Kissinger as National Security Adviser, 1968-1973

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

TV reports

19751205ABC 001.mpg

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

Softer Image

Kissinger’s Public Service Ad after 9/11

20011108CNN 001.mpg