'Golf ball diplomacy': Richard Nixon and Japan, 1969-74

Nixon was one of the first American politicians to advocate the building of a strong US-Japan economic alliance and the Nixon administration laid the foundation for the healthy post-Vietnam dialogue that the Carter and Reagan administrations cultivated with Tokyo. This article examines that foundation, and its contribution to the general post-World War II US-Japan relationship. Vietnam changed America, and it even changed the way a once arch-cold warrior, Nixon, viewed the significance of US-Japan relations. After years of Washington's scoffing at or ignoring Japanese interests, this American 'discovery' of Japan was an important development in itself. Hence, this article also examines a relationship in transition which, for Nixon's America, was an important first step in the construction of a post-Vietnam view of Asian/Pacific cooperation.