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Essay History Final #2
President Nixon made so many different advances for the United States, creating a good relationship with China and Soviet Union. One of his main goals as president was to have peace amongst the nations, including Vietnam. Carter was a good down to earth president; he was close to the people and was liked by them. Unfortunately he wasn't as admired by congress, or the nations who were once friends to the United States.
Realpolitik, was a policy based on power, being able to self strengthen, leaving morals and principles aside. Kissinger was elected by President Nixon to be his special adviser on foreign affairs. He felt that if there was a weak country they should simply be ignored, even if it was a communist country. Carter lead based on principles and compaction, developing Human Rights, leaving the United States with fewer allies.
Nixon felt that the tension left from the cold war held the United States back from reaching its full potential, he and his special adviser, Henry Kissinger came up with a policy, Détente, trying to make peace with China. Nixon being the strong anti-communist leader went to visit communist China. He managed to break the ties between China and Soviet Union. Nixon wanted China to support the United States when they negotiated with the Russians. Nixon also managed to settle, and agreed to share cultural and scientific information between the two countries. They decided neither, Chinese or United States would have control of the Pacific and agreed to settle things peacefully. When Carter became president détente slowly fell because of his strong opinions on Human Rights. He eventually broke all ties with the Soviet Union. Later he felt that peace with the Soviet Union was important so he signed the SALT 2 treaty in 1979 (Strategic Arm Limitation), the signatures below the document were Carter and Brezhnev. The treaty was meant to keep control on nuclear missiles that each country was allowed to produce. The difference between President Nixon and President Carter was, Nixon was able to work out differences between nations and wanted there to be peace. Carter on the other hand wanted peace just like Nixon but seemed to look for it in all the wrong ways, and never received honest peace but gained security, in being able to build nuclear missiles. Carter strongly influenced Human Rights and led the country based on his own morals and personal beliefs. When Carter found out the government in Argentina and Brazil were brutally torturing there own citizens, he quickly turned against those countries that were once friends to the United States. Americans were furious when they heard Carter was giving up all ownership to the Panama Canal in 1977. Nixon on the other hand his special foreign affairs adviser Henry Kissinger developed a policy called Realpolitik, which pushed the idea of not involving your own personal morals or ideals in government situations. The two presidents believed completely different in this matter, Nixon signed a peace treaty with a communist nation, and if Carter were to be put in that same situation he wouldn't have signed an agreement with China. Since Carter was a strong supporter of Human Rights, it was never easy for him to participate in foreign affairs. Although, each president achieved great things during there term as president. They worked with the best intentions in completely different manners; Nixon was the type of president who would do what was best for the United States at any cost leaving morals and values aside. Carter enforced foreign policies based on good ideals and morally up right decisions. Nixon was able to look past the communist nations he became friends with, while carter was strong to his morals and wouldn't have anything to do with nations of communism.
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