Download Aim: What new directions were taken in foreign affairs

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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
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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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).
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Nixon Visits China
Question 7

How did American policy toward China
change under the Nixon administration?
Question 8
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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.
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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)