Changes

Nixon was heavily influenced by his adviser Henry Kissinger.  Kissinger’s approach towards Vietnam was to launch bombing attacks and then look like a hero in declaring cease-fires.  He did this repeatedly and received much praise by newspapers for it.  But the communists would simply re-supply their guerrilla fighters during the cease-fires, and so the cease-fires actually helped the communists continue the war.  By 1973, the United States gave up and pulled the last American soldiers out.  A million Vietnamese then fled South Vietnam to escape the communists, who took over by 1975.  The United States imposed a trade embargo on the newly unified Vietnam that lasted until 1994.  President Bush visited Vietnam in 2006.

Nixon was heavily influenced by his adviser Henry Kissinger.  Kissinger’s approach towards Vietnam was to launch bombing attacks and then look like a hero in declaring cease-fires.  He did this repeatedly and received much praise by newspapers for it.  But the communists would simply re-supply their guerrilla fighters during the cease-fires, and so the cease-fires actually helped the communists continue the war.  By 1973, the United States gave up and pulled the last American soldiers out.  A million Vietnamese then fled South Vietnam to escape the communists, who took over by 1975.  The United States imposed a trade embargo on the newly unified Vietnam that lasted until 1994.  President Bush visited Vietnam in 2006.

Things worsened further in next-door Cambodia after the Americans left Vietnam.  Pol Pot took over Cambodia in 1975, and he abolished private property, money and religion and converted everything back to an agricultural society.  He emptied the cities.  His ruthless policies resulted in the death of 2 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.  Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge government fell in 1979 when Vietnam invaded Cambodia after a series of violent border confrontations, and Pol Pot fled to the northern jungle with his forces.  He died from illness in 1998.  Today there are United Nations peacekeeping forces in Cambodia.

Things worsened further in next-door Cambodia after the Americans left Vietnam.  Pol Pot took over Cambodia in 1975, and he abolished private property, money and religion and converted everything back to an agricultural society.  He emptied the cities.  His ruthless policies supposedly resulted in the death of 1-2 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.  The Hollywood movie about his dictatorship, ''The Killing Fields'', exposed his atrocities and perhaps exaggerated them as a way of blaming the United States, which once supported Pol Pot as a counterweight to Vietnam.  Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge government fell in 1979 when Vietnam invaded Cambodia after a series of violent border confrontations, and Pol Pot fled to the northern jungle with his forces.  He died from illness in 1998.  Today there are United Nations peacekeeping forces in Cambodia.

===Latin America ===

===Latin America ===

In Iran, the United States supported the pro-West Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (“Shah of Iran”) against a revolt in 1953.  For 25 years the Shiite Muslim leaders in Iran, also known as “ayatollahs”, opposed the Shah.  In 1978, the Shiites revolted and caused the Shah to flee, and in 1979 he sought admission to the United States for medical treatment.  The [[Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini]] took control of Iran.

In Iran, the United States supported the pro-West Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (“Shah of Iran”) against a revolt in 1953.  For 25 years the Shiite Muslim leaders in Iran, also known as “ayatollahs”, opposed the Shah.  In 1978, the Shiites revolted and caused the Shah to flee, and in 1979 he sought admission to the United States for medical treatment.  The [[Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini]] took control of Iran.

Carter granted the Shah admission to recieve U.S. medical treatment, and student Shiites in Iran angrily responded by taking 69 hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.  They demanded that the Shah be returned to Iran, but Carter refused.  The Shiites held 55 of the hostages until Carter was replaced by Ronald Reagan as president on Jan. 20, 1981.

Henry Kissinger, whose friends and business clients probably included supporters of the Shah, persuaded President Jimmy Carter to admit the Shah to the United States to treat his illness.  Carter granted the Shah admission, and student Shiites in Iran angrily responded by taking 69 hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.  They demanded that the Shah be returned to Iran, but Carter refused.  The Shiites held 55 of the hostages until Carter was replaced by Ronald Reagan as president on Jan. 20, 1981.

In 1980, the Sunni Iraq leader Saddam Hussein sought to conquer Iran.  Iraq and Iran fought a fierce battle for nearly a decade without a victory by either side.

In 1980, the Sunni Iraq leader Saddam Hussein sought to conquer Iran.  Iraq and Iran fought a fierce battle for nearly a decade without a victory by either side.