Kimball's Influence On Vietnam

What Kimball does demonstrate is that Nixon was more than willing to use force to attain his goals in Vietnam. That these goals often were intertwined with Nixon’s domestic political agenda is clearly evident. His desire for a decent interval is an example of this. Decent interval is the establishment of conditions to preserve the South Vietnamese government after a U.S. withdraw. The interval had to be of sufficient time to allow for Nixon to exploit his successes on the U.S. domestic political front. He demonstrates that, by in large, Nixon and Kissinger kept to the same strategy of Vietnamization, triangular diplomacy and use of force. The Enemy’s political will is an obvious factor for Nixon not achieving his goals. However, in the author’s view, Nixon should have capitulated at the first set back and exited Vietnam altogether. That he did not, that he persisted in his strategy, that he continued to use force, the author attributes to Nixon’s black id following the madman theory. Kimball also demonstrates that Nixon and Kissinger have a deep working relationship dealing with the Vietnam war. The success, blame and culpability are equally shared as their actions were in concert during every key decision of the war. Though not always in agreement, Kissinger continued to advise

is the aggressor; North Vietnam is simply trying to recover their rights to self-determination and shrug off the yoke of American hegemony. He sets the stage by personally attacking the character and physical appearances of both Nixon and Kissinger. The term prat boy to describe Nixon’s vice presidency to Eisenhower speaks for itself. He uses controversial pyschohistorian, Dana Ward, to claim that Kissinger is mentally unstable. Writer Peter Loewenberg states that Dana Ward’s psych diagnosis of Kissinger is highly speculative, and inappropriate as it is used as a political