Nixons Secret Bombings in Cambodia :: President Richard Nixon

Why did President Richard Nixon decide to have secret bombing in Cambodia in 1969? A. Plan of the investigation: i. Subject of the investigation: Why did President Richard Nixon decide to have secret bombing in Cambodia in 1969? The purpose of investigating Nixon?s secret bombing of Cambodia is to understand his real intentions. Also, to find out why he had to hide this from the Congress and the media. Wouldn?t it mean that he is abusing his power by keeping it a secret and not getting permission to do so from the Congress? Last, but not least, is to understand how Nixon actually destroyed neutral Cambodia. ii. Methods: a. Evidences from the biographical books on Nixon and Henry Kissinger will be used to support my thesis and topic question. b. The internet will be another source to find out information on the backgrounds of Cambodia and the events that were happening during the period when Cambodia was secretly bombed. c. Research for real conversations that Nixon had with his other helping mates about the decision to secretly bomb Cambodia. d. Find out the real issue he had that led him to secretly bomb Cambodia. Especially when he did not get permission from the Congress, and when the public found out, how did they react to Nixon?s actions. B. Summary of Evidence: -George McGovern wrote, ?The secret, unconstitutional bombing of [Cambodia] was the clearest ground for a Nixon impeachment. It was a vastly more serious crime than the break-in at Watergate.?# - ?In 1973, after the bombing was finally discovered, both Nixon and Kissinger maintained?that the secrecy was necessary to protect Sihanouk, who was variously described as? ?allowing? the raids, so long as they were covert. They maintained that the areas were unpopulated and that only Vietnamese Communist troops, legitimate targets, were there.?# -Nixon had already known that the American ground offensive, from the summer of 1966 to the Tet offensive of 1968, had failed to destroy the North Vietnamese (communists). Therefore he had an offensive against the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia. The Communists were making an effective use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Cambodia. Suddenly, Nixon ordered the bombing of the Cambodian sanctuaries. His instincts were to respond violently to the Communist offensive.