Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy

PRESIDENT NIXON DOCTRINE 7

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy

Thien Thai

Professor Jane El-Yacoubi

POL300

Strayer University

Feb 5th, 2017

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 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with President Nguyen Van Thieu, the then President of South Vietnam, and declaring that American soldiers would be withdrawn from Vietnam.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 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 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).

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.