Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia, Eisenberg - A*

            This Bancroft Prize winning history "takes as its subject the Nixon administration's conduct of the war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and the resulting diplomacy with the Soviet Union and China." It reverses the familiar belief that the war was shaped by Cold War considerations, which impacted his three predecessors, but not Nixon. If the best and the brightest in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations failed intellectually, in the Nixon administration, failure was a matter of selective, wishful thinking.

           In March 1968, Nixon said "I pledge to you that new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific." With talks in Paris progressing just before the election, Nixon contacted the South Vietnamese to assure them he would get them a better deal if they didn't accept LBJ's proposal. Johnson and Dirksen agreed that what Nixon had done was "treasonous," but they could do nothing because LBJ had obtained the information illegally. Nixon came into office knowing that the strength of the anti-war movement would be important in the mid-terms, and that protecting himself politically was his number one concern. Mel Laird, Defense Secretary, began withdrawing troops and labelling his action 'Vietnamization.' This notwithstanding the fact that the administration had conclusively concluded that the ARVN could not stand on its own two feet. Kissinger was concerned that Vietnamization would ease pressure on the North to settle, and the Pentagon opposed any troop reductions. There was no obvious path to a satisfactory strategic conclusion. Annoyed at the North for rocket attacks on the DMZ, Nixon authorized bombing in neutral Cambodia. The peace and anti-draft movements picked up steam in the face of the fact that Nixon seemed to be escalating the war*. On October 15, two million Americans participated in the Vietnam War Moratorium. Nixon made the best speech of his life on November 3rd rallying the 'peace with honor' believers, and successfully halting tv coverage of the second Moratorium on Nov. 15-16. 

          The new year saw the administration significantly ratchet up the existing policy of bombing Laos because the Ho Chi Minh Trail veered into the country. Massive use of B-52's killed thousands and depopulated the Plain of Jars, home to a million Laotians. Because the NVA and the NLF used Cambodia as a sanctuary, the JCS and the president initiated an invasion at the end of April. Kissinger told the Senate majority leader that Cambodia had requested military help. This was a complete fabrication. He and the president continued to lie to the press, the public, Congress, and the Cabinet. American and SVN ground forces, aided by US air support, entered Cambodia, and after a lengthy halt, the USAF resumed bombing Hanoi. Around the country, college campuses exploded in outrage. At Kent State, four students were murdered by the National Guard. Higher education in the US shut down. In Cambodia, the combination of excessive bombing and atrocities by the ARVN began a destabilization of the country that would lead to a deadly civil war. Nixon declared the operation a success, although the North Vietnamese had moved away from the border and controlled 40% of the country. Throughout the year, both Nixon and Kissinger worked back channel approaches to Dobrynin and Gromyko hoping for Soviet help in negotiating with Hanoi. None was forthcoming. Nixon frequently contrasted our clean cut boys over there against the long hair bums at home. The year 1970 saw the soldiers in Vietnam smoking weed, growing their hair, wearing non-uniform clothes, refusing to fight, and occasionally 'fragging' overzealous officers. At home, the Vietnam Veterans Against the  War publicized the atrocities of murdering civilians, calling in artillery to destroy villages as a game, raping indiscriminately, burning hooches, dousing people with white phosphorous to watch them burn, and throwing prisoners out of helicopters.  

        The year 1971 would see one of the largest operations of the war. Lam Son 719 was the South Vietnamese lead incursion into Laos. It went well for a bit, but the NVA stopped the southerners after two weeks. Soon the NVA was pounding the ARVN troops and at least 30 American planes had been shot down. Airlifted into their objective 26 miles into Laos, the ARVN was momentarily triumphant until Prime Minister Thieu pulled them out after three days. It was a rout categorized by the Pentagon as "an evacuation proceeding according to plan." "Lam Son 719 would prove to be the turning point in the American war, signaling the end of the administration's optimism." Nixon and Kissinger had deluded themselves into thinking the ARVN could cover the American drawdown of troops. Two years into his presidency, Nixon's strategy was in tatters.

         In spring the Vietnam Veterans Against the War arrived in Washington, along with Gold Star Mothers and WWII veterans. Navy Lt. John Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and eloquently damned the war and those who lied to America about it. The Mothers returned their son's medals, and awards. A WWII veteran played taps for his son, and hundreds of veterans threw their medals over a fence in front of the capitol. Nixon's ratings plummeted. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators followed the next month. In June, The New York Times began publishing the top secret Pentagon Papers, proving to the world that the Johnson administration had consistently lied about the rationale for the war and what was actually happening in Asia. The war was so unpopular that Congress was regularly getting closer to voting to shut it down. 

           Nixon and Kissinger were hoping for some foreign policy breakthrough to shift America's focus away from Vietnam. That summer, Zhou invited Kissinger to China, and he visited in June and October. An agreement was made to invite Nixon to China, but there was no help offered on changing Hanoi's negotiating positions. The possibility of reducing tensions with the Soviets was also explored, and a USSR summit was also planned for 1972. Two summits, an election, and a North Vietnamese escalation appeared to be the agenda for 1972.

           Nixon went to Beijing in February, met with Mao and Zhou, was seen exchanging toasts in the Great hall, and accomplished "a public relations windfall exceeding all expectations." When asked why we were still in Vietnam if 'containing' China was no longer a strategic imperative, the president said that we could not look weak.

           "It would be another month before thousands of North Vietnamese troops began pouring into the  south." The ARVN again failed to fight. "Nixon was beside himself. After so many years of careful planning and billions of dollars, how could this be happening? He had always ignored the naysayers, domestic and foreign, who had argued that pacifying  South Vietnam was a doomed project because the local insurgents and their North Vietnamese allies would never give up no matter how intense the American firepower." Hoping he could get the Soviets to rein in the North, Nixon ordered the saturation bombing of Haiphong and Hanoi. The NYT said "The United States is the most  dangerous and destructive power in the world. Only a fool or a madman could believe that more bombing will bring peace."   After a few weeks, MACV was concerned that the South would fall, as the South's soldiers deserted en masse. Nixon's response was to increase bombing the North. In May, he spent a week in Moscow reveling in his role as an international statesman.  By every measure, the Moscow summit was a success but there was no Soviet help forthcoming in Vietnam. 

            Fortunately for the White House, the NVA invasion of the South had stalled, and there were only 39,000 American non-combatants left in country. Finally, both China and the USSR urged the North to be more flexible in their negotiations with the US. Both sides dropped their most intransigent positions. The US would leave, our prisoners would be returned and there would be a cease-fire in place. For the North, they accepted the fact that they could defeat the South later. But without the consent of the Thieu government, the deal faltered. When the North insisted the US stick to the understanding, the US resumed B-52 raids in the north. Virtually the entire world expressed their outrage with comparisons to Nazi atrocities and Allied bombing excesses of WWII being made. The Chineses strongly encouraged the North to work out a settlement. The US and North Vietnam came to an accord at the end of January, 1973. "Although reluctant to admit it...for Nixon and Kissinger, the Paris Peace Agreement was never about peace. It was about getting US prisoners home, withdrawing the troops, and establishing interim processes that could persuade domestic adversaries that their pursuit of the war...had yielded something positive." For America, the war in Vietnam was finally over. Needless to say, a magnificent book.

        

         

*Nixon's first year in office saw the death of five young men from my parish: Mickey McGovern, John Dixon, Kenny Cummings, Gerry Paulsen, and Doug Brustman.