The unreported, but important, main reason behind Schlesinger's dismissal, though, was his insubordination toward President Ford. During the "Mayaguez" incident, Ford ordered several retaliatory strikes against Cambodia. Schlesinger told Ford the first strike was carried out, but Ford later learned that Schlesinger, who disagreed with the order, had none of them carried out. According to Bob Woodward's 1999 book, "Shadow", Ford let the incident go, but when Schlesinger committed further insubordination on other matters, Ford finally fired him. Woodward observes, "The United States had just lost a war for the first time. . . . That the president and the secretary of defense could not agree on who was in charge was appalling.. . . [This] unpublicized breakdown in the military chain of command was ... perhaps the most significant scandal of the Ford presidency." Schlesinger had also disobeyed Ford when told to send as many military aircraft as possible to evacuate South Vietnam. Schlesinger disagreed with doing so and didn't send the aircraft. Woodward says that an elected president, which Ford was not, would never have tolerated the insubordination.