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Kissinger's Realpolitik and Vietnam War Impact

Henry Kissinger developed the foreign policy approach of Realpolitik which took a pragmatic view of foreign politics rather than a moralistic one. During the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration pursued a strategy of Vietnamization to transfer military power to South Vietnam and reduce US troops to avoid admitting defeat. The war ended in 1973 with a ceasefire and the withdrawal of US troops, though fighting continued until North Vietnam prevailed and Indochina fell to communism. The Watergate scandal emerged from an attempted break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and Nixon's subsequent attempts to cover it up, leading to his resignation in 1974.

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37 views3 pages

Kissinger's Realpolitik and Vietnam War Impact

Henry Kissinger developed the foreign policy approach of Realpolitik which took a pragmatic view of foreign politics rather than a moralistic one. During the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration pursued a strategy of Vietnamization to transfer military power to South Vietnam and reduce US troops to avoid admitting defeat. The war ended in 1973 with a ceasefire and the withdrawal of US troops, though fighting continued until North Vietnam prevailed and Indochina fell to communism. The Watergate scandal emerged from an attempted break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and Nixon's subsequent attempts to cover it up, leading to his resignation in 1974.

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arashesmaeili
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Henry Kissinger

Realpolitik
- developed by Kissinger, embraced “realistic” view of foreign politics
- rejected moralistic worldviews - wouldn’t try
- clear cut/pragmatic approach when going into war

VIETNAM:
Vietnamization (started w/ Nixon)
- strategy aimed at ending war in Vietnam
- transferred military power to South Vietnam
- fewer American soldiers
- “I don’t want to be the first president to lose a war”
- as to not admit defeat, “blame” on Vietnam

CEASEFIRE:
Nixon felt free to “unleash the awesome destructiveness of American airpower on North
Vietnamese.”
- bombing on both sides continued until North Vietnam ran out of missiles
Peace talks begin in 1973
- 5 days after LBJ dies
- last troops removed in 1975
- Congress called the ‘last shots’
End of Vietnam:
- Indochina fell to communism (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
- Broguht USS/USSR to bargan table
- beginning of us relations w china
- us unable to contain communsim
Lessons from Vietnam:
- don’t underestimate the enemy
- dont get involved in large scale invasions in remote parts of the world

Deaths: 1969-1973
- 20,000 US servicemen died (⅓ of the 58,000 total deaths)
- Johnson is blamed for escalating war, but massive death toll
- We bomb the shit out of Cambodia
- 100,000 S. Vietnamese died
- 500,000 N. Vietnamese died

After Vietnam War:


- S. Vietnam falls to N. Vietnam (becomes communist)
- Vietnam is still communist today
- Cambodia & Laos become communist too
Kent State Shootings (Ohio)
- May 1-4, 1970
- 4 days of protest began by students against the Vietnam war
- Kent state had been center of anti-war protests
- riot guards opened fire on students (unknown reasons)
- 4 dead, 9 injured
- increased anti-war sentiment, Nixon tried to play it off

Public Sentiment
- Nixon exaggerated in domestic policy
- elected by silent majority

1972 Election:
“Nixon’s greatest asset was the weakness of his opposition.”
Democratic opposition:
- Wallace: was shot, became paralyzed
- Ted Kennedy - scandal
- McGovern - running against Nixon
- end Vietnam War
- tried to get government to press watergate early

Chile/Overthrow of Allende:
- extent to which CIA was willing to go to in order to overthrow Allende
- like other CIA operations
- desperate
- to what extent was US involved in takedown of Allende???
- Pinoche:
- becomes commander in chief, turns into dictator

WATERGATE:
- Nixon resigns in 1974
- VP Gerald Ford takes over
- first time that a president resigns
- 1976 - Jimmy Carter is elected
- 1980 - Reagan is elected
What happened?
- Nixon’s campaign wiretap the DNC headquarters in an attempt to thwart democratic
presidential chances
- bugged room, but bugging didn’t work and people had to go back in to fix it, and
were then caught by a security guard
- Nixon attempts to cover it up
- leads him to be impeached on grounds of obstruction of justice
- FBI investigation about Watergate
- Nixon tells CIA to stop FBI investigation

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