e time that dtente was becoming a byword in the relationship between the superpowers. A tentative policy of co-habitation (highlighted by the Helsinki accords of 1475) was to be followed by successive America presidents until Ronald Regan. This that in relations between Washington and Moscow was occurring at the same time that Nixon was preparing to visit Red China in pursuit of his triangulation policy. This policy was designed to use the growing Sino-soviet rift to the benefit of the Unites States. Arousal American withdrawal from Vietnam was certainly consistent with this new strategic shift. One of the main obstacles to relations with Beijing was Chinese displeasure with the huge American presence in Southeast Asia.Nixon, however, could not simply walk away from Vietnam. He needed leverage at the negotiating table and elevating the American presence with more ground troops. His main objective was a Vietnamization of the war. This meant slowly turning over the bulk of the fighting to regular South Vietnamese troops. Fighting along the front lines became more integrated as South Vietnamese solders took their place next to American ones. While viewed to the American public as a success, Nixons Vietnamization was in shambles. Troops were poorly trained, ill paid, and badly led by their officers. This forced Nixon to pressure the North with a campaign of salvation bombing to cause unacceptable damage. Operation Linebacker II commenced in December of 1972. it involved 200 B-52s and FB-111s and F-4s. It was aimed at crippling the daily life of Hunoi and Itaiphony and destroying North Vietnams Ability to support Forces in South Vietnam. (p. 138) The destruction caused by the B-52s was legendary. A usual mission would drop 276 500 and 700 pound bombs in a rectangle one and a half miles long and half a mile wide. The North Vietnamese, however, had fortified their air defenses and brought down dozens of the massive bombers. ...
