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Running head: PRESIDENT NIXON DOCTRINE
The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy
Thien Thai
Professor Jane El-Yacoubi
POL300
Strayer University
Feb 5th, 2017
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PRESIDENT NIXON DOCTRINE
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President Nixon Doctrine
During his time in office, and even before that, it was very clear that President
Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974), was more concerned about the foreign affairs and less about
the domestic affairs. During his presidential campaigns in 1968, he promised the American
people that he would combat the war in Vietnam and bring it to an end with peace and
honour. Swearing the oath of office on the 20th of January in 1969, he reiterated this little
fact, by assuming the responsibility of ending the war and in this manner, the Richard
doctrine came to be born. The following paper will outline the Richard doctrine, and
summarize a situation where this doctrine was used.
Summary of Situation that required U.S. Diplomatic Efforts between 1969 and 1974
By the time Nixon was being elected president, the war in Vietnam had been ongoing
for a period of about four years, and its effects were catastrophic. The American soldiers who
lost their lives to this war were over 25, 000, and the Vietnamese were too many to count
(Wiest, 2012). At first, President Nixon thought it wise to increase the number of American
troops in South Vietnam, thinking that this would end the war, and also, ordering secret B-52
bombs to be dropped in North Vietnam, at a base camp in Cambodia (Clodfelter, 2006). He
was doing this hoping to increase pressure on the Soviet Union to urge their North
Vietnamese allies to come to the negotiation tables. By increasing the American troops in
South Vietnam, he also hoped to increase the same pressure on China, to urge South Vietnam
to also agree to come to the negotiation table in order to end the war using peace talks.
However, as time went on, it was clear that his attempts were failing and it was time for an
additional effort.
Doctrine followed by the President
Working together with his Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry Kissinger,
and also equipped with his vast knowledge in matters to do with foreign affairs, his toughness
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and willingness to do whatever it took to end the war in Vietnam, President Nixon unveiled
the Vietnamization plan (Dallek, 2009). The first step of this was meeting with President
Nguyen Van Thieu, the then President of South Vietnam, and declaring that American
soldiers would be withdrawn from Vietnam. Then, having had a series of talks with various
Asian leaders, Nixon asserted in Guam that the America would always honour the treaties
made with Asian countries, but would no longer take part in their battles, unless it was to
intervene when Asia was facing attack from a nation with nuclear powers. Then, the
American soldiers who left South East Asia were replaced by South Vietnamese troops. 1973
saw North Vietnam and the United States sign a peace treaty, which formally brought the
very long war in Vietnam to an end (Herring, 2013). His doctrine came to be known as the
Vietnamization doctrine in which, he let the Asians tend to their own military needs,
something which led to the war being brought to an end.
Effects of the Diplomatic Efforts on the U.S. and Other Countries
The diplomatic efforts were divided into two. First, there was the part where the U.S.
increased the number of troops in South Vietnam to try and pressure North Vietnam into
signing a peace treaty. Then, there was the second part in which the doctrine was put in place,
and the war came to an end. When the U.S. increased its military influence in Asia, the
number of American soldiers who died increased. This was a loss for the American people
who had lost good soldiers in a foreign battle field. The other notable effect was that it also
showed the Asian people and the other countries of the world that the U.S. would do anything
in order to win, and this was going to affect the reputation that the U.S. had made for itself
over the years.
The doctrine affected different countries in a different way. For the U.S. it meant that
no more soldiers would be killed in a battle that was not even happening on American soil. In
addition, in order to get the Chinese and Soviet Union to back this doctrine, the U.S. was able
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to improve its relations with this two nations, something which would later come to benefit
the United States. In Vietnam, this doctrine meant that the Vietnamese now had to fight their
own war, with support from the other Asian countries. In so doing, they realised the war had
claimed so many lives, leading up to the peace treaty signed by North Vietnam and the
United States in 1973, which brought the war to an end. Part of the doctrine also required
President Nixon to assure Asia that the treaties made between the United States and Asia
were going to be honoured, and this was good for the improvement of the relations between
the United States and Asia as a whole.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Doctrine
Advantages
This particular doctrine, firstly allowed the Asian people to have a chance at growth.
When the U.S. started re-deploying its soldiers from Vietnam, it was finally time for Asia to
take the reins of the war, and do whatever it took to end on their own. In a way, this can be
said to have brought some level of increased co-operation between the Asian nations, in
which their collaboration to bring an end to the gruesome war brought the countries together.
In addition, the doctrine spared the loss of more soldiers on the battle field since, the U.S.
was using bombs dropped on North Vietnam, in order to urge them into surrender. This was
not a good move because North Vietnam was expected to retaliate by dropping bombs of
their own on South Vietnam and this back and forth bombing cost a lot of lives. Therefore,
putting the doctrine in place meant that more lives were going to be spared, which is a good
thing.
Furthermore, the doctrine did not just involve the U.S. and Asia. It also involved other
allies of Asia, such as part of the Soviet Union which is in Europe. To pull it off, the nations
had to meet on the discussion table, and agree on the way forward. The end of the war would
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mean that Vietnam would finally get a chance to rebuild itself after a long time, thus boosting
the Asian economy in the process, and also, improving the quality of lives of the country.
Disadvantages
There were concerns about the ability of South Vietnam to successfully plan and
execute an attack on North Vietnam. By withdrawing its forces from South Vietnam, it was
almost as if the U.S. was sentencing South Vietnam to an assured death. In addition, some of
the nations might have interpreted the doctrine as a sign of the failure of the United States to
successfully bring the war to an end. With the nations thinking like this, they would slowly
lose their trust and confidence in the United States, therefore affected their relations to this
super power to some extent (Sobel, 2001).
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References
Clodfelter, M. (2006). The limits of air power: The American bombing of North Vietnam. U
of Nebraska Press.
Dallek, R. (2009). Nixon and Kissinger: partners in power. Harper Collins.
Wiest, A., & McNab, C. (2012). The Vietnam War. Amber Books Ltd.
Herring, G. (2013). America's longest war: the United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Sobel, R. (2001). The impact of public opinion on US foreign policy since Vietnam:
Constraining the colossus. Oxford University Press on Demand.