Nixon’s Madman Theory


Wikipedia has a short article on Richard Nixon’s Madman Theory.

The article has this quote of him talking to Bob Haldeman.

“I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We’ll just slip the word to them that, ‘for God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can’t restrain him when he’s angry — and he has his hand on the nuclear button’ — and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.”

The article goes on to assess this theory:

Nixon’s use of the strategy during the Vietnam War was problematic. “First, while he would pretend to be willing to pay any price to achieve his goals, his opponents actually were willing to pay any price to achieve theirs. Second, Nixon had the misfortune to preside over a democracy growing weary and increasingly critical of the struggle.”[5]

When I think of applying the Madman Theory, I always add the caveat, “Never make a threat that you wouldn’t be willing to carry out.”  Therefore you do have to think about what you would do if forced to carry out your mad threat.

Can you think of any current President of the USA that could stand to learn a thing or two about the successful application of the Madman Theory?

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