Show January 31 1973 From the Christian Science Monitor 4 history BapifaM with professor looks at Kissinger “The collapse of the American effort in Viet Nam would not mollify many critics most of them would simply add the charge Unilateral withdrawl could therefore lead to the permission from th Christian Scionco Monitor C 1973 The Christian Science Publishing Society All rights reserved In"1967 Henry Kissinger from the podium of Utah Old University’s spoke State erosion of restraints and to an Main even more dangerous- international situation” He did not Auditorium He was then a consultant to the US State Department He told his audience that the atmosphere among diplomats was strange to him He felt more at home on a college campus He was accustomed to the surroundings of Harvard where he had quietly conducted research on 19th century The European diplomacy academic spirit he enjoyed there promoted a free and reflective look at all sides of a question and open cirticism of all ideas Once his research appeared as a published book Kissinger said he was not surprised that it caused “not even a ripple” on the world scene But later when he worked - underestimate the difficulties of negotiation a ceasefire “It would be difficult to imagine two societies less meant to understand each other than the Vietnamese and the American” The Vietnamese said Kissinger are suspicious meticulous concerned about saving face and inherently foreigners hostile toward at yet adept manipulationg them “Where Hanoi makes a fetish of planning Washington ' is almost allergic to it We prefer to deal with cases as they arise ‘on their merits’ Pronouncements that the United States is ready to negotiate do not guarantee that a by Douglas dealt with another setting entirely — the Europe that was defeating Napoleon Kissinger -- mms - METTERNUCH AT C0N6R6S5 OF VIENNA for the State Department his negotiating position exists or that the US Government has arresearch time was telescoped ticulated its objectives” from two years into 24 hours and — US Despite the Hanoi confrontation Kissinger clearly stated that some of the most crucial issues really revolved around - the relations between Russia and China Russia needed to prevent China from extending her influence in Southeast Asia and could do so by supporting Hanoi Kissinger said there was urgency for a new policy to extricate Russia from the need to ' support Hanoi But Dr Kissinger did not believe that the US should hnjjose a coalition government on South“Viet Nam as a price for gaining Russian and Chinese aquiesence “We must be clear that our involvement in such an effort may well destroy the existing political structure of South Viet his recommendations could upon occasion determine whether troops and civilians in war zones lived or died Henry Kissinger soon returned to Harvard after serving in the Democratic administration as n State Departthe ment figure But in 1969 the Republicans appointed him as the White House Super State little-know- Department: the President’s National Security Advisory Possible prophet Just prior to his 1969 ap- penned pointment some more history This time it Kissinger was on a contemporary topic: Viet Nam Appearing in the respected journal Foreign Affairs this later contribution caused wider notice than his book but it still is virtually unknown by the general public If one were to read it now (four years later) he could be convinced that the author then had the ability to predict the future Kissinger in a dispassionate and analytical assessment of the War in Southeast Asia described the strength of the North Vietnamese position but argued that they would have to negotiate a peace He showed that the US was fighting at a major military disadvantage but could not be defeated Nonetheless the US forces could not win because they could only control the Vietnamese countryside in the daytime At night the Viet Cong often took over the villages that affirmed loyalty to Saigon when the sun was 'sWmngfTfiere were no convential- lines in this unorthodox War - Nonetheless Kissinger maintained that the Viet Cong and North Viet Nam could be drawn into a negotiated peace despite the shocking Tet Of-fensive and the failure of LBJ’s halt ' bombing Kissinger rejected a unilateral withdrawl from Viet Nam even though President Nixon had promised Americans that he would end the war - - Nam and thus lead to a Com- munist take over’’ Now that peace has come to Viet Nam is Henry Kissinger a prophet? He would likely be the first to deny such a claim He could cite many moments in the last four years when his grand design seemed to be endangered by the intransegence of Hanoi He must have often despaired of reaching that diplomatic thaw movement in before the anti-wa- r the US destroyed his chances Nonetheless a reading of that their urgent problems at home and in contest with each other and will abandon their cold war goal to “bury America” Henry Kissinger’s point is that the risk of competing overkill was more likely to bury us than the new risk of limited security and equilibrium Once the three “‘studied the diplomats who the French