Detente Means a Period of Strained Relationships

Detente means a period of strained relationships between one party and another with each trying to gain certain ends.

Nixon had this type of relationship with the Soviet Union shortly after he gained office in 1969. He started the talks on limitation of arms. An interim pact was signed in Helsinki, Finland, and later taken to the U.S.S.R. In 1972 by Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev. Brezhnev visited the U.S. The following year where Nixon and he signed the nuclear nonaggression pact as well as several agreements for technology, science, and cultural exchanges. Nixon again visited the U.S.S.R. In 1974, but he and Brezhnev did not come to any final agreements regarding limiting proliferation of nuclear weapons.

As regards China, Nixon conducted a detente with that state too. He lifted the anti-Chinese embargo restrictions in 1971. In return, Mao allowed American athletes to be officially welcomed in their country.

Kissinger secretly visited Beijing in July 1971 where he met Mao and Zhou Enlai and discussed diplomatic issues such as those concerning Taiwan and Vietnam. Nixon visited China the following year.

As with that of the U.S.S.R., the trip led to slight diffusion of tension although to no specific practical ends.

2. Kissinger and Nixon's policy of 'shuttle politics' and realpolitik in the growing tension of Arab states and Israel was the following:

Firstly realpolitik refers to dealing with politics in a practical manner rather than a theoretical abstract manner even if it means compromising on national principles. This was the hall-mark of many of Nixon's strategies.

As regards the Arab-Israeli conflict, this was manifested by Kissinger's shuttle politics where he persuaded the Israelis to partially draw from the Sinai after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War in recognition of the global political realities created by the oil crisis (the Arab's retaliator to Western world). The term was used since both parties refused recognition of the other; this may be later followed by mutually desired negotiation. Kissinger's persuasion in fact helped cessation of hostilities following the Yom Kippur War.

3. Nixon's "Southern Strategy" -- he strenuously courted Southerners for votes by placating both Whites and Blacks in that region. He talked about "law and order" to Whites and offered busing instead of arguing against Civil Rights. It was a diplomatic strategy that worked and led to the 'conservative resurgence' of his party where Republican candidates began winning due to their Southern Strategy.

In the Election of 1972, Nixon won by a landslide due to his many liberal policies. Wallace, Nixon's opponent, had been unable to run and Nixon's success in the South succeeded in boosting the Republican Party. Anti-war candidate George McGovern had been nominated by the Democratic Party; whilst he played his liberal views loudly, Nixon demonstrated a more moderate stance which pleased the populace. He won. This resulted in the Committee to Re-elect the president (CREEP) whose fundraising activities served Nixon in various ways, not only to fund his reelection but also to later cover his involvement in the Watergate affairs.

The "White house plumbers" was a White House Special Investigations Unit established July 24, 1971 in order to stop classified information from leaking to the press. They were later involved in the Watergate scandal.