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PRICE OF POWER Paperback – May 18, 1984
Enhance your purchase
- Print length704 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMay 18, 1984
- Dimensions6.13 x 1.76 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100671506889
- ISBN-13978-0671506889
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Product details
- Publisher : Touchstone; 1st Printing edition (May 18, 1984)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 704 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0671506889
- ISBN-13 : 978-0671506889
- Item Weight : 1.93 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.13 x 1.76 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #985,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,886 in Political Leader Biographies
- #8,865 in International & World Politics (Books)
- #32,777 in United States History (Books)
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Though focusing on Kissingers NSC and Nixon, the War in Vietnam is the thread running through the book. It provides Kissinger with the opportunity to use his contacts to inform Nixon of the efforts for peace being made by the Johnson administration . Nixon was frantic about peace "breaking out" before the '68 election and used Kissingers information to derail the peace negotiations. Kissingers reward was to lead Nixons NSC. Strangely enough, peace didn't break out after the election, instead intermittent and brutal bombing of North and South Vietnam, Laos, and later the so called "Secret Bombing" of Cambodia.
Other area/events covered include the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), Chinese and Soviet negotiations and treaties. The India/Pakistan War of 1971 in which the U.S. tilted towards West Pakistan who were then involved in a murderous campaign in East Pakistan that resulted in between one and three million dead and the state of Bangladesh declaring its independence. The Middle East also appears and the Kissinger policy of leaving Sadat and his peace proposals out in the cold is examined, this misguided policy clearly played a part in the lead up to the October 73 war. Hersh marshals the information with regard to all those events, and others, and puts together a detailed picture of what happened. It is rarely pretty and Hersh, unlike his protagonist and his boss, bears in mind the cost in death and destruction.
The details on how the Nixon administration functioned (or didn't function) are a constant source of revelation: the Joint Chiefs spying on the NSC & Whitehouse, Kissingers spinning, the tapping of NSC staff and others telephones, Nixons drunken rages, Kissingers relationship with Alexander Haig, J.Edgar Hoover and Tricky Dicky himself. . . the list is practically endless.
Recommended reading for those interested in International History in general, and the U.S. foreign policy in particular during the first Nixon administration - it does focus on the "big" events though and shouldnt be regarded as being comprehensive on U.S. foreign policy for that period. The book was written in 1983 so I don't doubt that their has been an increase in the amount known about this period, but from my recollections of reading say The Trial of Henry Kissinger or The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon this account is still broadly correct. Some may find the sheer amount of detail a little off putting, in particular the SALT negotiations, but it is still a readable and fascinating book.
Hersh does a tremendous service to America. He single-handedly destroys the myth that Nixon and Kissinger were dedicated to the swift end of the Vietnam war. To his credit, Hersh documents the formation of Nixon's secret "Madman" policy and how the President and Kissinger employed this risky strategy to prolong the war.
"The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House," is also a serious study of how certain key cabinet members that opposed the manipulation of foreign policy were quickly isolated and discredited. Hersch interviews key individuals that Kissinger personally recruited to work at the NSC to show how significant contributions to foreign policy was wrestled from the State Department and firmly established in the White House. The early consolidation of power by Nixon and Kissinger set the pattern for a long string of dark policy.
The secret bombing of Cambodia, the crisis in Korea, the SALT talks, the Mideast, Cuba, China, the Berlin settlement are all explored in this text. However, the most damaging information to the reputation of Henry Kissinger is how his secret information to the Nixon campaign during the Johnson administrations peace talks in Paris compromised any chance of reaching an early conclusion to the war. Hersh meticulously researches how Kissinger manipulates his contacts in Paris to circumvent the practice of conflict resolution by Lyndon Johnson. Hersh also explains how Kissinger used this secret information to position himself on Nixon's short list of foreign policy advisors after the defeat of Hubert H. Humprhey in the 1968 presidential elections.
There is little flattery of the 37th President of the United States in this book. If anything Hersch displays the ruthlessness of the Nixon White House and how Henry Kissinger would sacrifice everything to implement a dark policy that cost thousands of lives. In conclusion, this book is a bitter pill for the brave young men and women who answered the nation's call in Vietnam.



