Oil Issues in the Mid-East

In 1971, the United States relied on the Middle East to meet 11.7% of its oil requirements, and imports were rising. Multiple nations in the region were rich with petroleum reserves and made their fortune off of their sales. The United Arab Emirates were established...

Nixon On the Record: End China’s Isolation

President Nixon addresses Midwestern media executives in Kansas City on July 6 1971.44 years ago, President Nixon acknowledged the harsh reality of America’s standing in the world: that it could no longer claim global hegemony in an increasingly multi-polar and...
Okinawa Down…More Issues to Go

Okinawa Down…More Issues to Go

This political cartoon from August 1971 suggests a foreboding future for relations with Japan. Fortunately, the reality was not so grim.One of the first National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMs) President Nixon issued was NSSM 5, a study on US policy toward Japan. The...

Amid Middle East Strife, Nixon Brought Hope

By the late 1960s, conditions in the Middle East were tumultuous. Israel had captured and held mass swaths of territory, and tensions with its neighbors were at an all-time high. However, the election of a new U.S. President brought hope in 1969 that stability and...

Developing Nixon’s China Policy

Richard Nixon’s 1953 Far East Trip holds pivotal, if little known, importance in the history of US-China relations. It was on this trip that Nixon realized the true importance of China in the fight against communism, and began to take it seriously as a significant...