Nixon and Obama: Ending Wars
Richard Nixon and Barack Obama both served as the President of the United States during wartime. Both presidents inherited the war from their past colleagues and both wars had been going on for many years. Both presidents have resolved the wars, however, the way in which Nixon resolved the war is more for personal benefit while the way that President Obama resolved the war for benefit of the nation and its military.
While Nixon was in office, he used the war to his benefit, helping him win another term in office. Nixon’s plan was to use “Vietnamization,” a process in which American soldiers would train South Vietnamese to fight for themselves and eventually drawing American troops out of the war (Vietnamization). At first, General WestPoint was in charge, raiding Vietcong bases and trying to eliminate them. The original plan was to use the body count to discourage any more NVA troops from fighting, but this strategy backfired because both Vietnamese and American troops had high body counts. General Abraham was appointed as commander and began the “Vietnamization” strategy, which only seemed to work in the public’s eyes. Nixon made a treaty with South Vietnamese President, to have a ceasefire to withdraw American troops and release American POWs while South Vietnam took over the war (The). Nixon planned to use this strategy to withdraw all American troops, however it was “worse, Nixon would leave North Vietnamese troops occupying and controlling much of the South, while withdrawing all remaining American ground forces (Hughes).” Nixon’s use of Vietnamization helped to further his political resolve. He “sacrificed the lives of American soldiers to further his electoral ends (Hughes).” The ...
... middle of paper ...
...troops are withdrawn. The government in Afghanistan will be able to run itself with guidance from America, shifting to the supporting role. Obama’s plan was more effective than Nixon’s in that it actually worked and did not need to be faked. President Obama’s approach to ending the war greatly helps to benefit America and its people.
In conclusion, both Presidents ended the wars inherited by previous presidents; however President Obama’s approach was much less controversial and more effective than Nixon’s approach. Nixon’s plan backfired and caused him to lose more American lives than he had planned. Obama’s plan focused on stopping American casualties and bringing troops back after Afghan was actually ready to fight for themselves. Nixon’s approach was selfish, while President Obama’s approach was used to benefit American and Afghan politics and society.
...ous statements it can be inferred that in some ways the Obama administration was like the Bush Administration in terms of foreign national policies. Obama also made poor choices by expanding on Bush policies that were already a dangerous jaunt from constitutional practices. Another thing Obama did was increase our expenditures by the billions, which can cause harm in his domestic reform agendas, and might lead to divisive and expensive foreign wars.
Both President Bush and President Obama had very different ways of running the country during their presidencies. Overall, President Bush used less persuasion on major domestic and foreign policies than President Obama. With these differences among the presidents, they both passed and approved laws that would try to better the nation and it’s citizens.
The U.S. president is a person deemed to be the most fitting person to lead this country through thick and thin. It’s been such a successful method that it has led to 43 individual men being put in charge of running this country. However, this doesn’t mean that each one has been good or hasn’t had an issue they couldn’t resolve when in office. But no matter what, each one has left a very unique imprint on the history and evolution of this nation. However when two are compared against one another, some rather surprising similarities may be found. Even better, is what happens when two presidents are compared and they are from the same political party but separated by a large numbers of years between them. In doing this, not only do we see the difference between the two but the interesting evolution of political idea in one party.
Although, of all the correlation?s these Presidents share, they also have a few contrasting elements. President Clinton and Nixon committed different categories of crime. In fact, Clinton?s nature of the crime was sexual rather than criminal self-indulgent; thus, Nixon self indulgent rather than sexual. The two Presidents also have different methods of upholding the US economy and fighting inflation. For instance, Nixon cut back and opposed federal welfare services, proposed antibusing legislation, and used wage-and-price controls to fight inflation. Clinton on the other hand, proposed more moderate health-care and welfare-reform measures and advocated plans that would reduce taxes less and more gradually eliminate the federal debt. As well as crime and great strategies of cutting down the taxes and eliminating federal dept, both the Presidents made historic marks in history. For example, in February 1972 Nixon made a historic trip to Beijing (Peking)--where he was received by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung)--thus reversing the U.
Nixon’s approach to the war was Birchesque. He campaigned for president in 1968 as a peace candidate by pointing out that he had been raised as a Quaker and promising to bring the troops home. His path to peace, however, entailed an escalated war. After his election as president, he unleashed a ferocious air assault on the Vietnamese and extended the ground war into Laos and Cambodia. When the anti-war movement criticized these measures, Nixon did what any Bircher would do: he decried the anti-war movement as a communist conspiracy that was prolonging the war and that deserved to be treated as an internal security threat.
