A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency - Softcover

Bundy, William P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809016249 ISBN 13: 9780809016242

Publisher: Hill and Wang, 1999

Synopsis

An authoritative historical assessment of american foreign policy in a crucial postwar decade.

William Bundy's magisterial book focuses on the controversial record of Richard Nixon's and Henry Kissinger's often overpraised foreign policy of 1969 to 1973, an era that has rightly been described as the hinge on which the last half of the century turned. Bundy's principled, clear-eyed assessment in effect pulls together all the major issues and events of the thirty-year span from the 1940s to the end of the Vietnam War, and makes it clear just how dangerous the consequences of Nixon and Kissinger's deceptive modus operandi were.

About this title

Review

William Bundy has a lifetime of experience in the foreign policy arena; not only did he hold positions in the Defense and State Departments and the CIA throughout the 1950s and 1960s (which led to his becoming one of the protagonists of David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest), he was also the editor of Foreign Affairs magazine for 12 years. So when he turns his attention to the foreign-policy record of the Nixon administration, you can be sure that he speaks from an informed perspective.

A Tangled Web is a detailed history that covers the multiple intricacies of Richard Nixon's dealings with other countries. While recognizing that a discussion of Nixon's foreign policy is inevitably a discussion about Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, he believes that Kissinger's influence has been overestimated. Although Kissinger frequently carried the ball, Bundy's contention is that it was the president who was calling the plays. To extend the metaphor, Bundy takes a hard look at just how much yardage the Nixon team was able to gain on each play. His ultimate judgment--that Nixon's penchant for secrecy and deception led to a dissolution of trust that ultimately weakened America's position as much, if not more, than it strengthened it--is not precisely revelatory, although it has rarely been articulated with such detail. --Ron Hogan

About the Author

William Bundy held key positions in the Defense and State Departments from 1951 to 1969 and in the Central Intelligence Agency, and served as the editor of Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1984. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hill and Wang
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0809016249
• ISBN 13: 9780809016242
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672