Just a reminder that the president I grew up despising had blood on his hands.
Nixon’s newly revealed records show for certain that in 1968, as a presidential candidate, he ordered Anna Chennault, his liaison to the South Vietnam government, to persuade them refuse a cease-fire being brokered by President Lyndon Johnson.
He was responsible for the death of American soldiers, as well as Vietnamese civilians.
He paved the way for Reagan to use a hostage situation for political ends, and for Bush to lie and immerse an entire generation into a futile war.
Reagan’s actions certainly bear a close resemblance to Nixon’s — it appears he cut a deal with the Iranians to have them hold on to the hostages until he was elected, just as Nixon torpedoed peace talks with Vietnam. Bush’s actions were quite different of course, although comparably evil, maybe even more so. But I doubt Nixon was an inspiration to either of them. Don’t forget that it was Lydon Johnson who lied the nation into Vietnam. The Spanish American war was also built on a lie. This, alas, is far from unique in our history.
Nixon was guilty of a whole gallery of crimes. The Watergate hearings looked at a selection of them – obstruction of justice through false statements, hush money to the burglars, attempts to misuse the IRS, FBI and CIA, and obstruction of the Senate and House investigations. Only in recent years have we had the admission that Nixon ordered the original break-in. On top of the impeachable offenses, there was the secret bombings in Laos and Cambodia.
But probably Nixon’s worst legacy was the flavor of politics he introduced. Perlstein’s Nixonland gives a good account of this. Reagan and his successors built on this new politics, and some of the worst actors in GWB’s administration (Rumsfeld, Cheney and others) got their starts under Nixon.
Is Chennault still alive? And if so, can she be prosecuted? Sabotaging the negotiations during wartime is surely treason?
Ironically, a cease-fire in 1968 would have left the South Vietnamese government in a better position than the later “peace with honor” that Kissinger brokered with North Vietnam in 1973, and that after four more years of terrible suffering endured by the Vietnamese and Cambodian people.
I hear he was nice to his dog, though. So, you know, there’s that.
It was a huge waste to sabotage the Accords in 1968. North Vietnam was reeling from the failure of the Tet Offensive, which not only did a huge blow to their military but also devastated the Vietcong. Johnson’s Administration might have been able to force North Vietnam to the table for a peace agreement and full recognition of South Vietnam as a separate sovereign state, allowing Johnson to draw down troops over the next couple of years while arming the South Vietnamese Army. Or at the very least, it would have been easier to arm the South Vietnamese military in 1968-69 than it would have been in 1973-75.
Situation normal.
Like they say, anyone who is capable of getting themselves made president* shouldn’t be allowed to do the job.
* Replace president with prime minister/monarch/fuhrer/generalissimo/prophet/primus inter pares, as you see fit.
He also was the only US president to ever take overpopulation seriously.
http://www.overpopulationawareness.org/japan/en/videos/overpopulation/actual-recording-richard-nixon-talks-population-control-truthdoc_6325.html
Nixon wasn’t all evil. Only mostly.
What’s Ronnie’s excuse?
and W?
and why has no sitting president since even MENTIONED the issue?
…oh, and before you freak out. there’s a reason I posted a link to that.
listen to why Nixon is concerned about overpopulation.
*shudder*