Shahadat H Khan

Richard Nixon’s Pakistan Tilt Policy (1971): Advice and Dissent

By 1971 the United States Senate had become a forum for dissent from the foreign policy of Richard Nixon. The contention was primarily grounded in the domestic conflict over the Vietnam war. Still, the Pakistan crisis provided another case that helped illustrate the foreign policy arrangements—and perhaps brighten the political images—of several senators and members of Congress. The Pakistan crisis erupted in late March 1971, and the machinery of the Congress worked quickly to formulate and articulate a position on the matter. Late in the spring, Congress attempted to ban both military and economic aid to Pakistan to construct a legislative barrier to Nixon’s foreign policy, which the White House argued tied the president’s hands. The administration successfully averted those barriers through covert operations, making the Congressional resolution moot. But in the process, a combination of media pressure and Congressional pressure focused intense security upon the means of the Nixon administration and, while losing the particular battle, made severe inroads into making the executive more accountable for the conduct of American foreign policy.