Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: foreign policy gains, foreign policy leader, renewed bombing, White House, United States, Middle East (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestselling author Dallek (An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy) delivers what will quickly become recognized as a classic of modern history: the definitive analysis of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger's complex, often troubled partnership in running American foreign policy from January 1969 through August 1974. Dallek has had unprecedented access to major new resources, including transcriptions (20,000 pages) of Kissinger's telephone conversations as secretary of state, unreleased audio files of key Nixon telephone conversations and Oval Office discussions, and previously unexamined documents from the archives of Nixon, Kissinger (who served first as national security adviser, then as secretary of state) and White House hands Alexander Haig and H.R. Haldeman. Dallek's eloquent portrait of power depicts two men who were remarkably alike in important ways. Both harbored ravenous personal ambitions. Both suffered from (and operated out of) profound insecurities and low self-esteem. Both were deeply resentful (to the point of paranoia) of criticisms and challenges. Digging deep into the various archives, Dallek artfully fills in the back stories behind such debacles as the pair's policies in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Middle East, as well as such triumphs as the opening to China. In what many will consider the book's darkest moment, Dallek reveals for the first time the discussions and strategic thinking that led to the U.S.-orchestrated coup d'état against Chile's democratically elected president Salvador Allende in September of 1973. As he did with his Kennedy biography, Dallek finds important new material that will revise our thinking about a president and the man the author terms "a kind of co-president." 16 pages of b&w photos. (May 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

Reviewed by Margaret MacMillan

Historian Robert Dallek has made his reputation with biographies of American presidents, Kennedy and Johnson among them. In this massive new book, he focuses on a relationship between one of the most controversial recent American presidents and his most influential foreign policy collaborator. So close was the partnership between Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger that one historian has talked of a "Nixinger" foreign policy. In the first 100 days of his presidency, Nixon met with Kissinger, then his national security adviser, 198 times; by contrast, William Rogers, the secretary of State, met with the president only 30 times.

Nixon and Kissinger shared a similar view of the world -- that nations should act to promote their own interests and to encourage international stability. Both worried about what Vietnam had done and was continuing to do to the United States; both wanted to mend relations with their allies, particularly in Europe; and both wanted a better understanding, including arms control agreements, with the Soviet bloc. Yet they were never friends, and both tried to take credit for the administration's foreign policy successes.

Dallek paints a vivid portrait of two clever, insecure men, each wanting a place in history. Although at the start of their relationship, in 1969, Kissinger was a relative unknown and Nixon his powerful patron, by 1974 it was Kissinger, then secretary of state, who remained popular with the American public as a reviled Nixon left the White House. In later years, they rarely saw each other.

One of the great challenges in writing a history of the Nixon administration is the extraordinary wealth of material, most of it now released. Rogers rightly warned Nixon and Kissinger that they would regret taping everything, but both men were eager to ensure their place in history. Dallek has trolled through thousands of pages of transcripts from the Nixon and Kissinger tapes and caught them at their best and their worst, vindictive, funny, statesmanlike, petty, wise and absurd. A word of warning, though: Their lengthy conversations ought not always be taken at face value. Nixon worked his ideas out that way; Kissinger tended to flatter and agree with his president and even joked about it.

The tapes show the two men egging each other on to savage their enemies. The Democratic senators who are talking of impeaching Nixon during Watergate are, says Kissinger, "bastard traitors." The two men gloat that the 1971 war between India and Pakistan will cause American liberals "untold anguish" because their beloved India was so clearly the aggressor. They celebrate when Gen. Augusto Pinochet overthrows Salvador Allende's government in Chile, reassuring each other that, in Kissinger's words, "we didn't do it," although in the next breath he admits, "I mean we helped them."

