yoyo52 Nothing comes of nothing.
Registered: 05/25/01
Posts: 30520
Loc: PA, USA
Just watching RMS, and she tells me that during the 68 campaign, Nixon actually intervened in the peace arrangements that LBJ had hammered out with NVN and SVN, had conspired to get SVN to renege, and so had guaranteed another 5 more years of bloody war in Vietnam. LBJ dared call it treason, but then did nothing to bring the treason to light in public.
Inf-ingcredible.
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I'm sure there's a lot we don't want to know about our political machine.
You can save me the Googling. I did look but found nothing. Was Nixon in office in '68? If not how was he able to intervene/influence the arrangements? If it is true LBJ is as much to blame, why didn't he bring it to light? Protecting the reputation of the US of A? The good old boy mindset? Both partyies at fault.
Flash forward a half century, if it is true it's f'd up, 5 more years of war, but what good does our now knowing matter? Except for ratings and hits for RM? We know that there's a game in DC we will never be able to control, even though we are the tax paying pawns.
yoyo52 Nothing comes of nothing.
Registered: 05/25/01
Posts: 30520
Loc: PA, USA
The intervention took place a couple of weeks before the '68 election--LBJ had already said he would not run, the Reps. had already chosen Nixon and the Dems. had chosen Humphrey. Nixon won the election 43.4% to 42.7% (Wallace got 13.5%).
Nixon intervened by getting Madame Chennault, a very influential Chinese national, widow of a US WW II air ace, to convince the SVN delegation that they could get a better deal under Nixon than they would from the negotiations that LBJ was overseeing.
Article here. There's speculation in the article about why LBJ didn't make the "treason" public.
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garyW
mid-century modern
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 8329
Originally Posted By: Jim_
Was Nixon in office in '68? If not how was he able to intervene/influence the arrangements?
Was Romney in office in 2012?
Sure seemed to me his meetings with Netanyahu in late September in Israel was a coordinated effort with the Prime Minister to sway our election with an orchestrated "Obama is anti-Israel" smear and hightened stance to take the offensive against Iran. If Romney had won I bet we'd be going into another war … instead we're likely see Netanyahu schmoozing with Obama over the next few days working towards an active peace initiative and increased diplomacy with Iran, as well as a unified Israeli-US show of might rather than a unilateral position.
Nixon had influence because, like Romney, he was viewed as the next US President.
garyW
mid-century modern
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 8329
Originally Posted By: Leslie
Romney had influence?
It's scary to accept the reality that during the election he did.
He was the puppet for the DC rightwing neocon establishment and corporate moguls, exactly like George Bush was for Cheney. And unforfortunately, George Bush had influence on beginning wars and destroying global economies.
MY understanding - though equally regrettable- is LBJ didn't take him to task because they had Illegally tapped the N Vietnamese Ambassadors phone. IF he'd blown the whistle - he'd blown it on himself too.
But I wish he'd tried and just said "Can't tell you how we found out - National Security" like W and Cheney pulled a Jillion times !!
I didn't like either of them - BOTH were as crooked as a cork screw !! BUT with this new light, Tricky Dickie might take W's places as the WORST US President !! Maybe they could co-Chair the Prize !! Both GOP !!
yoyo52 Nothing comes of nothing.
Registered: 05/25/01
Posts: 30520
Loc: PA, USA
Let's not forget the illustrious list of other Rep dazzlers, among them Calvin Coolidge and Heebert Hoober. And for scandals, howsabout Harding? Taft was ok, as was McKinley (more or less).
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