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Summary Of President Nixon's Address To The Nation

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IV. President Nixon’s Address to the Nation
With a large number of Cambodians residing in Phnom Penh, Pol Pot’s communist party had the strength to take over the government and initiate terror and genocide among the remaining Cambodian population. On 30 April 1970 President Nixon delivered a special address to the nation regarding what he called, “the situation in Southeast Asia” (Address to the Nation). Prior to the speech, Nixon had stated that he would “not hesitate to take strong and effective measures to deal with that situation” (Address to the Nation). According to Nixon, even after countless warnings, the North Vietnamese Army still continued to ignore them. As a result of this, Nixon believed “that the time has come for action.” At …show more content…

He explained that the Vietnamese Army had seized many areas located on the borders of Cambodia to increase their military tactics in the war (Address to the Nation). Nixon provides his audience with three options that the United States could consider. First, the country does nothing to help Cambodia. However, this option was quickly disregarded due to the harm it would cause not only to the refugees in Cambodia but also the 150,000 America soldiers remaining there. The second option was to provide aid and assistance to Cambodia by supplying them with military equipment as well as volunteering soldiers to fight in the Cambodian army (Address to the Nation). Although option two was rejected because of the worry that Cambodia would not be able to defend their neutrality, Nixon came up with a plan to enter Cambodia through the Vietnamese base camps in order to drive out the Vietnamese forces, resulting in option three. Once the army’s military supplies were destroyed and the sanctuaries were vacant, American troops would withdraw (Address to the Nation). President Nixon made it clear to the public that his decision was not an invasion of Cambodia, but rather what he called an ‘incursion’ (Address to the Nation). An incursion is a brief attack or invasion made on enemy territory. In response to criticism, Nixon …show more content…

When the campaign first began in 1969, President Nixon made it clear that every decision was to be kept a secret from other branches of government, most military officials, and the public. The only authorized people to know were President Nixon himself, his administration, and certain military officials. A few days before the bombings began, Nixon told Kissinger over the phone, “No comment, no warnings, no complaints, no protests… I mean it, not one thing to be said to anyone publicly or privately without my prior approval” (The Secret Bombing of Cambodia). President Nixon was worried how the public would react to his decisions to bomb Cambodia—initiating multiple protests against the government. Not only was this a fatal and risky decision, but also it violated the admonitions stated in the United Nations

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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

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Foreign policy wise, Nixon, while still in office, began to follow Realpolitik, a policy that allowed him to create relationships with both the Soviet Union and China because it no longer required morality to be a considering factor. This change in foreign policy caused concern for Americans because of the fear of communism.

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Nixon wanted to end the war just like every other American. He had many plans for this war and one of them was called Vietnamization. Vietnamization was a policy that would replace U.S. troops with South Vietnamese troops and supply them with supplies and weapons (Rubel 182). It was a way to retreat U.S. troops and end involvement in the war. Even though he ended involvement in the Vietnam War by withdrawing U.S. troops, he decided to bomb enemy forces in Cambodia (Lillegard 71).

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With the US military helping South Vietnam against the North Vietnam. The South Vietnam didn’t not feel like they had support under the Western’s power, which South Vietnam didn’t because Nixon was trying to help the South Vietnam, but no involving US soldiers to fight in the war. Although, Nixon made the Vietnamization policy to stop US involvement it cause more of a uprise for the US position in the war. The New Economic policy and Nixon Doctrine both policies made by Nixon was only towards his presidency and not actually stopping the US involvement. Nixon said it would make a change in the US involvement to better but instead Nixon didn’t follow up upon his campaign promises.

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The Cambodian Campaign was a series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia during 1970 by the United States and the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. These invasions were a result of the policy of President Richard Nixon. A total of 13 major operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam between April 29 and July 22 and by US forces between May 1 and June

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government was the release of the Pentagon Papers because it exposed some of the highest ranked political leaders participating in scandals, including the Watergate scandal, which assisted in the downfall of the Nixon administration. Commissioned by the administration of former president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, the Pentagon Papers, a 47-volumed, 7,000 page document, detailed 3 decades of U.S. involvement in Vietnam and proved that the government knowingly took steps to increase its involvement in the conflict despite the government’s assurance to the public of the contrary (Rudenstine, 2003). Daniel Ellsberg, a consultant at the Rand Corporation and a contributor to the report, leaked the report to the New York Times in June 1971. Although Nixon attempted to block its publication, he failed to suppress the growing suspicions ("The Pentagon Papers.", 2009). I claim that the exposure of this report is another event which significantly contributed to the U.S. government’s credibility gap.