Dallek recognizes the real successes of the Nixon administration -- China, the end of the Vietnam War and détente with the Soviet Union -- and its failures, such as the coup in Chile. He also reminds us of how dangerously distracted Nixon became as a result of Watergate. Sen. Barry Goldwater came away deeply worried after a bizarre dinner in 1973 at which Nixon "jabbered incessantly, often incoherently, to the end." Increasingly, it was left to Kissinger, the administration's "one figure of stature remaining," as Time put it, to manage American foreign relations and cope with crises such as the October War between Israel and its Arab neighbors. For all the fascinating detail, the big picture remains elusive. Curiously for a book about one of the key relationships in American foreign policy, there is little extended analysis of what the two men thought about the world and the role of the United States. Nixon, Dallek tells us, wanted to advance world peace. So do beauty pageant contestants. Nixon is "an idealist" and "a defender of national traditions," and Kissinger is America's "chief practitioner of realpolitik." We need more explanation. The two men "had a hidden agenda that they themselves did not fully glimpse." Well, neither do we.

This also is very much a history of the period as seen from inside the Beltway. Other countries and their leaders serve as background and obliging extras. In 1969, Nixon tells Charles de Gaulle that he is "somewhat pessimistic on the Middle East." It would be nice to know why. We get very little sense of what it is the Soviets or the Chinese, or indeed any other peoples, actually want.

Dallek also commits odd omissions. There is almost nothing on the tensions within the Western Alliance, for example, which we know were a major concern for both Nixon and Kissinger. We also know that they had serious reservations about West Germany's "ostpolitik," or rapprochement with its Communist neighbors (which involved much more than "détente with the Communists"), but these barely get a mention. There is no discussion of how Nixon shocked his allies in 1971, when the United States effectively abandoned its support for the dollar and imposed wage and price controls; and there are no references to the impact of the new American relationship with China on allies such as Japan and Taiwan.

Early on, Dallek promises the story of a collaboration "that tells us as much about the opportunities and limits of national and international conditions as about the men themselves." For all his industry, he does not seem to have shaken himself free of his material to deliver on that promise. They can be dangerous things, those tapes.

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 752 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060722304
• ISBN-13: 978-0060722302
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #78,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #71 in

  Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > United States > Executive Branch

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars compelling insights into a tragic partnership, April 25, 2007

By	Richard Cumming "richo" (cyberspace) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Robert Dallek is a presidential biographer withour peer. He has written about LBJ, JFK, and Ronald Reagan. This could be his best yet.

Dallek examines the partnership of two men who had much in common as well as incredible differences. Both Nixon and Kissinger had difficult childhoods. Nixon grew up poor in California. Kissinger fled the Nazis. Both men dreamed of better days. Each man possessed an outsized ego.

Dallek was able to obtain some incredible new insights into their relationship. Transcripts of phone conversations that Kissinger had had with thousands of people have recently become available to scholars. They shed light on what he really was thinking during those moments in history. Kissinger tried to suppress the release of these records until after his death. Like the Nixon tapes, these transcripts have come back to haunt Kissinger. Dallek interviewed Kissinger but he didn't get much out of it. Kissinger obviously wants to suppress knowledge of his role in the Nixon fiasco.

The Viet Nam War, diplomacy with China and the USSR, Watergate; it's all here. Neither man comes out looking too good. Dallek makes the case that Kissinger knew Nixon was incapacitated so badly as the Watergate scandal unfolded that Kissinger should have considered having Nixon removed from power under the aegis of the 25th Amendment. Kissinger failed to inform Congress that Nixon was incapable of running the country at that point. Kissinger had selfish reasons. If Nixon lost power then so did Kissinger. Power was the most important thing to both men. The imperial presidency of Richard Nixon has eerie parallels to our current administration. Today we also have an unpopular war, surveillance of those who oppose it, deep secrecy and paranoia.

Nixon comes across as a paranoid, flawed man, who did some good and lots of not so good things. This book makes it clear that Nixon and Kissinger manipulated the peace talks to end the Viet Nam War to suit their own political purposes, like winning the 1972 election.

