President Johnson imposed a military strategy on the conduct of the Vietnam war that was called:3/2/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() So closely did the two work together that they are sometimes referred to as "Nixinger." Together, they used the National Security Council staff to concentrate power in the White House-that is to say, within themselves. The instrument of his control over what he called "the bureaucracy" was his assistant for national security affairs, Henry Kissinger. He kept Secretary of State William Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird out of the loop on key matters of foreign policy. Nixon took office intending to secure control over foreign policy in the White House. He would play China against the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union against China, and both against North Vietnam. Politically, he hoped to gain credit for easing Cold War tensions geopolitically, he hoped to use the strengthened relations with Moscow and Beijing as leverage to pressure North Vietnam to end the war-or at least interrupt it -with a settlement. Although his base of support was within the conservative wing of the Republican Party, and although he had made his own career as a militant opponent of Communism, Nixon saw opportunities to improve relations with the Soviet Union and establish relations with the People's Republic of China. It was in this arena that Nixon intended to make his mark. Kennedy, was far more interested in foreign policy than in domestic affairs. President Richard Nixon, like his arch-rival President John F. ![]()
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