Diplomacy trumps military force, even for the USA, yet under DT our State Dept. is being hollowed out, as noted in the recent article by Roger Cohn. Very alarming, as the neocon war drums beat louder.
Nixon's lies are nothing compared to those of DT, who is like a wounded and cornered beast. I fear for what must now being transpiring.
Nixon's lies are nothing compared to those of DT, who is like a wounded and cornered beast. I fear for what must now being transpiring.
14
Hasn't Nixon's "us versus them" mentality been standard political operating procedure for all Republican president's who have followed? Including on the domestic front?
15
Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were Bohemians? That's a good one. 1967 was surely the year of the true American variety, the Yippies, who were not only dismissed as "those kids" but beaten into the ground for protesting against the war. They protested openly and honestly and cared just as much about America's place in the world as the duplicitous Nixon.
7
As correctly recognized across Asia it’s the American - not Vietnam - War.
26
This essay provides a useful reminder that America's troubled relations with other parts of the world did not begin with Donald Trump or even George W. Bush. Neither of those two presidents, in my judgment, understood America's relations with the rest of the world or adopted intelligent foreign policies.
The fact remains, though, that America's preeminent position in the world after 1945 inevitably fostered tensions with both our allies and neutral countries. During the Cold War, especially, US leaders tended to believe that the virtue of our cause made neutrality illegitimate. Even with respect to our allies, moreover, both Democrats and Republicans maintained that American policies defined the right approach to dealing with the Communist powers.
Neither of these somewhat arrogant attitudes, so typical of great powers, always pleased foreign leaders. Hence the conflicts described in the essay.
The gritty reality of our post-WWII foreign relations, however, does not excuse Trump for his abandonment of America's leadership role. Earlier presidents valued our allies and negotiated with them, even if not always harmoniously. But Trump's open skepticism about the value of alliances, coupled with his strange admiration for Putin, mark his foreign policy as distinctively different from that of all his predecessors.
The fact remains, though, that America's preeminent position in the world after 1945 inevitably fostered tensions with both our allies and neutral countries. During the Cold War, especially, US leaders tended to believe that the virtue of our cause made neutrality illegitimate. Even with respect to our allies, moreover, both Democrats and Republicans maintained that American policies defined the right approach to dealing with the Communist powers.
Neither of these somewhat arrogant attitudes, so typical of great powers, always pleased foreign leaders. Hence the conflicts described in the essay.
The gritty reality of our post-WWII foreign relations, however, does not excuse Trump for his abandonment of America's leadership role. Earlier presidents valued our allies and negotiated with them, even if not always harmoniously. But Trump's open skepticism about the value of alliances, coupled with his strange admiration for Putin, mark his foreign policy as distinctively different from that of all his predecessors.
20
There is no doubt that Nixon had his problems but in one area he has always been a hero and example for me. He never gave up even after suffering significant defeat. As the poem from Edmund Cooke says " You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?....Come up with a smiling face.....It's nothing against you to fall down flat,.....But to lie there, --that's disgrace."
2
The day America bought into Nixon's lies. Watergate was but a culmination of his sordid personality.
How many thousands died who didn't have to?
How many thousands died who didn't have to?
26
In his 1967 address to the Bohemian Club, Richard Nixon painted a "dismal picture of American prestige" - it was hated across the globe - due to its involvement in the Vietnam war. But the crooked Nixon was also a hypocrite - he prolonged the war. His campaign associates worked surreptitiously with the South Vietnamese government to obstruct peace talks between the Johnson administration and North Vietnam. Nixon did end the Vietnam war, but with neither peace nor honour. He finally resigned but left a permanent stain on American democracy.
The list of his hits was long - apart from the Watergate scandal, he used the Internal Revenue Service to go after his political enemies, waged a dirty tricks campaign against his opponents and launched an illegal war in Cambodia etc. Little did he know that he would find a worthy competitor 50 years later. It remains to be seen whether Trump would outdo his predecessor in terms of duplicity, perniciousness and treacherousnes.
