"The American foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was caused by applying valid principles to unsuitable conditions"

Henry A. Kissinger's quote recommends that the foreign policy injury experienced by the United States during the 1960s as well as 1970s was an outcome of attempting to apply valid concepts to unsuitable problems. This indicates that the principles themselves were sound, however the conditions in which they were applied were not for their effective application. This might be because of a variety of elements, such as a lack of understanding of the neighborhood context, an absence of sources, or a lack of political will. Eventually, this quote recommends that the foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was brought on by a misapplication of legitimate principles, instead of the principles themselves being flawed.