Ease, But Did Not Turn Back

The adjustment of Ford Administration’s policy toward Asia-Pacific area in the post-Vietnam War era is the research object of this thesis, and the main viewpoint is that Ford’s Pacific Doctrine policy not only had significant impact on the development of the international system in Asia-Pacific area after Vietnam War, it, also, paved the way for America to reignite the U.S.-USSR competition after Ford’s presidency. The situation U.S. government faced has distinct diversity:the Water-Gate Scandal damaged the public credibility of government among the American people; the fall of Saigon placed the America’s allies in Asia-Pacific area in panic, and because of these problems, U.S. government would regulate some foreign policy to maintain the American credibility, and also to be on the offensive of1976presidential election. Those adjustments of foreign policy, though not to help him win the election, brought him a high opinion poll, and at the same time, produced the profound impact on the transformation of international relation pattern of Asia-Pacific zone during the post-Vietnam War. The past research on this subject focused on the continuity of foreign policy between Nixon administration and Ford administration, scholars mainly investigated the foreign policy of these two presidents as a whole. The author of this thesis thinks that this kind of research path neglected the unique characteristic of Ford that Nixon did not possess. Through reading and research of declassified government archives, this thesis will focus on the adjustment of Ford administration’s Asia-Pacific policy.This thesis consists of three chapters except the Introduction:As a background analysis of the birth of the Pacific Doctrine, the Chapter I observes and studies the domestic and diplomatic dilemmas Ford faced once he entrances the Whitehouse:the Water-Gate Scandal damaged the public credibility of government among the American people; the fall of Saigon placed the America’s allies in Asia-Pacific area in panic. Based on the background analysis, it continues to explore the formation and connotation of Pacific Doctrine.Chapter Ⅱ elaborates the American policies toward Asia-Pacific, formulated within a Pacific Doctrine-based framework through case analysis:in post-Vietnam war era, it will be the foundation for American’s Asia-Pacific policy to further strengthen the relationship of U.S.-Japan alliance, and for maintaining his credibility among the allies, America has to build a stronger partnership with Philippines, Taiwan, Australia as well as South Korea; Moreover, it was the necessary measure to delay the Sino-U.S. rapprochement,isolate and refuse to accept the new unified Vietnam for containment of the expansion of Communist. By resolving the Mayaguez Incident with military force, it evidenced to his allies that the U.S. still took the responsibility for this area’s defense, and also demonstrated to the USSR that the U.S. had the capability of defending his interests in Asia-Pacific as before after Vietnam War.In Chapter III, it analyzes the characteristic of Pacific Doctrine and its influence. The most significant differentiation between Nixon Doctrine and Ford’s Pacific Doctrine is that the former showed mainly the moderate, realistic aspect of U.S. foreign policy, the latter showed mainly the strong, idealistic aspect of U.S. aspect of U.S. foreign policy. The Pacific Doctrine policy carried out during the detente times was more unyielding than Nixon’s policy to Asia-Pacific. The implementation of Pacific Doctrine produced far-reaching influence on the evolution of international system and caused the change of power distribution, meanwhile, the policy also facilitated the demise of U.S-USSR detente, following the reigniting of U.S-USSR rivalry once again.