Nixon although considered one of the most controversial politicians used his political experience, his background and the communist scare of the late forties and early fifties to become President. It took Nixon about four years but eventually he put an end to the Vietnam War. He promised the American people that when he took office his highest priority would be putting an end to the horrible war. He did what he promised and deserves credit for that. Although things did not always work out for him he came back from the events a smarter man. He used his knowledge to win the election. It takes a smart man to learn from his mistakes and Nixon did that. That is why he deserved to be President of the United States.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the most controversial war the United States had ever been involved in during its rich two-hundred year history would engulf the country, ultimately leading to the collapse of a president, and the division of a nation. The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam and neighboring countries from 1959-1975 involving the North Vietnamese and NLF (National Liberation Front) versus the United States and the South Vietnamese ("The Vietnam..."). In 1969, newly elected President Richard M. Nixon, aiming to achieve "peace with honor" in Vietnam, began to put his "Vietnamization" policy into place -- removing the number of American military personnel in the country and transferring combat roles to the South Vietnamese ("Speeches..."). But at the same time, Nixon resumed the secret bombing of North Vietnam and launched B-52 bombing raids over Cambodia, intending to wipe out NLF and North Vietnamese base camps along the border. The intensive secret bombing, codenamed Operation Menu, lasted for four years and was intentionally concealed from the American public; meanwhile, Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia by United States troops, arguing that it was necessary to protect the security of American units. This invasion into an allegedly neutral country was cause for much protest in the States, especially on college campuses such as Kent State University, where students rioted and held walk-outs. Ultimately, the secret bombing of neutral Cambodia was deliberately conducted without the consent of Congress, violating the articles outlined in the United States Constitution, and would have been grounds for impeachment had Nixon not resigned under the cloud of the Watergate scandal in August of 1974 ("Richard M....
Regan is the most effective President and Carter is the least effective because both men took on the same issues, but Carter’s decisions were ineffective and lost him support, while Reagan’s decisions ended conflicts and the Cold War. There is not one set of unique characteristics that define a good or bad President in the foreign policy arena, but rather the success of US Presidents’ foreign policy is dependent on how each President chooses to use their authority.
Due to the volatile conditions of the Vietnam War, the protestors believed that they should not be involved in a war that they cared so little about. Public opinion heavily swayed during the war as only one senator dissented from the overwhelming opinion to fight the war (Amter 45). However, as President Johnson escalated the war and the Draft increased by 25% in 1968, those youths being conscripted were infuriated (Dougan 118). Not only this, the North Vietnamese began a ruthless offensive on American soldiers by merciless attacking our bases. This resulted in US victories, but also US casualties (Dougan 116). Also, the marines stationed at the bases began to use offensive attacks to deter Viet Cong assault against the wishes of General Taylor (Karnov 443). With these new less defensive strategy, Nixon announced plans to start operations in Cambodia, and to increase the bombings overall in Southeast Asia (Dougan 180). Some missions even began t...
Nixon and his administration stepped up and exhibited goodwill during his first term and part of his second term. They reduced U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and brought home 518,000 soldiers from 1969 to 1972. They even made deals to get the POW’s out and home in North Vietnam (DeGregorio 595). Nixon’s administration formed the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce clean air and water laws. Nixon also signed all the Civil Rights Acts passed by Congress (DeGregorio 597).
In addition, we will also pull all American forces out of Japan, the Philippines, Central America and South Korea. Next, the United States government will stop playing its self-appointed role of 'Globocop'. Military interventions such as the ones in Somalia and Bosnia will not be repeated.
At first, he was a strong supporter of the Vietnam War but then became a strong opponent. The Department of Defense continued to lie to the people about the hype about the war. The government continued to say that the war was under control. The Pentagon Papers already have statistics on the Vietnam War. As soon as Nixon saw the paper, he went to his Attorney General right away to stop the printing of the New York Times newspaper. Daniel Ellsberg knew that he would get arrested for making copies of the papers.
Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower shared many similarities yet still many differences when it came to Cold War foreign policies. Truman’s foreign policies revolved around the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the United States would financially support Greece and Turkey . Despite Truman’s and Eisenhower’s differing political parties, the foreign policies of the presidents shared several similarities. The main differences between the two presidents can be attributed to differing circumstances during their years in office. Both Truman and Eisenhower sought to eliminate communism and support civil rights, but Truman emphasized international relations and the American economy while Eisenhower dealt more with domestic issues around civil rights.
JOHN F. KENNEDY IN VIETNAM There are many critical questions surrounding United States involvement in Vietnam. American entry to Vietnam was a series of many choices made by five successive presidents during these years of 1945-1975. The policies of John F. Kennedy during the years of 1961-1963 were ones of military action, diplomacy, and liberalism. Each of his decision was on its merits at the time the decision was made. The belief that Vietnam was a test of the Americas ability to defeat communists in Vietnam lay at the center of Kennedy¡¦s policy. Kennedy promised in his inaugural address, Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty. From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. For this reason the United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and further. This belief was known as the domino theory. The decision to enter Vietnam reflected America¡¦s idea of its global role-U.S. could not recoil from world leadership. The U.S. government supported the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. government wanted to establish the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which extended protection to South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in case of Communist subversion. SEATO, which came into force in 1955, became the way which Washington justified its support for South Vietnam; this support eventually became direct involvement of U.S. troops. In 1955, the United States picked Ngo Dinh Diem to replace Bao Dai as head of the anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam. Eisenhower chose to support Ngo Dinh Diem. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Mass., on May 29, 1917. Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the Navy the next year.
Flannagan, Michael. "Foreign Policy Better with Obama than Bush" The Lantern - Ohio State University. College Publisher Network, 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. .