The list of his hits was long - apart from the Watergate scandal, he used the Internal Revenue Service to go after his political enemies, waged a dirty tricks campaign against his opponents and launched an illegal war in Cambodia etc. Little did he know that he would find a worthy competitor 50 years later. It remains to be seen whether Trump would outdo his predecessor in terms of duplicity, perniciousness and treacherousnes.
42
What choice? Colonialism brought riches to Western Allies that crushed enemies and advanced science, industrialism & technology that benefitted mankind. But lurking, powerful forces sought not only to undermine but destroy progress. Who else was capable of stopping the challenge? The long view says the world is far better today than if dominated by powerful, autocratic warlords bent on conquering. Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon pushed the advantage we had, strength in military, economic and charity and gave us what we enjoy today. Suppose we had retreated letting Mao, Stalin, Kruschev et al run the table? Would the world be a better place?
4
What choice? Well, we might have adopted the principle, in line with our own foundation, of upholding self-determination and increasing democratic legitimacy for all peoples everywhere--regardless whether they sought to implement socialist policies in their own countries. We could have had the moral ground of standing against *all* tyrants, Communist, fascist, or otherwise.
10
Nixon of course was fundamentally flawed as demonstrated by his black-white demarcation for the world. There are many reasons to condemn his reasoning, but at least he thought about what he wanted to accomplish and how to do it. Who would have imagined we would ever see Nixon as part of the good old days when America was great.
8
Nixon was a traitor.
He conspired to stop the peace process so that the resulting chaos would get him into the White House. More than 20,000 Americans died before peace could later be established. Odd that the writer of this article didn't include that truth.
But then, it is all about power and the defeat of the hopes of the poor and the powerless by the Bohemian Club crowd. Always was, always will be. Income inequality didn't grow from ignorance, it grew from a deliberate, murderous, conspiracy of the super rich against the very poor in America.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
He conspired to stop the peace process so that the resulting chaos would get him into the White House. More than 20,000 Americans died before peace could later be established. Odd that the writer of this article didn't include that truth.
But then, it is all about power and the defeat of the hopes of the poor and the powerless by the Bohemian Club crowd. Always was, always will be. Income inequality didn't grow from ignorance, it grew from a deliberate, murderous, conspiracy of the super rich against the very poor in America.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
59
As Reagan did with the hostages in Iran, undermining Carter´s effort for their release.
26
Thanks Hugh that comment is right on
13
In some respects a good essay, in others a bizarre one characteristic of both the American left and Trump that seems oblivious to the rest of the western world and America's relations to it. It's not as though the rest of the western world wasn't critical of America's relations to the third world or the Vietnam War. Think of Kennedy's attempts to get rid of Canada's Diefenbaker or Johnson's beratement of Canada's Pearson and Britain's Wilson, much less the attitude to de Gaulle who had a much better global understanding of Vietnam than just about anyone in America. (The only way you got accurate news and understanding of the Vietnam war from mainstream press in those days was by reading Le Monde or Agency France-Presse. Sorry NYT. ) As for Tito, his objection to Mao wasn't so much that he was a revolutionary as that he was a Stalinist and presented himself as Stalin's heir in opposition to the CPSU and Khruschev and Brezhnev.
16
And let us not forget the rest of Nixon's approach to - perhaps use of is a better term - the Vietnam War. The Johnson Administration did attempt to negotiate an end to the conflict with the Paris Peace Talks. emember how they bogged down in bickering over the shape of the table, protocol, etc? The Nixon Campaign had dispatched Madame Anna Chenault to Saigon to convince Nguyen Van Thieu that if he delayed the talks, he could get a better deal through the next (Nixon) Administration.
Thieu cooperated, the talks went nowhere, Nixon was elected ... and he kept the war going for four more years, only reaching a "breakthrough" toward ending it during the 1972 election. Four years of war, over 18,000 more American dead and who knows how many Vietnamese, Cambodians and Lao killed?
