Nixon and Kissinger: The History of the Political Partnership That Reshaped American Foreign Policy

Best known as the 37th President of the United States, and the only president in American history to resign his office, Richard Nixon’s lengthy political career would put him, during various times, at the center of regional, national and international politics for several decades. It was to be a career filled with unexpected twists and turns, high-profile defeats and unlikely resurrections, in which he made exhaustive efforts to reinvent himself in the public eye. Though he is now best known for Watergate, he was and is considered by many to be among the strongest foreign policy presidents in the history of the United States. Nixon’s presidency is an enigmatic one, given the alternation of previously unimaginable accomplishments in foreign relations, and scandals at home.

Nixon’s first term was fruitful in several respects, especially when it came to foreign policy. In addition to “opening up China” with his historic trip there, Nixon began to wind down American involvement in Vietnam, and along with Henry Kissinger, he set crucial policies for dealing with the Middle East. As President, he held his own with the leadership of Russia and China, thawing relations and increasing trade with Asia, remarking in a later interview that whatever warmth a president might show externally to the public, he wanted a cold president without feeling when there was a difficult decision to be made, or an opposing power to be faced.

Through his work with the Nixon administration, Kissinger ultimately became the most celebrated foreign diplomat since Thomas Jefferson, and for a time, he was, according to a national Gallup Poll, the most popular and admired man in America. The highest ranking Jewish official in the history of the United States, even Egyptian politicians sitting across the desk in direct and vehement opposition referred to him behind closed doors as “the magician.”