Introduction

Many of Henry Kissinger’s severest critics have specific issues with actions taken during the Nixon and Ford Administrations to get the nation out of the Vietnam War, which had become a larger conflict in Southeast Asia. Kissinger was forced to face a host of national security and foreign policy crises, and did so during a time of great domestic turmoil. When Kissinger joined the Nixon Administration in 1969, he began the very difficult task of ending the Vietnam War which that administration inherited. Domestic opposition to the Vietnam War was intense and the complex negotiations with North Vietnam dragged on for several years for reasons which in hindsight make little sense. Kissinger was forced to face a host of national security and foreign policy crises, and did so during a time of great domestic turmoil. It is important to appreciate the state of the nation during the time of the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the intelligence crises post-Watergate.