Policy in 1967, Nixon argued that the United States was no longer strong enough to act as the "world's policeman" in Asia and that it could no longer afford to keep China out of the normal discourse between nations. In addition, he had argued during a speech that the United States should pursue negotiations with the Soviet Union to seek ways in which to reduce the tensions between the two superpowers. These two policy objectives, ending the war in Vietnam and repairing relations with China and the Soviet Union, became linked during the Nixon administration, as he saw an opportunity to bring pressure on the North Vietnamese through their communist benefactors.
Nixon also brought a very important player into his administration who thought along nearly the same lines. Henry Kissinger was no politician but an academic who had acquired a positive reputation in the arena of U.S. foreign policy. Kissinger had a far reaching ...