Another Time a GOP Politico Interfered with Treaty Negotiations
Another Time a GOP Politico Directly Contacted a Foreign Government
Re Treaty Negotiations
In 1968, campaigning for president through rubber jowls
Richard Nixon declared he had a secret plan
to win the war,
a secret plan that was sure, he said,
to succeed.
If it was such a great plan,
I thought (in the shadow of my long
hair, school locker, and the lottery for
my older brother), why
didn’t he tell someone, stop
the killing right
away.
What I didn’t get
was that Nixon’s operative word was “win”
(not end),
and that it wasn’t the war
he had a secret plan for, but
the election.
Though he did tell someone
a plan–South Vietnamese
government officials–through a dusky-bosomed
agent (little flower dragon lady), and in his own meeting with them too,
urging absence
from the Paris peace talks, writing
“we are going to win” (meaning again,
the election), promising
more and better
props–
But the war, after Nixon’s election,
slogged on for seven years,
cost twenty thousand more
U.S. lives–
I don’t even know
how many more
Vietnamese,
or the tally
in spirit, limb,
napalm,
skin,
cultivable
land.
Only that I acknowledge freely that it is my ignorance
that does not know these numbers–they are
no secret–
**************************************
A poem of sorts–I’m sorry–in my disgust at all kinds of things right now it is hard to write very poetically–for With Real Toads Tuesday Open Platform.
Further information on Nixon and the “Chennault Affair,” which supposedly led to Nixon’s obsession with the Pentagon Papers (detailing classified information about the U.S. war in Vietnam, with arranging a break-in force to get documents from the Brookings Institution related to LBJ’s bombing halt in 1968 that Nixon thought included information concerning his pre-election interference with the peace process, and which led to the creation of “Plumbers” unit, and eventually the Watergate break-in, can be found in a variety of places. Here are two:
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/146770
The reference to lottery is to the draft lottery.
Also, this made me think of pitching my book Nice, which takes place in 1968, is a really cool book–especially for anyone interested in this era–, and can be gotten in paper copy cheaply, or on kindle for 99 cents.
Tags: http://www.amazon.com/Nice-Karin-Gustafson/dp/0981992358, let's have a treaty poem, manicddaily, Poem about Richard Nixon, Richard Nixon and Paris Peace Talks poem, Richard Nixon and the Chennault Affair
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ManicDDaily 
March 11, 2015 at 8:37 am
“Nixon’s operative word was “win”
(not end),” it is the same world over still… and end, end would be a beginning of peace, prosperity, generosity… win… the win-dow of witnessing the tragedies that never end.
March 11, 2015 at 8:48 am
hmm politics!! same everywhere.
March 11, 2015 at 9:05 am
as much as we rail on the politicians, it Is often our ignorance…like in that last part…not knowing the cost…of our belief…
March 11, 2015 at 9:56 am
Every country has its dark chapters of history, too often the result of dodgy politicians pursuing their own agendas. There are quite a number of them in high office and centre stage at the moment, who believe their end justifies the means.
March 11, 2015 at 9:26 pm
Agh. Yes. k.
March 11, 2015 at 6:26 pm
This is a sad time in our history and one that makes me cringe every time I read about it–maybe that is a good thing
March 11, 2015 at 7:51 pm
History repeats itself…and it can be ugly.
March 11, 2015 at 10:32 pm
It seems the lessons haven’t been learned. Powerful reflection on the status quo
March 12, 2015 at 12:30 am
Karin, this truly fits right in with your book that I’m in the (slow) process of reading.. So many lies and the concept of winning. I think many time we hear what we want to hear..
March 12, 2015 at 7:07 am
I was so oblivious to detail back then–I lived completely by instinct, but I think my instinct to distrust every word coming out of Nixon’s mouth was pretty sound–here you do bring the lens of the time into focus–the lottery that touched every one of us–I remember being so grateful to be a girl and not have to be faced with going off to kill total strangers for no discernible reason–anyway, great call on the contemporary parallel.