Left to right: Richard Nixon, Anna Chennault and Henry Kissinger.
Photo taken in the Oval Office in 1971.
It should have been taken in federal court,
where they would not have been smiling.
So he calls Anna Chennault, an official of the anti-Communist "China Lobby," and the widow of Claire Chennault, beloved by the Nationalist Chinese for his role in the Army Air Force during World War II. And she calls called Bùi Diễm, the South Vietnamese Ambassador to the Paris Peace Talks, and tells him, "Hold on. We are going to win. Please tell your boss to hold on." In other words, you'll get a better deal from a President Nixon than you would from a President Humphrey.
The peace talks stalled. Humphrey's momentum slowed down. Three days later, Nixon won in a squeaker. Shortly thereafter, someone wrote that, if the polls had opened and closed 8 hours later, Humphrey would have won.
From 1969 onward, the official count of the U.S. service dead in Vietnam is 21,264 – 36 percent of all deaths. "Madame Chennault" and Richard Nixon can be blamed for this. But it goes beyond that: What Nixon, Haldeman, Madame Chennault, and anyone who assisted them in this endeavor did was treason. And yet, no one was ever prosecuted for it, despite the surviving evidence: The FBI's wiretap of her phone, Haldeman's written notes, and a mention of it on Nixon's Oval Office audiotapes, which did eventually bring him down -- over Watergate.
Madame Chennault, a.k.a. "The Steel Butterfly," died in 2018, at the age of 94. Bùi Diễm died in 2021, at 98.
*
November 2, 1968 was a Saturday. Among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Southern California beat Oregon, 20-13 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. USC got tied by Notre Dame in their regular-season finale, but still won the Pacific-Eight Conference title, setting up a 1 vs. 2 showdown in the Rose Bowl with...
* Ohio State, who went into November 2 at Number 2, and beat Number 16 Michigan State, 25-20 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. The USC-ND tie vaulted Big Ten Conference Champion OSU to Number 1, and they beat USC in the Rose Bowl to win the National Championship.
* Number 3 Kansas beat Colorado, 27-14 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. The next week, Kansas lost to Oklahoma, creating a tie for the Big Eight Conference title. Oklahoma had the head-to-head tiebreaker, and should have been the Big 8's representative in the Orange Bowl. But since Kansas finished 6th in the last poll after the regular season, and Oklahoma were 10th, the league selected Kansas instead.
* Number 4 Penn State beat Army, 28-24 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. For the 1st time, a team coached by Joe Paterno (in his 3rd season in "Happy Valley") went undefeated during the regular season. They beat Kansas in the Orange Bowl. But except for that game, they hadn't beaten a single ranked opponent, so Ohio State, also with a perfect record but having beaten 4 ranked teams -- then Number 1 Purdue, Number 2 USC, Number 4 Michigan and Number 16 Michigan State -- were awarded the National Championship.
* Number 5 Tennessee beat UCLA, 42-18 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. The next week, Tennessee, which had already been tied by Georgia, lost to Auburn, costing them the Southeastern Conference title. They were still invited to the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 6 Purdue beat Illinois, 35-17 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue had already ruined their chances by losing to Ohio State. Not that it was all their fault: At the time, the Big 10 had a rule that the Rose Bowl was the only bowl game a league team could go to. The Pac-8 also had that rule. Both leagues changed the rule for the 1975 season.
* Number 7 Georgia were held to a tie by Number 15 University of Houston, 10-10 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. It was Georgia's 2nd tie of the season. They still ended up winning the SEC title.
* Number 8 University of California were held to a tie by the University of Washington, 7-7 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Number 9 Michigan beat Northwestern, 35-0 at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.
* Number 10 Missouri beat Oklahoma State, 42-7 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.
* Number 11 Texas beat Number 13 Southern Methodist (SMU), 38-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. This game settled the Southwest Conference title. Texas beat Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 12 Notre Dame beat Navy, 45-14 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Four weeks later, Navy returned to JFK Stadium, and lost to Army.
* Number 14 Louisiana State were upset by Mississippi, 27-24 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
* Number 15 Arkansas beat Rice, 46-21 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Arkansas were invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they beat Georgia.
* Number 18 Florida State were upset by Virginia Tech, 40-22 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.
* Number 20 Florida were upset by Auburn, 24-13 at Florida Field in Gainesville.
* Wyoming beat Colorado State, 46-14 at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado. This was the 1st time that a trophy was awarded to the winner of this rivalry game, the Bronze Boot. Wyoming won the Western Athletic Conference title, but were not invited to a bowl game.
* And among New Jersey teams, Rutgers beat Delaware, 23-14 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; and Princeton beat Brown, 50-7 at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.
There were 4 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Detroit Pistons, 112-104 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit, despite 34 points and 26 rebounds from Willis Reed.
* The Cincinnati Royals beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 119-113 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Milwaukee Bucks, in only the 8th game in franchise history, beat the San Francisco Warriors, 102-101 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Chicago Bulls, 101-95 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 5 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Minnesota Muskies, 130-114 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Miami Floridians beat the Kentucky Colonels, 92-85 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
* The Houston Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 102-100 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.
* The Los Angeles Stars beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 108-104 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
* And the Oakland Oaks beat the Denver Rockets, 120-106 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-0 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Black Hawks and the Oakland Seals were not scheduled.
No comments:
Post a Comment