1969–1973: Secretary of State
Rogers succeeded Dean Rusk as Secretary of State in the Nixon administration from January 22, 1969, to September 3, 1973. Nixon had long distrusted the State Department, whom he had accused under the Truman administration of being staffed with liberal diplomats who were insufficiently anti-communist and who were responsible for the "loss of China" in 1949. Given his dislike of the State Department, Nixon when he came into office in 1969 wanted to conduct his foreign policy via the National Security Council in a bid to marginalize the State Department.
Nixon had selected an ambitious political science professor from Harvard, Henry Kissinger, to be his national security adviser who soon emerged as his main adviser on foreign affairs. Nixon selected Rogers to be the secretary of state because he knew nothing of foreign affairs and was unlikely to assert the interests of the State Department. On Nixon's Inauguration Day, January 20, 1969, Rogers was handed a lengthy volume containing a summary of the world's major issues written by the State Department's leading experts in order to brief him for his new job, leading him to remark in surprise: "You don't expect me to read all this stuff, do you?" Rogers's ignorance of foreign policy issues and his unwillingness to assert the interests of the State Department duly led, as hoped by Nixon, to its marginalization. Major decisions were made by Kissinger, without the input or even knowledge of Rogers.
In February 1969, Nixon began to discuss plans to bomb the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese bases just over the border in Cambodia, which Rogers felt was unwise, warning that such a bombing offensive might damage the peace talks in Paris. On March 16, 1969, Rogers attended a meeting at the White House where Nixon discussed Operation Menu, the plans to bomb Cambodia in secret. Though the State Department's experts stated that the main source of weapons for the Viet Cong was the Ho Chi Minh Trail coming down from North Vietnam via Laos, not Cambodia, Rogers had not read their assessments. He offered tepid opposition to the operation, which began the next day.
Despite being stymied by Nixon and Kissinger, Rogers was still able to further the aims of the State Department. On December 3, 1969, he introduced a peace plan for Arab–Israeli conflict termed the Rogers Plan.
On the night of February 21, 1970, Kissinger first met in secret with the North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho in a house in Paris suburb, opening a new set of talks that were independent of the official peace talks in Paris. Kissinger only first informed Rogers of the secret talks in Paris parallel to the official talks in February 1971, a year later. On March 23, 1970, Rogers told the press that the United States had the utmost respect for the "neutrality, sovereignty and independence" of Cambodia, stating categorically there no plans to invade Cambodia. In the same press conference, Rogers stated: "We don't anticipate that any request will be made" for help from the new Lon Nol government. Unknown to him, Nixon and Kissinger were already discussing plans to invade Cambodia. On April 30, 1970, the United States invaded Cambodia.
On October 15, 1973, Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Nixon. At the same ceremony, his wife, Adele Rogers, was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal.
