Richard Nixon

The Soviet Union was America's great adversary in this era, but since 1960 the USSR had not had good relations with China. Nixon thought that improved Sino-American ties would undermine the Soviets. He also hoped that China would pressure the North Vietnamese to end the war. A year before his election Nixon had written of the Chinese, "There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live …

…. The act provided that the president would have sixty days to use U.S. armed forces in hostilities before receiving congressional assent, and if not, he would have to withdraw forces. It also required the president to remove forces from hostilities any time Congress so directed by concurrent resolution. President Nixon vetoed the bill, claiming it would remove powers that presidents had exercised for 180 years, but the Congress passed the measure over his veto.