Abstract

Nixon's War in Vietnam

This article examines the foreign policy followed by the U.S. government under President Richard Nixon, with special emphasis to the U.S. role in the Vietnamese Conflict. The real story of Vietnam is that the United States has again escalated the war, in the face of disengagement from the other side. According to Republican legislators who have talked to Mr. Nixon, he apparently sees Vietnam as a problem in public relations and American politics. Nixon has allowed himself to fall for the fantasy, because of his own obsession with communism. The President reportedly expects a military victory in Vietnam within a year or two. Nixon's domestic chiefs find themselves increasingly frustrated by the heavy money drain of the war. The official budget figure for military spending in Vietnam alone this year is $28.8 billion, and the Pentagon probably underestimated the cost as usual, and will have to come sneaking back for a supplement.