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Richard Nixon: Wars
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Even as the Vietnam War continued, Nixon sought better relations with the People's Republic of China. He relaxed the trade embargo against that country, a move coinciding with the visit there, at China's invitation, of a U.S. table tennis team. In July 1971 Nixon announced that he would visit China. He made the trip in February 1972, was received by Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and conducted lengthy negotiations with Premier Chou En-lai. The talks opened new possibilities for trade and created semiformal channels of communication, short of diplomatic recognition and exchange of ambassadors, between the two countries. In 1973 Nixon named the distinguished diplomat David Bruce to head the new U.S. liaison office in Peking.
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Nixon appealed to what he claimed was the "silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the "hippie" counterculture and civil rights and anti-war demonstrators. Nixon ... promised "peace with honor," and without claiming to be able to win the war, Nixon claimed that "new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific." When a reporter pressed Nixon for specifics, he did not reveal any details. Because of this, Nixon's opponents criticized him for not revealing his secret plan to end the Vietnam War, although Nixon had not used this famous phrase. Still, many voters supported Nixon because they believed he would end the war.
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As a new member of the Congress of the United States, Nixon gained valuable experience in international affairs while serving on a special committee that helped establish the European Recovery Program. Under this program... known as the Marshall Plan, the United States helped pay for a cooperative, long-term rebuilding program in Europe following the war. Nixon also served on the House Education and Labor Committee, where he helped draft the Taft-Hartley Act on labor-management relations. The act outlawed union shops (workplaces where everyone had to join the union); prohibited such union tactics as secondary boycotts; forbade unions to contribute to political campaigns; established loyalty oaths for union leaders; and allowed court orders to halt strikes that could affect national health or safety (see National Labor Relations Act).
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When none of these expectations was fulfilled, Nixon resorted to heavy bombing in Cambodia and Laos and the mining of Haiphong harbor. Through all of these setbacks and miscalculations, Nixon continued to bring back American troops; both he and Kissinger agreed in May 1972 that "regardless of what happens now, we'll be finished with the war by August." By the end of 1972, 500,000 American troops were reduced to 20,000. A break came on October 8, 1972; the chief North Vietnamese negotiator, Le Duc Tho, agreed to end the war without removing Thieu. More months passed before the final accord was reached. It gave the North Vietnamese all they wanted except for one thing—the United States was not going to take responsibility for kicking out Thieu.
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Inflation ... was on the rise and Nixon attempted to curb it with wage and price controls in August 1971. The strategy was to freeze wages and prices for 90 days, followed by a transition to controlled changes. The policy seemed to work at first and was warmly accepted by the stock market, but eventually proved to be unworkable and was abandoned in April 1974. The economy moved into recession in 1974 when inflation climbed to 12.1 percent after the onset of the Arab oil boycott in October 1973.
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Nixon's principal electoral mandate was to end the war in Vietnam. He authorized the gradual withdrawal of the 500,000 American troops from South Vietnam and sought to negotiate a settlement that would not harm U.S. interests or credibility. U.S. draft calls and casualties declined, but the war continued. To increase U.S. leverage, Nixon ordered the incursion into Cambodia in 1970, the massive bombing of Hanoi, and the mining of Haiphong Harbor to cut off Soviet aid. These actions were domestically unpopular and are extremely contentious, even though Nixon claimed that they were instrumental to reaching the settlement by which all American combat forces were withdrawn and all known prisoners of war freed by March 1973. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Nixon ended conscription in 1973, transforming the U.S. military into an Allâ€Volunteer Force.
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