IN the early days of a new Administration, "the nation has a sense that a page in history has been turned, and the new President has a blank sheet upon which to write." So says Kermit Gordon, president of Washington's Brookings Institution, in Agenda for the Nation, a 620-page study released last week. In no field is this truer than in foreign affairs.
As a candidate, Richard Nixon left frustratingly vague the precise foreign-policy lines he might pursue. As President, Nixon may find that lack of commitment something of an asset. Pinned down by few definite pledges, he will have considerable latitude...