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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2009

Asaf Siniver
Asaf Siniver
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Summary

The statesman is therefore like one of the heroes in classical drama who has a vision of the future but who cannot transmit it directly to his fellow-men and who cannot validate its ‘truth’…It is for this reason that statesmen often share the fate of prophets, that they are without honor in their own country, that they always have a difficult task in legitimizing their programmes domestically, and their greatness is usually apparent only in retrospect when their intuition has become experience.

Henry Kissinger, 1964

Henry Kissinger made this observation five years before being appointed Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs to President Richard Nixon, and nine years before becoming U.S. Secretary of State and arguably one of the most powerful men in world politics. One cannot help but admire his prophetic vision, as these words would eventually come to symbolise the legacy of U.S. foreign policy under the partnership of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.

This book explores the making of American foreign policy during the Nixon years. More specifically, it is concerned with the mechanism of crisis decision-making during four major foreign policy crises between 1969 and 1974. To date, questions about the organisation of the foreign policy machinery and its impact on the making of foreign policy have been overshadowed by more descriptive accounts of the main achievements of the Nixon administration in foreign affairs.

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Nixon, Kissinger, and US Foreign Policy Making
The Machinery of Crisis
 , pp. 1 - 11
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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References

Kissinger, H., A World Restored (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1964), 329Google Scholar
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  • Introduction
  • Asaf Siniver, University of Birmingham
  • Book: Nixon, Kissinger, and US Foreign Policy Making
  • Online publication: 17 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511511660.003
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Asaf Siniver, University of Birmingham
  • Book: Nixon, Kissinger, and US Foreign Policy Making
  • Online publication: 17 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511511660.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Asaf Siniver, University of Birmingham
  • Book: Nixon, Kissinger, and US Foreign Policy Making
  • Online publication: 17 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511511660.003
Available formats
×