How Did The Vietnam War Influence President Nixon Domestic Policy

Though achieving some success in domestic politics, most of President Nixon's first term was dominated by foreign affairs and, most notably, the Vietnam War. His administration successfully negotiated the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), designed to deter the Soviet Union from launching a first strike. Nixon also reestablished American influence in the Middle East and pressured allies to take more responsibility for their own defense. In December 1970, Nixon reduced trade restrictions against China, and in 1971, Chinese officials invited the American table tennis team to China for a demonstration/competition, later dubbed "ping-pong diplomacy." Then, in February 1972, President Nixon and his wife, Pat, traveled to China, where he was

busy with direct talks with Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader. The visit lead in a new era of Chinese-American relations and pressured the Soviet Union to agree to better relations with the United States. But the outstanding issue on Nixon's plate was Vietnam. When he took office, 300 American soldiers were dying per week in Vietnam. The Johnson administration had increased the war to involve over 500,000 American troops and expanded operations from the defense of South Vietnam to bombing attacks in North Vietnam. By 1969, when Nixon infer the presidency, the United States was spending between $60 and $80 million per day on the war. Nixon faced the decision of either increasing the war further to secure South Vietnam from communism or withdrawing forces to end involvement in an increasingly unpopular war. Beyond all the disagreements, the war in Vietnam had caused domestic inflation to grow to nearly 6 percent by 1970. To address the problem, Nixon originally tried to restrict federal spending, but beginning in 1971, his budget proposals contained shortage of several billion dollars, the largest in American history up to that time. Though defense spending was cut almost in half, government spending on benefits to American citizens rose from a little over 6 percent to nearly 9 percent. Food aid and public assistance escalated from $6.6 billion to $9.1 billion. To control increasing inflation and unemployment, Nixon imposed temporary wage and price controls, which achieved slight success, but by the end of 1972, expansion returned with a vengeance, reaching 8.8 percent in 1973 and 12.2 percent in 1974.