Madman theory

The Madman theory was the defining characteristic of the foreign policy conducted by Richard Nixon's presidential administration.

The administration attempted to make the leaders of other countries think Richard Nixon was mad, and that his behavior was irrational and violatile. Fearing an unpredictable American response, leaders of hostile Communist Bloc nations would avoid provoking the United States.

The administration employed this strategy to force the North Vietnamese government to negotiate a peace to end the Vietnam War. Nixon himself characterized the policy as one where "I want the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war." Along the same lines, American diplomats (in particular, Henry Kissinger) portrayed 1970 incursion into Cambodia as a symptom of Nixon's supposed instability.