policy - The Black Vault

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to be reflections o. his personal strength of will led Nixon to direcýzt
efficient and decisive military operations in Indochina unlike any undertaken
by Johnson.
At the time of the 1972 December bombing Nixon reflected
this perception when he told Kissinger, "We'll take the same heat for big
blows as for little blow,. If we renew the bombing, it will h&ve to be
something new,
and that means we will have to make the big decision to hit
Hanoi and Haiphong with B-52's.
Anything less will only make the enemy
contemptuous." 34/ Thus, Nixon sought to convey to Hanoi that ne had both
the political sti'ength to take bold new intitatives and that he was willing
to advance to bombing levels not reached by Johnson.
The success Nixon
enjoyed in these demonstrations during the first years of his administra-
"tion made all the more dramatic by his inability to carry through on his
policies when his political base had been eroded by Watergate. ,J
linked in the minds of US
The political weakness of the president became directly
political figures with his inability to pursue
the course he had established when the Peace Accords had been signed in
January 1973. 35/ The tpmporery domestic political weakness of'Nixon
directly affected the presidency's foreign policy-making powers through the
War Powe;.,s Act of November 1973.
4. fhe Ford Administration
a. Overview
Gerald Ford became Presidaint with an exceptionally weak
political base. He had been appointed to the office of vice president, and
he was made president upon the resignation of Richard Nixon. Thus, he had
not stood for national election, and he did not have a nationwide political
base of his own. In addition, Ford entered office at a time when the
Congress was .asserting its role in Foreign-policy making to a degree
A lrelief
unprecedented in this century. Although Ford benefited from the sense of
that Followed the ending of the Watergate hearings and the depart'ire
"of Richard Nixon, throughout his administratiol he was hampered by strong
-3.1gressional input to his policy making.
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