Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power

"Kissinger was a long-time foreign policy guy who had worked for Nelson Rockefeller, among others. Nixon and Kissinger had this very crazy relationship. On the one hand, they worked closely together, but there was also a lot of acrimony and distrust. Apart from Watergate, what people tend to remember about Nixon’s presidency, and often respect—despite debate and controversy—is his foreign policy. Nixon really did care about foreign policy, more than anything else. He always wanted to be known as a peacemaker as his legacy. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter There were three big areas of his foreign policy record. One was his attempt to end the Vietnam War . He did end it, but only after several more years of American involvement, which was not what was expected when he had been elected in 1968. The second most important aspect of his foreign policy regarded the Soviet Union. Whatever you think of the long-term ramifications of détente, he did start the process. Thirdly, the opening to China. Communist China had been isolated from the family of nations and had no engagement with the United States when Nixon moved to reintegrate it. Robert Dallek is one of our leading presidential biographers. He did great books about LBJ and John F. Kennedy. Dallek decided to blend Nixon’s story with Kissinger’s story, mainly focusing on these three arenas—the Soviet Union, China, and Vietnam. There’s other stuff about the Middle East and Latin America. There are several good books on Nixon’s foreign policy, William Bundy wrote one called A Tangled Web . There are a few others I was tempted to name. Dallek’s Nixon and Kissinger is readable, enjoyable, and comprehensive."