Prologue
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.
George Orwell
President Richard Nixon spent New Year's Eve 1972 watching his beloved
Washington Redskins defeat the Dallas Cowboys 26 3. Afterward, Nixon wrote in
his diary, "As the year 1972 ends I have much to be thankful for — China,
Russia, May 8, the election victory, and, of course, while the end of the year
was somewhat marred by the need to bomb Hanoi Haiphong, that decision, I think,
can make the next four years much more successful than they otherwise might have
been. 1973 will be a better year."
It was a fair assessment of 1972. It was, of course, wildly wrong about the
years to come, thanks to Watergate, but on that New Year's Eve, Nixon had reason
to be optimistic. His biggest foreign policy problem, inherited from LBJ, had
been the ongoing Vietnam War. Heading into 1973, it seemed likely that a peace
treaty was just aro ...
read full excerpt from No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam ebook
