Larry Berman No Peace No Honor Summary

Larry Berman's, No Peace, No Honor (Touchstone), argues that Richard Nixon wanted to be remembered as a great foreign policy president, however, his plans went array due to the Watergate scandal. Berman believes that with the aid of Henry Kissinger, President Nixon buried the truth about America's “honorable” pulling out of South Vietnam, thus leaving the South to fend off their northern counterparts. It is argued by Kissinger that the administration won the war and that it was Congress that lost it. Kissinger has said that it is evident that congress lost the war when they defunded any continued military activity that could have prevented the communist from taking over South Vietnam. Berman argues that Nixon and Kissinger both knew that with

was getting ready to pull out anyway (182). These points are highlighted when Thieu asked Haig if he had ever seen a peace accord where the enemy was allowed to stay in invaded territories. “If Russia had invaded The United States, would you agree to a peace accord that allowed them to remain in your country

Kissinger read a letter from Nixon that stated that he had checked to see how much support he had in the Senate, and the results of that check indicated that if the only roadblock from reaching an agreement were from Saigon, the Senate would personally lead the fight to cut off funding when the new Congress reconvenes (195). This shows that both Kissinger and Nixon knew that Congress was getting ready to pull funding for the war. It also proves that Nixon knew that even if the United States pulled out of the war – and if the North invaded the South – there was nothing he could do to prevent it from