The Nixon Doctrine in South America

Historians of U.S.–Latin American relations during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon have tended to focus almost exclusively on Chile. This book by Brazilian historian Matias Spektor, based on his University of Oxford doctoral dissertation, examines U.S. relations with a country which both Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger saw as a potential partner in an era in which U.S. foreign relations were undergoing a fundamental reexamination. One hopes that this well-researched and thoughtful book will be translated, for it helps fill out our understanding both of Kissinger’s larger strategic vision and of the failure of the implementation of the Nixon Doctrine. In the 1960s, it was frequently said in diplomatic circles that Brazil and the United States had a longstanding friendship; it was always noted that the United States was the first country to recognize Brazilian independence in 1824. Brazil also had allied itself with the United States in World War II; it was the only Latin American country to send troops to fight in Europe. In 1964, the United States supported a coup against the left-leaning president João Goulart; the resulting military government received more U.S. aid than any other Latin American country over the course of the rest of the decade.

Doctrine · Economic history · Foreign policy · Foreign relations · Friendship · Government (linguistics) · Independence (probability theory) · Latin American studies · Latin Americans · National security · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Social science · Sociology · History · Law · Philosophy · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America