Episode 8: Nixon’s Campaign Promise

Episode 8: Nixon’s Campaign Promise

Nixon scuttles Johnson’s peace talks before the election and expands the war after it
Nixon’s Presidential campaign led many to conclude he had a “secret plan to end the war.” Some historians believe he was actually determined to win the war. Others say he planned a negotiated withdrawal from the beginning. We do know he had a secret. He sabotaged Johnson’s peace talks to try to prevent an agreement from threatening his election.
As President, Nixon escalated the bombing and expanded the war in Cambodia and Laos. After millions demonstrated in the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, he announced his plan for “Vietnamization” and asked “the great silent majority” of Americans for their support. The war continued for four years under Nixon. During that time, 21,041 Americans and over two million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians were killed.
On the night of October 22, 1968, according to the notes of H. R. Haldeman, Richard Nixon’s closest aide, Nixon told him to tell John Mitchell to “keep Anna Chennault working on SVN” and to ask Bryce Harlow if there was “Any other way to monkey wrench” LBJ’s efforts to enter peace talks with both Vietnam regimes.

Haldeman’s notes, October 22, 1968. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

View in the National Archives Catalog
This cable states that on November 2, three days before the election, Nixon campaign associate Anna Chennault contacted the South Vietnamese Ambassador to encourage Saigon to refuse to participate in LBJ’s peace efforts.

Cable from Rostow to Johnson, November 2, 1968. Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum
Key Dates
January 20, 1969: Nixon’s inauguration
March 18, 1969: Nixon begins secret bombing of Cambodia
April, 1969: Number of American military personnel in Vietnam peaks at 543,000
June 8, 1969: Announcement of 25,000 troop withdrawal
July 20, 1969: Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon
September 2, 1969: Ho Chi Minh dies of a heart attack
October 15, 1969: National Moratorium to End the War
November 3, 1969: Vietnamization & Silent Majority speech
November 15, 1969: Over 500,000 join Moratorium March on Washington

President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon wave from the Presidential limousine in the inaugural motorcade, January 20, 1969. Lyndon B. John...Read more

President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon wave from the Presidential limousine in the inaugural motorcade, January 20, 1969. Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum
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View in the National Archives Catalog

Yellow legal pad sheet with handwritten notes in black ink with red checkmarks

Document with black typewritten text and red stamps

Color image of president waving from motorcade surrounded by secret service agents

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