1969-1976: Détente
The war in Vietnam continued into the presidency of
Richard M.
Nixon, who initially sought a resolution to the conflict in Southeast
Asia by decreasing the number of troops on the ground while extending air raids
into Cambodia and Laos. However, the combination of domestic anti-war fervor and
Congressional determination to extend limits on Presidential war power meant
that finding an end to the conflict was a political necessity.
Kissinger and Mao in China
The administration introduced the policy of “Vietnamization,” a program designed
to shift the responsibility of the war from the U.S. to the South Vietnamese,
allowing the United States to gradually withdraw its troops from Vietnam.
Although this process was not successful, the United States negotiated a peace
agreement in 1973 and withdrew from South Vietnam, which soon fell to the
communist regime in the north. As the Nixon Administration worked to end the
Vietnam War, National Security Adviser and Secretary of State
Henry
Kissinger worked toward achieving détente with the Soviet Union.
Arms limitation talks with the Soviets reduced military spending and increased
the sense of security, and established formal commitments to future discussions
between the two powers. President Nixon and Secretary Kissinger also reached out
to the other major communist power and cleared the way for future American
recognition of the
People's Republic of China by
establishing an American policy toward Taiwan.
Posts
