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Title: Détente and the Nixon Doctrine : American Foreign Policy and the Pursuit of Stability, 1969-1976 by Robert S. Litwak, Margot Light, Ian Nish, Christopher Greenwood, David Stephenson, Michael Leifer, Andrew Walter ISBN: 0-521-33834-4 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 29 August, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Summary: Detante and the Nixon Doctrine
Comment: Détente and the Nixon Doctrine by Robert S. Litwak is compelling book which takes a detailed look into the Nixon-Kissinger strategy involving foreign affairs during the Nixon presidency. Through careful observation of documentation and historical fact, Litwak shows the reader the purpose of Nixon's actions during these turbulent times. Litwak writes that Nixon's desire was to keep America less involved and out of war in the post-Vietnam era.

Robert S. Litwak attended the London School of Economics and Political Science at the University of London. While there, he began his doctoral dissertation on American foreign policy during the Cold War. This book is a direct outcome of that dissertation. From London, he traveled back to the United States where he served on the National Security Council staff as director of nonproliferation and export controls during President Clinton's first term (1992-1996). Upon finishing his service in the government, he became Program Director for the division of International Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWIC), which is where he is currently teaching today. He is Chair of the cold War Documentation Programs at the WWIC as well as an author/co-author of as many as 6 books. His most recent, Rogue States and US Foreign Policy: Containment After the Cold War is a very popular book among historians across America.

Written in 1984, Détente and the Nixon Doctrine was written at a time when Litwak was became interested in the general issue of how a great power that is overextended (such as the United States in Vietnam) manages the process of "strategic retrenchment" (Litwak, 67). The book itself is split up into three sections. The first beginning with the foreign policy of President Truman (1947) and leading up to the election of President Nixon (1968). The second section covers the foreign policy (the Nixon Doctrine) during his Nixon's first term (1969-1973). The third and final section dealing with his foreign policy, mainly the practice of détente, during his second term (1973-1976).

Litwak wrote that the Nixon-Kissinger strategy had two key elements: the Nixon Doctrine and Détente. The author then writes about each in their respective section. According to Litwak, the Nixon administration sought to assume a less direct United States role in the Third World countries, and at a lower cost. This takes place in the wake of the post-Vietnam period. The author writes that the Nixon Doctrine was a direct result of public reaction to the United States seeming endless involvement in the Vietnam debacle. Litwak writes that through détente (in Nixon's second term) the United States would forge a new relationship with the Soviet Union. As a result of this new relationship, incentives would be created for Moscow to not play a destabilizing role in the Third World. Yet, the problem with détente during this time (Litwak writes) was that Brezhnev was able to separate the relationship into various points and treaties, most famously the arms limitations acts. Litwak writes that this would make détente useless, as it was more of an idea as a whole, and not separate pacts and treaties.

The Nixon Doctrine and détente was a sensible effort to put the burden of war onto regional allies. Yet, this shifting of responsibility also created problems, and as a result, both would ultimately fail. In the book, Litwak does a wonderful job of creating the scenario behind each issue and fact that is presented. Through many documents, articles, and speeches, he forces the reader to look at all sides of the issue before making his own judgement. He often uses a pattern of presenting the issue, showing documentation of opposing sides of the issue, and then he presents his own ideals. Yet, Litwak does not take a definite stand on the whole thesis. He plays more of a "devil's advocate" in many of the arguments, and takes a very conservative approach when presenting his own thoughts. While he supports his thesis very well, he does not add enough of his own commentary to the issue at hand, which would have been most helpful in reading the book. While his use of unnecessarily long and difficult explanations make way for slow reading, the material covered is well researched and presented clearly.

Litwak does a very good job in showing the reasons for Nixon's foreign actions during his presidency. In his book, Detante and the Nixon Doctrine, Litwak writes that Nixon wanted to avoid war, and realized that the post-Vietnam world was a dangerous and costly place. Nixon wanted to keep America out of war (also dangerous and costly), and as a result, practiced Detante and instituted his Nixon Doctrine.