As the Vietnam War wound down, the United States sought to scale back its aggressive foreign policy. This time period of more relaxed tensions with the Soviet Union was called detente. President Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were the architects of the plan that would hopefully divert more attention and resources away from fighting the Soviets and towards fixing some of America’s domestic problems. Below is a excerpt from one of President Nixon’s Press Conferences. Use it to complete the questions that are found below.
Primary Source Document Questions:
- What is the main idea contained within these documents?
- What is going on in the country/world when these document were written?
- Are these documents a reliable source? Why or why not? (Is there bias?)
- Who said this? When did they say it?
- What are 2 facts that you have learned in class or on your own that you can connect to this document?
- How does this primary source contribute to our understanding of the time frame and/or history?