Foreign Policy: Evaluating Nixon's and Eisenhower's Use of Power

Nixon had made it known that the communist world would consist of soviet union and china. President Nixon mainly wanted to gain advantage by exploit everyone else. Richard had a policy better known as the triangular diplomacy. China knew that the united states had much to off with this policy put in place. An american veto had been put in place this would cause a block on admission on china to the united nations.

Entering World War II in 1939, Nixon started working for the federal government for the Office of Emergency Management. He soon joined the navy in 1942 to help fight against the german, japanese, and italians. He was serving as an aviation ground officer and then rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. He got sent to the Pacific with the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command. Almost fifteen months later he soon arrived in the United States. While Nixon was in the United States he was elected the U.S. House of Representatives. He defeated the five-term Democratic Congressman Jerry voorhis in a campaign that relied on Jerry’s communist actions. Nixon soon gained the reputation as an internationalist in foreign policies. He also had to

Prior to Communism in China, it was known to be a chaotic country on the brink of self-destruction. With the emergence of the party leader Mao Zedong, came a new hope, which filled its inhabitants with the belief that China would return to its former historical greatness. American and Chinese relations before 1971 were in simple terms described as “uneasy”, due to the American, Soviet Cold War. It was not until President Richard Nixon visited China and realized the high value of having China as a ally that relations between the two powers began to become positive. Unknown at the time, it is assumed in the book Chinese Lessons written by John Pomfret, that the relationships he formed with the people he met in China would change his outlook on life and Communist China forever.

After World War II, Soviet Union expansionism in Eastern Europe fueled America’s fears of Russia controlling the world. The United States had been aware of Soviet communism and became concerned about the safety of the country. From then on, the USSR and the United States competed in an arms race, starting with military buildups. This became known as the Cold War and was an international power struggle for both nations. For about forty-five years, the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union took place. During this conflict, the two nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield, but deadly threats were traded for years. The president at the time, Ronald Reagan, used U.S. policy and diplomacy to attempt

In fact, early on into his first term, Nixon visited China to discuss Sino-US relations and world affairs.To start off, the monolouge of the trip stated that “The U.S. side stated: Peace in Asia and peace in the world requires efforts both to reduce immediate tensions and to eliminate the basic causes of conflict.” This was supportive to the idea that the US wanted to avoid conflict with China at all costs. Furthermore, the US did not want to appease the Chinese to just achieve peace; they had clear demands of their own that needed to be met. The capitalist victory over communism in Indochina, was one of these goals. This was stressed by the US in the monologue of President Nixon’s trip to China as well: “The United States stressed that the peoples of Indochina should be allowed to determine their destiny without outside intervention; its constant primary objective has been a negotiated solution.” It is to the United States’ preference that the vietcong and North Vietnamese forces be cut off from Chinese supplies. To achieve this, the United States made their demands before a conflict arose to ensure that an ignored threat did not become

With the end of World War Two and the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, the United States emerged on the global stage as one of the planet's great economic and military powers. It is safe to say that with America's change in status, and in conjunction with profound industrial and technological change, that presidential leadership would necessarily have to transform yet again to meet a new era; nowhere could two different styles of leadership to meet the age be seen than in the Cold War administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Both men would exhibit a unique style of leadership suited to the personality of each, and each style could be considered to characterize the administration of each president, but nevertheless, both men would also use very similar leadership styles when necessary in order to attain certain policy goals.

In conclusion, President Nixon and Soviet leader Brezhnev developed detente from 1969 to 1979 because of the overwhelming fear of a possibility of a nuclear war. The cost of the arms race had taken an immense toll on the economic stability of both the United States and the Soviet Union, causes both leaders to adopt a more pragmatic view of the Cold War. The European countries involved in the Cold War were also taking steps to relax tensions between the countries divided by the iron curtain. This caused both nations to develop this period of detente and establish treaties through the Arms Limitations

The Cold War, which started sometime in the 1940’s, was a large quarrel between the United States and the Soviet Union. This dispute involved a lot of propaganda and threats of nuclear warfare. Despite all of the trouble though, after over forty years of fighting, the two leaders of these countries (Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev) would finally work out a solution. However, although they did reach an agreement, there were many differences between these two men.

With this book, a major element of American history was analyzed. The Cold War is rampant with American foreign policy and influential in shaping the modern world. Strategies of Containment outlines American policy from the end of World War II until present day. Gaddis outlines the policies of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, including policies influenced by others such as George Kennan, John Dulles, and Henry Kissinger. The author, John Lewis Gaddis has written many books on the Cold War and is an avid researcher in the field. Some of his other works include: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War

Since the world wars, America has been referred to the most powerful country in the world. Being the most dominant force in the air, water and on land, there seems to be no challenge, domestic or foreign, that the United States Military cannot handle. America is still very powerful and convincing when it comes to policy decisions that influence not only the United States but the whole world. Having a heavy hand in international law, the United States maintains the image of being the most powerful nation not only in the armed forces but even in political decisions. Heading American government is the President of the United States. The President is often referred to as the most powerful man in the world. Even as the head of the United States, the President has many institutional restrictions that limit his power. The limitation on his power is often reflected in his role for implementing legislation. The President has certain authority however, as different Presidents come and go the actual power they have does fluctuate. Other limitations come in the President’s role in War. Most people think that the President has unrestricted power when it comes to the laws of the United States, however they are very mistaken.

ended, the war. All in all President Nixon used his power of making negotiations and though it had some

President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.

During presidencies, Eisenhower and Truman both struggles on how they would end the cold war around the globe. They had high expectations on how they would prevent the war in crippled Europe using America‘s foreign policy.

January 1969, Richard Nixon entered the executive office picking up the pieces Lyndon Johnson who had left while the Vietnam War was still in effect. Many Americans had the expectation that Nixon would be the “peaceful president”, visualizing he would put an end to this war in Southeast Asian and bring back home our troops. A policy Nixon redefined was the American role in the world by suggesting to limit the U.S resources and commitments. Therefore, Nixon’s set his efforts to end the war since the withdrawal from Vietnam was not an immediate option. Also, Nixon had his radar on Moscow and China because according to George C. Herring, they felt that they must release the United States from the war in a way that would uphold United States credibility with their friends and foes alike. During Nixon’s term in office, he tries a number of different strategies in his effort to end the war, but to this day, one can see that Nixon only prolonged the war when it could have ended earlier.

In 1960’s America was becoming divided at home and struggling to understand the America’s intervention in foreign nations especially South Vietnam. When Nixon took office he wanted to quiet the protests, he wanted to get America out of Vietnam and focus on the falling economy at home. Thus Nixon purposed a period of relaxation with the Soviet Union. “ Nixon and Kissinger hoped that such a relationship, which they deemed détente would lessen the threat of nuclear war, encourage the Soviets to pressure North Vietnam into a peace settlement.” (Gillon p. 1114) “ President Nixon and Henry Kissinger wanted to abandon the costly pursuit of weapons superiority and instead focus on peaceful economic competition.” (Gillon p.1114)