(7 of 8)
There are signs that Nixon may call upon some intellectual outsiders in a search for advice on domestic affairs. A meeting of such men with Ehrlichman was recently postponed. They consisted mainly of conservatives and one-time liberals apparently disillusioned with the Federal Government's ability to solve social problems and concerned about enhancing individual initiative as well as individual rights. They have upheld American institutions against bitter attack from the left over the past few years. Among them were Political Scientist Martin Diamond, an advocate of what he calls the "Madisonian constitutional system" and a onetime worker for Socialist Norman Thomas; Sociologist Robert Nisbet, who contends that the nation's universities have become too politicized; Harvard Government Professor Edward Banfield (The Unheavenly City), an opponent of more and bigger urban projects by Government; Economist Murray Weidenbaum, who helped formulate Nixon's revenue-sharing bill but has opposed many Nixon proposals; and Irving Kristol, an academic and co-editor of The Public Interest magazine, who urges "combination of the reforming spirit with the conservative ideal."
Still, the evidence is that in his second term as in his first, Nixon will primarily pursue his own instinctive bent and concentrate on the grander game of global diplomacy, where he can make a greater difference much more quickly. He demonstrated that in his first term, with the brilliant assistance of Henry Kissinger, setting the nation on a course of new cooperation with the two dominant Communist powers after years of enmity. Nixon is expected to build on that base, seeking new agreements in arms control and trade with the Soviet Union, probably granting diplomatic recognition to China and opening new trade opportunities with it.
The first task, of course, will be to disengage from Nixon's one glaring foreign policy failure: his inability to end more quickly U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War. That may still require a disproportionate share of White House attention. Once a cease-fire is signed, the effort to preserve the peace and help arrange a new government in Saigon may prove to be protracted and painful.
Yet Nixon has other world priorities in mind. He wants to refocus attention on Europe, and will probably travel there again to mend fences with neglected U.S. friends. There will be tough negotiations with the Russians on whether both nations will withdraw troops from Europe and whether new arrangements for European security can be created. Probably of even greater urgency will be Nixon's efforts to force a reform of international monetary machinery. Sticky, too, will be his attempt to open new avenues for the U.S. to compete more favorably in world trade, especially with Europe's Common Market and with Japan.