masterminded Tyrant’s enmesis and restructured the Europe he left in shambles? What Kissinger maintained in this story was that a brilliant diplomat Count Clemens von Metternich saw Napoleon’s demise coming when he was yet at his height The reason was that Napoleon could only maintain himself by force Metternich was convinced that the only lasting politics that could rule Europe was a legitimate system based on a principle he called equilibrium With English and Austrian support Metternich negotiated a treaty at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 that established a system of equilibrium He argued that no country should have dominance in Europe He even went so far to claim that no country should achieve total security becuase that would make all other countries insecure All powers would have to settle for a limited security system That in oversimplified terms is what Henry Kissinger learned from a 19th century diplomat And that is what he has applied to American foreign policy Since 1945 the United States had been pursuing a policy of total security The American stocknuclear power- - and the piling plans for overkill seemed to promote Russia and China on the same path The Cold War was based6n mutual hositility both in military and ideological terms That was the greater reality surrounding Viet Nam The War in Southeast Asia was a Berlin Crisis grown bigger and bloodier It was a confrontation of the three supperpwoers in an indirect attack The unfortunate local contestants (North and South Viet Nam) never had control over the ultimate options What Henry Kissinger has in the instituted is an about-fac- e fundamental foreign policy of America He was not the first to envision it but he actually terminated the American efforts at containing Communism and of a instituted program establishing an equilibrium between Russia China and the United States To do this new doors had to be opened Visits had to be made at Chinese and Russian request Once these were delicately negotiated then the US had to come up with a new offer — to give up her cherished security America had to agree to give up overkill and invulnerability in order to enable China and Russia also to give up that costly pursuit Both of those superpowers have domestic priorities they need to if they can believe that America will not attack them America’s gamble is that China and Russia will be engrossed in to-tur- Alder D powers became convinced that there was a real chance for equilibrium then the Viet Nam War had to go It had become an This became anachronism known to the public on October 6 1972 when North Viet Nam gave up her demands and offered new for By peace options Thanksgiving peace seemed within a grasp The deadlock and resort to force that followed was directed at least as much toward softening up South Viet Nam as the North Henry Kissinger could not have achieved his delicate task alone There is a significant- silent second in the ring with him His name is Richard Nixon The President has had to absorb the hatred of the anti-wa- r protestors He and not Kissinger had to risk impeachment or at least ruin The President would like to have been the foreign policy master But somewhat like William I and Bismarck he has had to be the supporter of a brilliant premier - contibutions has been adherance — not design — or His - -- even implementation There is rich irony in Richard Nixon Conceivably Hubert Humphrey could have been president He might have pursued the same course of detente with China and Russia It is even conceivable that Henry Kissinger could have comfortably served as his National Security Advisor But all these “ifs” would certainly have been vulnerable to a widespread American blacklash assusing the liberal Humphrey of “selling out to the Commies” That exact same path under the trademark of the conservative Richard Nixon was nearly immune from the Rightist attack Though the Republican president may not have been able to “bring us together” he did prevent polarization from getting worse than it was at the end of LBJ’s term Henry Kissinger could likely never win a general election himself He’s basically an egghead who has never had to communicate with the public Editor’s note: Dr Douglas D Alder is an associate professor of history at USU In his History of Western Civilization classes held on this campus he has used Henry Kissinger’s book A World Restored “A History Professor Looks at Kissinger” is the ‘ result of lectures and classroom discussion centering around Dr Kissinger’s work Affairs Foreign article and a look at today are a -- sobering couplet Though it was a tight squeeze all the way Kissinger got the US to a negotiated peace in Vietnam at the same time that s — d war troop- wt protesters were sapping the war effort How did it come about? Is Kissinger really a superstar? Would another man in the same position during those four years have brought us to the same M-ra-w- a-n point? Kissinger’s earlier book At least part of the answer lies buried in that rather unknown book Kissinger wrote in 1957 before most of us could even pronounce the name Viet Nam It ft ' iF Riluy A |