Item COLD WAR 27/125 - Transcript of interview with politician Melvin Laird, 1997

Typescript transcript of interview with Melvin Robert Laird, US Secretary of Defense, 1969-1973, relating to the policy of détente between the USA and the USSR, 1969-1975; the USSR reaching parity with the USA in the numbers of strategic nuclear weapons deployed, 1969; the role of US President Richard Milhous Nixon in establishing détente with the USSR, 1969-1974; the influence of Dr Henry Alfred Kissinger, US National Security Adviser, 1969-1972; speculation on a conflict of interest between the designated roles in the US administration held by Laird and Kissinger, 1969-1972; the secret US bombing of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) sanctuaries in Cambodia, [1970]; the US 'Vietnamisation' programme, the gradual withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam coupled with an increased role for the armed forces of the Republic of South Vietnam, Jun 1969-1973; the increase in the numbers of US military personnel committed to the Vietnam War, 1960-1969; the US invasion of Cambodia, May 1970; Laird's objections to US military involvement in the ground war in Cambodia, 1970; the influence of William (Pierce) Rogers, US Secretary of State, in the US decision to intervene in Cambodia, 1970; Operations LINEBACKER I and II, the US bombing of North Vietnam, May and Dec 1972; the poor morale amongst US forces in Vietnam and the increasing problems of draft-dodging, drug taking and motivation, 1969-1973; the conduct of US forces in Vietnam, 1969-1973; opposition to US involvement in Vietnam from the USA's NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies, 1969-1973; Laird's opinion of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I (SALT I), May 1972; the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (the ABM Treaty), May 1972; the impact of the Watergate scandal on the international prestige of the USA, 1972-1974; Laird's opinion of the character of US President Nixon, 1969-1974; the resignation of Nixon, Aug 1974; the continuation of the policy of détente between the USA and the USSR during the administration of US President Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1975; the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, by the Khmer Rouge, Apr 1975; the influence and involvement of the USSR in the Vietnam War, 1965-1975. 33pp