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Nixon then announced a military invasion into Cambodia, where areas of communist sanctuaries were helping North Vietnam and Viet Cong. Afterwards, he went to China, where he ended a decade’s worth of feud between the Sino-American

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On August 8th, 1974 at exactly 9:01 pm, Richard Nixon--former President-- gave a speech that would affect both United States history and the american people. Richard Nixon’s argument and claim lay within the textual aspects, in other words, his tone, attitude, and the strategic ways of presenting to his audience. In this historical speech, Richard Nixon broadcasted his character, past decisions, and future advice to the people of the United States in order to justify his resignation from the presidential office. The rhetorical stylistic tools were effective and instrumental in backing up the argument. Recognition of audience was important, because it will determine his attitude and tone, which was innocence.

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Nixon's Vietnamization strategy was a change of his approach to ending US involvement in the Vietnam War. The goal of this was to reduce American involvement, he wanted to reduce the amount of military that was committed to Vietnam. Another goal was to transfer military responsibilities, he wanted to slowly transfer military responsibilities to South Vietnam. The goal was to build up South Vietnam's army so they could defend themselves during a takeover. Some of the results were the mixed outcomes, some progress was made, but this process faced many challenges, including the extra military in South Vietnam were not able to prevent the fall of Saigon and this resulted in Vietnam under communist rule.

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Summative Precis Richard Nixon, the former president of the United States, in the resignation speech (of August of 1974) announced his resignation that included a solemn speech towards the country regarding the reaction to the Watergate affair. Nixon supports his claim by using pathos which showed his respect for the nation and its institutions while also acknowledging his fault and taking ownership of his deeds in this speech, then by using ethos which urged the populace of the United States to uphold their confidence in the government and support the country's sustained stability based on the idea that Nixon tried his best for the Nation and its people, and finally by using syntax by using long and winding sentences to distract from the

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What options were available to President Johnson? To President Nixon? What were the advantages and disadvantages? When Johnson took the presidency he could have stopped support to South Vietnam, but he didn’t.

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Being known for his foreign policy acted as a personal goal of Nixon during his presidency. A visit to China donoted something unlike any other president had done before, and it helped to developed Nixon’s credibility as a foreign policy leader. “It has been said that Nixon 's trip to China and its results mark the most significant achievement in U.S. foreign policy since the end of World War II, because it shifted the global balance of power in favor of the United States” (“The Richard M. Nixon Administrations”). Along with his visit to China to help promote Nixon’s popularity in foreign affairs, Nixon utilized

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In his essay, Hills explains how Nixon evokes the intended response from the immediate audience by gaining support for the war. Nixon states in his speech, “tonight-to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans-I ask for your support.” Here, Nixon uses resentment in sacrifice in lives and finance, longing for some action in a marked direction were strategies used to gain support instead of “teaching.” This in turn allowed America to continue in the war which proves that he agrees with Foss for Nixon’s primary role was not that of a teacher or

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On April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation to announce that U.S. and South Vietnamese forces would cross into Cambodia to engage North Vietnamese forces and destroy its military supplies. Nixon said that the invasion was necessary to prevent North Vietnam from using Cambodia as a sanctuary to launch attacks on South Vietnam. He also said that the invasion would help cut off the flow of supplies to North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. The invasion of Cambodia was a major escalation of the Vietnam War. It was also highly controversial, as many Americans opposed the war and did not believe that the invasion was necessary.

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The thirty seventh president’s tone throughout the speech was genuine and anguished. He stated frequently his regret towards his resignation; when this passage is read aloud, it is stressed heavily on pathos and that Nixon defended his decision with the selflessness of his own emotions and did what is better for the country (“American”). In his speech, Richard Nixon establishes his credibility and then goes on to show the logic of why he is resigning along with sparking the reader’s emotions in defense of him through the use of frequent fallacies and rhetorical devices. Nixon goes on to speak of his accomplishments and the tasks he hopes the American people will achieve with a new president, but those ideas are shadowed by the steady reminders by Nixon himself of the circumstances that are causing him to resign the Presidency that overall make Nixon’s arguments to logic and his credibility seem

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