The national media gave him a pass on the whole sordid story. I remember reading about the "Chennault Mission" in Ramparts but nowhere else. Recently a "smoking gun" memo was unearthed in the Nixon Library; even George Will now admits the story is true.
But that strategy worked so well that in a 1980 replay, Iran was given to understand that it would benefit if it held onto the American hostages until after the election.
Nixon's treachery in regard to Vietnam is of a piece with his "Southern Strategy," which has reached its apotheosis in the current Administration. Connect the dots, if you care.
Thieu cooperated, the talks went nowhere, Nixon was elected ... and he kept the war going for four more years, only reaching a "breakthrough" toward ending it during the 1972 election. Four years of war, over 18,000 more American dead and who knows how many Vietnamese, Cambodians and Lao killed?
The national media gave him a pass on the whole sordid story. I remember reading about the "Chennault Mission" in Ramparts but nowhere else. Recently a "smoking gun" memo was unearthed in the Nixon Library; even George Will now admits the story is true.
But that strategy worked so well that in a 1980 replay, Iran was given to understand that it would benefit if it held onto the American hostages until after the election.
Nixon's treachery in regard to Vietnam is of a piece with his "Southern Strategy," which has reached its apotheosis in the current Administration. Connect the dots, if you care.
51
In mentioning John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War, the author surely should have made clear Kennedy's rôle in getting the U.S. into the Vietnam mess—vast escalation in the early 1960s with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962.
Instead, most of the discussion of the Vietnam War concerned Lyndon Johnson's pausing of bombing and resumption of bombing, futile efforts at ceasefire and peace negotiations, etc. But Lyndon Johnson inherited the Vietnam War mess from John F. Kennedy.
Instead, most of the discussion of the Vietnam War concerned Lyndon Johnson's pausing of bombing and resumption of bombing, futile efforts at ceasefire and peace negotiations, etc. But Lyndon Johnson inherited the Vietnam War mess from John F. Kennedy.
22
"the invasion of Cambodia or the effective abandonment of South Vietnam "
- rewrite history much? I skipped the rest, fantasy overload
In your alternate universe, do we still have gravitational constants and a fixed speed of light?
WHY are we still stuck in the 60s, too much reefer, and how come weed has not been legalized, let us go have a useful flashback
FLASH update, Nixon is not president any more
But he lied, even though he was otherwise a pretty good prognosticator
we DO have Richard Nixon to kick around more and ever more
- rewrite history much? I skipped the rest, fantasy overload
In your alternate universe, do we still have gravitational constants and a fixed speed of light?
WHY are we still stuck in the 60s, too much reefer, and how come weed has not been legalized, let us go have a useful flashback
FLASH update, Nixon is not president any more
But he lied, even though he was otherwise a pretty good prognosticator
we DO have Richard Nixon to kick around more and ever more
5
Nixon didn't abandon Vietnam--that's Walter Krankheit you're talking about. And why are you trotting out the Boomer's boogey man? He actually looks pretty good by comparison.
1
LBJ's strategy was to whip him ferociously, then back off for a week--expecting gratitude and submission--which might work for some personality types.
For others it just intensifies disobedience and resentment--a mere continuation of abuse, justifying delinquency.
Incredible tough-guy stupidity. Trump promises to dish up more of it.
However the Domino Theory was also at fault--bad "intelligence"--ideologically skewed. It misapplied the mistake of appeasing Hitler's domino expansion and Truman's correct worry about North Korean threatened expansion to Vietnam.
Good intelligence would have gleaned that Vietnam was NOT another North Korea. It was more like Revolutionary America, outgrowing colonial abuse and thus delinquent, disobedient and resentful of more of it--by France, USA, China or USSR.
Bad intelligence failed to include China or USSR. as objects of Vietnamese resentment.
Trump's evisceration of the State Department promises more bad--prejudiced--tough guy--foreign policy, making USA "intelligence" and oxymoron.