Richard Nixon

A

1

Quang Tri Offensive

The tide of the war took a turn for the worse on March 30, 1972. North Vietnam launched a massive offensive south into Quang Tri province. In April, the United States retaliated with the first deep-penetration bombing raids over the north since 1967. On May 8 Nixon ordered the mining of major ports of North Vietnam, notably Haiphong, to destroy enemy supply routes. Air strikes were directed against North Vietnamese railroad lines, causing serious economic problems. Quang Tri City, after being held by the Communists for four and one-half months, was recaptured by South Vietnamese forces on September 15.

A

2

Peace Talks

As the war continued into the second half of 1972, secret peace meetings were held between Henry A. Kissinger, assistant to the president for national security affairs, and the North Vietnamese delegate Le Duc Tho, beginning on October 8. A breakthrough was achieved when, for the first time, the Communist side expressed acceptance of a peace plan separating the military from the political settlement of the war, relinquishing its demand for a coalition government in South Vietnam, and agreeing to a formula for simultaneous discussion of the situation in Laos and Cambodia. However, the talks abruptly collapsed on December 16, and the following day Nixon ordered further massive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong. Subsequent night raids were perhaps the most severe aerial assaults in history, and the sudden reescalation of the conflict was criticized by many people in the United States and elsewhere. The air attacks also resulted in the loss of 15 B-52s and in the loss or capture of 93 U.S. Air Force personnel.

A

3

Relations with China and the USSR

Nixon was more successful in other areas of foreign policy. Nixon pursued a policy of improving relations with China and the USSR. In February 1972 he traveled to Beijing, and in May 1972 he visited Moscow. He signed trade agreements with both countries and a treaty with the USSR to limit the deployment of antiballistic missile systems. In June, the USSR completed an agreement with the United States that enabled it to make huge purchases of U.S. wheat.

B

Domestic Affairs

Nixon adopted conservative domestic policies, in part to win support in the South, where voters favored such policies. Although two of his nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States were rejected by the Senate, Nixon appointed appeals judge Warren E. Burger to the Supreme Court in 1969; federal judge Harry A. Blackmun from Minnesota in 1970; and Virginia lawyer Lewis F. Powell and Assistant Attorney General William H. Rehnquist of Arizona in 1971. Together they shifted the Supreme Court toward more conservative positions. Nixon also tried to slow the pace of integration of black students into white schools. Separate schools were common across the country, but they had been the norm in the South until the Supreme Court declared the practice illegal in 1957. Nixon did not aggressively prosecute segregated school districts, and Nixon opposed the use of public buses to transport students to integrated schools.

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Nixon also faced economic problems. Inflation (a rapid rise in prices) combined with high unemployment caused hardship for many people. The president tried to slow inflation by raising interest rates, which, in theory, ought to have reduced the amount of money in circulation and thereby lowered prices. Unfortunately the tactic failed, and in August 1971 Nixon began instituting wage and price controls. At the same time, to promote U.S. exports and discourage imports, he devalued the dollar, which lowered the cost of U.S. goods in other countries.

C

Election of 1972

By 1972, when Nixon and Agnew sought reelection, inflation had slowed and the international position of the U.S. economy had improved. Although the Vietnam War continued, the mining of North Vietnamese harbors had gone unchallenged by North Vietnam’s main allies, and in October it was announced that peace in Vietnam was “at hand.” Aided by prospects of peace and by improvements in the economy, as well as by division within the Democratic Party, Nixon won easily over his Democratic opponent, South Dakota Senator George S. McGovern, obtaining 47,169,911 popular votes and 520 electoral votes to McGovern’s 29,170,383 popular votes and 17 electoral votes.

Almost unnoticed during the campaign was the arrest of five men connected with Nixon’s reelection committee. The five had broken into the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to steal documents and place wiretaps on the telephones.

VI

Second Term as President

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