When Watergate was sinking Nixon he made a desperate attempt to involve LBJ, hoping that the former president would admit his own indiscretions to soften the scandal for Nixon. LBJ refused. He pointed out that in 1968 Nixon had tampered with the South Viet Namese to help him defeat Hubert Humphrey in that election.

Kissinger seems clearly implicated in one scandal after another, from the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile to illegal wiretapping and the Watergate coverup.

It's fascinating stuff.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irreconcilable Similarities, April 30, 2007

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

There are several excellent books already in print by or about Richard M. Nixon and/or Henry A. Kissinger, notably Memoirs of Richard Nixon and Richard Reeves' President Nixon: Alone in the White House as well as Walter Isaacson's biography of Kissinger and The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top-Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow. However, with access to a wealth of sources previously unavailable, Robert Dallek has written what will probably remain for quite some time the definitive study of one of U.S. history's most fascinating political partnerships.

I defer to other reviewers to suggest parallels between the wars in Viet Nam and Iraq, especially when citing this passage in Dallek's Preface: "Arguments about the wisdom of the war in Iraq and how to end the U.S. involvement there, relations with China and Russia, what to do about enduring Mideast trensions between Israelis and Arabs, and the advantages and disadvantages of an imperial presidency can, I believe, be usefully considered in the context of a fresh look ast Nixon and Kissinger and the power they wielded for good and ill."

Until reading Dallek's book, I was unaware of the nature and extent of what Nixon and Kissinger shared in common. Of greatest interest to me was the almost total absence of trust in others (including each other) as, separately and together, they sought to increase their power, influence, and especially, their prestige. In countless ways, they were especially petty men and, when perceiving a threat, could be vindictive. They seemed to bring out the worst qualities in each other, as during their self-serving collaboration on policies "good and ill" in relationships with other countries such as China, Russia, Viet Nam, Pakistan, and Chile. Neither seemed to have must interest in domestic affairs (except for perceived threats to their respective careers) and Nixon once characterized them as "building outhouses in Peoria."

According to Dallek, "Nixon's use of foreign affairs to overcome impeachment threats in 1973-1974 are a distubring part of the administration's history. Its impact on policy deserves particular consideration, as does the more extensive use of international relations to serve domestic political goals throughout Nixon's presidency. Nixon's competence to lead the country during his impeachment cruisis also requires the closest possible scrutiny."

Most experts on this troubled period agree that the ceasefire agreement with North Viet Nam in 1973 was essentially the same as one that could have been concluded years before. However, both Nixon and Kissinger waited until after Nixon's re-election in1972 before ending a war that (by1966) Kissinger had characterized as "unwinnable." According to Dallek, with access to 2,800 hours of Nixon tapes and 20,000 pages of Kissinger telephone transcripts, Kissinger would "say almost anything privately to Nixon in the service of his ambition." Nixon referred to opponents of the war as "communists." As the Watergate crisis intensified, Meanwhile, Kissinger conducted press briefings that were "part reality, part fantasy, and part deception" and referred to Democratic senators critical of the administration as "traitors."

Although they were in constant collaboration until Nixon's resignation, Nixon and Kissinger were never very close. Anti-Semitic elements in Nixon's personality have been well-documented and certainly had some influence on his attitude toward Kissinger. At one point, he recommended (through John Ehrlichman) that Kissinger needed psychiatric therapy and should obtain it. Kissinger frequently referred to Nixon as "the meatball mind," "our drunken friend," and "That madman." It is certainly discomforting to realize that these two men, working together over a period of several years, made decisions and pursued policies that affected hundreds of millions of people throughout the world, "for good and ill."

I am now eager to read two other books (soon to be published) that may perhaps provide new insights and additional information about a political partnership that was probably doomed from the beginning because of so many irreconcilable similarities. Specifically Elizabeth Drew's Richard Nixon (part of "The American Presidents" series) and Jeremi Suri's Henry Kissinger and the American Century. However, I think Dallek's probing analysis will remain the definitive source of whatever can be known about these "partners in power."

