Post on 22-Oct-2021
Kissinger as National Security Adviser, 1968-1973
Henry Kissinger and American Power
Osher Lifelong Learning 2018
1970 Nixon strategy: New Realism in foreign policy
1.) continued withdrawals – 150,000 –secret negotiations conducted by Kissinger in Paris
2.) invasion of Cambodia – May 1970 –domestic reaction – Kent State
3.) China – no progress – Mao reverses view after Cambodia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGBLAKq8xwc
Kent State – May 4, 1970
Other Foreign Policy Frustrations and Achievements in 1970
1.) Middle East – Continuing Violence, Jordanian Crisis September 1970
(Kissinger – “”You can’t lose them all.”)
2.) Soviet submarine base in Cuba – Kissinger uses “channel” to prevent it
3.) Chile – Allende’s Victory – Kissinger’s role in plotting a coup –killing of General Schneider – debate over Kissinger’s responsibility
4.) Increasing European Assertiveness, German Ostpolitik
5.) Lack of Agreement with Soviets on Arms Control – no summit
6.) Kissinger cements his importance to Nixon – seen as a media favorite and asset to the Administration
Midterm elections – Republican
losses 1.) Republicans gained two seats in the Senate, but lost 9 in the
House – Democratic margin in House elections increased from 1.1. million to 4.5 million
2.) Nixon – thought he might be a one-term president; considering end of the war announcement – tells advisers to highlight Kissinger, because of media favoritism
https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/bob-haldeman-s-audio-diary-entry-on-nixon-s-plans-for-withdrawal-from-vietnam
Kissinger answers a question about the decent interval:
https://history.state.gov/conferences/2010-southeast-asia/secretary-kissinger
4.) Kissinger decides to stay
19710116CBS 001.mpg
Nixon’s Frustrations, Kissinger’s
Reassurance Low point in the Nixon presidency, Laos invasion
had gone badly, Republican congressional leaders wanted to set a date to get out of Vietnam, Nixon resented their pressure
19710226CBS 001.mpg
http://nixontapes.org/hak/1971-04-07_Nixon_001-010.mp3
Shortly after this speech, things began to break for Nixon – the Chinese approved a trip, the Russians wanted talks
Opening to China
SALT negotiations
Failure in South Asia – the India-Pakistan
War of 1971 and the “tilt” toward Pakistan
Kissinger as Nixon’s “Secret
Agent” – TV coverage
TV coverage
Favorable treatment of Kissinger’s Press Club speech:
19720127CBS 001.mpg
Kissinger in 1971 before China
19710710CBS 001.mp4
ht
The trip to China: February
1972
Easter offensive, April 1972
Nixon’s gamble
1.) Nixon orders renewed bombing of North Vietnam and the mining of Haiphong harbor – against Kissinger’s advice
2.) Soviets don’t cancel the summit
3.) North Vietnam pressured to settle by Soviets and China
The Soviet Summit
McGovern’s Campaign – Come
Home, America
Kissinger’s – “Peace is at Hand”
Press conference, Oct. 26, 1972
http://nixontapes.org/hak/1972-10-26_Nixon_032-063.mp3
Nixon Landslide – 1968 vs. 1972
Time “Men of the Year” 1972
Christmas bombing December
1972
Paris Agreements
Paris Peace Accords of January
1973
1.) North Vietnamese troops allowed to remain in the South
2.) US troops withdrawn
3.) US POWs returned
4.) Thieu remains in power
(Nixon’s secret/public assurances)
Nixon’s Second Term Hopes
1.) Year of Europe – planning for a new Atlantic Charter
2.) Middle East settlement – secret negotiations with Israel and Egypt
3.) Diplomatic Recognition of China and full relations
4.) A SALT II agreement with the Soviet Union
Watergate Scandal
Secretary of State, August 1973
Yom Kippur War, October 1973
Kissinger in the Middle East,
1973-1976 1.) Kissinger crafts the ceasefire that ends the Yom
Kippur war of October 1973 – very favorable television coverage
2.) Kissinger negotiates disengagement agreements between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Syria
19740529NBC 001.mpg
3.) Kissinger establishes the United States as the “honest broker” for Middle East peace – pushes the Soviet Union out
The Celebrity Diplomat – Dr.
Kissinger
Superman Kissinger
Nixon’s Resignation – August 1974
Kissinger under attack
1.) Congress challenges Presidential power – Democratic “Watergate class of 1974”
2.) Opposition to détente among conservatives
3.) Liberals challenge morality of policies toward dictatorships like Chile, Brazil, Argentina
4.) Collapse in Vietnam
Fall of Saigon, April 1975
Controversy over Solzhenitsyn
and detente
Helsinki Accords
Helsinki – the Highpoint of Detente
1.) Soviet agreement on human rights questions
2.) Controversies in the US – role of Henry Jackson, issue of Soviet Jews, Ford and Solhzhenitsyn
Opposition to Angola policy,
December 1975
The Angolan Crisis – October-Dec.
1975
1.) Three factions – MPLA (Soviet and Cuban), FNLA (US) and UNITA (US and South African
2.) Cuban intervention
3.) South African intervention
4.) Congress cuts off US efforts
5.) Kissinger now engages in diplomacy in South Africa, push for majority rule in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia
Criticism over human rights and
Chile: Kissinger and Pinochet
Kissinger under attack
Attacked from both sides of
political spectrum
Kissinger in Retirement
1.) Carter - Shadow Secretary of State
(Attacked in books – Heller and Shawcross)
2.) Reagan – Adviser on the Soviet Union and Middle East – chair of the Central American Commission
Attacked in Seymour Hersh, The Price of Power
3.) Bush I – influence of protégés – Brent Skowcroft, Lawrence Eagleburger
4.) Occasional Adviser – Clinton, Bush II, Obama
Publication of Hitchens, The Trial of Henry Kissinger