A memo from Eugene Rostow (Walt’s brother) stated that Nixon “was trying to frustrate President Johnson, by inciting Saigon to step up its demands, and by letting Hanoi know that when he [Nixon] took office ‘he could accept anything and blame it on his predecessor.’”

In essence, Nixon was trying to convince both the South and North Vietnamese that they would get a better deal if they stalled Johnson on the peace deals.

The White House soon learned that Anna Chennault, the anticommunist Chinese-born widow of Lt. Gen. Claire Chennault, and a member of Nixon’s campaign team, were holding curious meetings with South Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States, Bui Diem.

On Oct. 30th, 1968 an FBI intercept overheard Bui Diem tell Mrs. Chennault that something “is cooking” and asked her to come by the embassy.

Johnson knew what Nixon was up to.

Johnson said regarding Nixon’s backroon maneuvering over Vietnam:

“I think it would shock America if a principal candidate was playing with a source like this on a matter of this importance (Vietnam).

I don’t want to do that [go public]. They ought to know that we know what they’re doing. I know who they’re talking to. I know what they’re saying.”

President Johnson added:

“They’re contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war. It’s a damn bad mistake.
You just tell them that their people are messing around in this thing, and if they don’t want it on the front pages, they better quit it.”

Johnson picked up the phone and talked to Nixon about what he knew from the FBI intercepts. He basically told Nixon not to go down this road…or else.

Nixon insisted that he would do whatever President Johnson and Secretary of State Dean Rusk wanted…including going to Paris (where the peace talks took place) himself if that would help.

“I’m not trying to interfere with your conduct of it; I’ll only do what you and Rusk want me to do,” Nixon said.

Nixon knew how close Johnson was to a peace deal.

According to some reports, Nixon was gleeful after the conversation ended…believing he had tamped down Johnson’s suspicions.

Privately, Johnson didn’t believe Nixon’s proclamations of innocence.

Christian Science was about to blow up the story about the lies and deception involving Nixon and Vietnam….and Nixon’s maneuvering to stop the peace talks.

A dispatch from Saigon contained the elements of a major scandal which involved the Vietnamese ambassador.

This scandal would have effected presidential candidate, Richard Nixon if the Monitor published it.

Time was of the essence with this story, as the reporter had a deadline to meet if he published it.

The Monitor reporter speculated that should the story be published, it would have created a great deal of excitement.

The Monitor’s inquiry gave President Johnson one more opportunity before Election Day, to bring to light Nixon’s gambit.

But The Monitor could only publish the story on the day before, or as late as the morning of the election.

As you can see here, the Defense Secretary decided to keep the “shocking information” from the American people.

Saville Davis from The Monitor volunteered that his newspaper would not print the story in the form in which it was filed; but they might print a story which said Thieu, on his own, decided to hold out until after the election.

Remember
Remember
The 5th of
November.

Memorandum for the record…
On 11/5/68 Nixon remained nervous about the election’s outcome and then reneged on his commitment to Johnson not to exploit the peace-talk stalemate for political gain.

Even as Johnson refused to exploit evidence of Nixon’s “treason,” Nixon played hardball until the last vote was cast.

Nixon’s Victory
Nixon narrowly prevailed over Humphrey by about 500,000 votes…or less than 1% of the ballots cast.

Gee…nothing to see here.

Do you think they learned any lessons from the 1960 election, whereby ((they)) cheated for Nixon to win, yet Nixon still lost to Kennedy?

Reminds me of Trump beating Hillary. “They never thought she would lose.”

On the day after the election, Rostow relayed to Johnson an FBI intercept which had recorded South Vietnamese Ambassador Bui Diem saying, prior to the American balloting, that he was “keeping his fingers crossed” in hopes of a Nixon victory.


On Nov. 7, Rostow passed along another report to Johnson about the thinking of South Vietnam’s leaders, with a cover letter that read: “If you wish to get the story raw, read the last paragraph, marked.”

What did that “last paragraph”say?

It quoted Major Bui Cong Minh, assistant armed forces attaché at the South Vietnamese Embassy in Washington.

“Major Minh expressed the opinion that the move by Saigon was to help presidential candidate Nixon, and that had Saigon gone to the conference table, presidential candidate Humphrey would probably have won.”