Richard Nixon
•Elected 37th President in 1968
•Promised to end the Vietnam war
•Pulled troops but increased bombing campaign, implemented Vietnamization
•Began a policy of Détente to lessen Cold War tensions
•Resigned after being implemented in Watergate scandal, 1972
•Promised to end the Vietnam war
•Pulled troops but increased bombing campaign, implemented Vietnamization
•Began a policy of Détente to lessen Cold War tensions
•Resigned after being implemented in Watergate scandal, 1972
Detente
•Reasons why U.S. sought détente:
•Nuclear and Strategic Parity - The Russians had caught the U.S. in most military areas (caused them to want to think of other options)
•Early Success:
•Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (limit the spread of Nuclear weapons) Signed by Johnson in 1968 (France and China do not sign it)
•Many, like Henry Kissinger, felt détente was just a new form of containment
•Nuclear and Strategic Parity - The Russians had caught the U.S. in most military areas (caused them to want to think of other options)
•Early Success:
•Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (limit the spread of Nuclear weapons) Signed by Johnson in 1968 (France and China do not sign it)
•Many, like Henry Kissinger, felt détente was just a new form of containment
summery
Detente the general easing of geo-political tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States which began in 1971, as a foreign policy of U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford called détente; a 'thawing out' or 'un-freezing' at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War. Nixon's name was tarnished after the watergate incident.