a. ordering a secret invasion of Cambodia that led to the overthrow of the country’s government
While radically reducing its troop commitments, the United States, nonetheless broadened the scope of the war. Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who served as Nixon’s main advisor for military affairs and foreign policy, decided to attack military bases in neutral Cambodia that the administration believed were sustaining the North Vietnamese. Without telling Congress, Nixon ordered a secret invasion into Cambodian territory that led to the overthrow of the country’s government. Once a pro-American regime assumed power, Nixon decided to publicize plans for the attack that was already taking place, not anticipating the reaction it would trigger. Congress protested the invasion by resending the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that had granted earlier authorization for the war effort. In 1973, memories of the secret invasion of Cambodia helped secure passage, over Nixon’s veto, of the War Powers Resolution limiting the authority of a president to wage war without congressional consent.