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nixon and Kissinger: Hubris in High Office as Two Monumental Political Figures stride across the world stage , May 14, 2007

By	C. M Mills "Michael Mills" (Knoxville Tennessee) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Nixon and Kissinger by esteemed presidential historian Dr. Robert Dallek is an excellent book! Dallek has the rare ability of an academic to write sparkling prose dealing with the complex relationship of President Nixon and his chief lieutenant in foreign affairs Henry Kissinger.
Dallek has had access to the thousands of tapes and communications between the two men. Nixon was born to a lower middle class family in California. He rose to power in the Senate in his prosecution of the Alger Hiss spy case. As Eisenhower's Vice President he was a cold warrior noted for his aggressiveness in ferreting out enemies. Following a loss in his race for President to JFK in 1960 and lossing to Goverenor Pat Brown in the 1962 California governor's race it was thought RN was a dead duck sinking below the stormy waves of the politcal pond. However, Nixon rebounded to win the 1968 presidential contest in a joust with Hubert Humphrey. Nixon promised to end the divisive war in Vietnam. Yet in his presidency 20,000 of the total of 50.000 US casualties would occur.
Henry Kissinger was a German Jew who immigrated to the US with the rise of Hitler. He served in the US Army in World War II; was an intellectual superstar and taught at Harvard.
Even though Kissinger had supported Nelson Rockefeller the moderate Republican for President he accepted the invitation from President Nixon to serve as the new administration's National Security Advisor.
Nixon and Kissinger were both brilliant; prickly and insensitive to the slightest criticism. Nixon despised the press. Both men loved secrecy and feared conspiracies against their power base.
The problems these two faced were immense. Kissinger engaged in shuttle diplomacy finally wresting an end to the Vietnam war in 1973. The Middle East, as always, was a cauldron of hatred. During their administration Nixon and Kissinger would witness the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
Relations with the Russians were difficult as such issues as a SALT agreement and nuclear weaponry were on the table. Nixon and Kissinger supported Pakistan in their war with India. Dallek believes a neutral stance would have been a better strategy. Nixon was the first US President to visit China as the door was opened to improved Sino-American relations. He visited Moscow seeking detente with the Kremlinites.
The shadow of Watergate would bring Nixon down. He resigned in August, 1974 to be succeeded by Vice-President Gerald Ford. Nixon was clearly guilty of obstruction of justice . Earlier Vice-President Agnew had been forced to resigned due to bribery issues when he was governor of Maryland. The Nixon administration was corrupt, secretive and filled with hatred towards liberals, the press and anyone who intruded on their turf.
Nixon was a foreign policy wonk but many of his achievements were more due to Kissinger's diplomatic savvy than the Californian's own efforts. Kissinger was an adept sychophant of Nixonian hubris; secretly he had reservations about Nixon's abilities though he was loyal to him in the Watergate cesspool. Kissinger was aware of illegal wiretapes but kept quiet improving his dream of becoming Secretary of State.
Both men were jealous of one another. Kissinger was the more brilliant of the two. Nixon was paranoid, had a drinking problem and was subject o mood swings. He was a tortured man who had trouble relating to other human beings.
Dallek believes their legacy had successes and failures. Vietnam was handed poorly. The adminstration's role in bringing down the leftist Salvadore Allende in Chile who was a democratically elected leader was despicable. Nixon is the only US President forced to resign his office as he faced impeachment for Watergate crimes. His legacy in foreign policy is mixed. He disgraced the office he had fought so hard to achieve.
Nixon and Kissinger come across as unpleasant people who loved power seeking their own glory often at the expense of the national interests of the United States.
Robert Dallek the brilliant chronicler of the likes of LBJ, JFK, Reagan and others has produced a thoughtful and wise book. If you seek answers to what was going on in the minds of Nixon and Kissinger this book will be an essential book in your library. Excellent!