# TV's 'Kissinger & Nixon' distorts history

■ On Sunday night at 8, and again at 10, TNT airs "Kissinger and Nixon," a made-for-cable account of the intense negotiations between U.S. and North Vietnamese leaders in 1972-73. The two-hour presentation features Beau Bridges as President Richard Nixon and Ron Silver as his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger. Dr. Kissinger has seen the movie and filed this special review.

N "Kissinger and Nixon," a Machiavellian Kissinger cons a boozing, anti-Semitic Nixon into peace talks with Hanoi. Nixon surreptitiously undercuts his adviser but joins him in double-crossing South Vietnamese President

Thieu into a flawed agreement. The viewer is spared any ambiguity: Every single American policy maker is depicted in various shades of sleaze. The few heroes are Vietnamese leaders, North and South.

This fairy tale raises serious questions about so-called docudramas — fiction presented as fact. Thus in the movie "JFK," President Johnson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were accused in docudrama style of colluding in the assassination of Kennedy. Similarly, in "Kissinger and Nixon" a skillful blend of innuendo, distortion and misrepresentation is served up to a new generation unaware that Vietnam-era passions are masquerading as history.

Having been offered the script by Ron Silver (who plays Kissinger), I submitted dozens of primary sources documenting factual errors. I volunteered to join the producers in a Freedom of Information suit to settle factual disputes.

The producers, unwilling to let evidence interfere with their quest for ratings, proceeded with essentially the original script. As a result, the movie is filled with inac-

curacies that even a minimum regard for available documentary material could have avoided.

In an early scene, Nixon calls for me (asking for his "Jewboy") because he has just learned from a State Department intercept that I have started negotiations. The round of negotiations on which the movie is based, in fact, grew out of correspondence between Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev and Nixon. A summary of all these communications was available to the producer and ignored by him. The meticulous diaries of H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's chief of staff, make no reference to the movie's allegation.

In another scene, I am depicted as raging because the fact of the negotiations with Hanoi has been leaked to television. The next scene shows Nixon gloating and

congratulating the leaker because now I will get blamed for the expected failure of the negotiations. Nothing like this happened or could have happened. A minimum of research would have shown that there was nothing to leak, since every single negotiating session in the summer of 1972 was disclosed to the press within 24 hours.

Another scene shows Nixon giving Gen. Alexander Haig a fourth star, in effect for spying on me for him, and simultaneously keeping Haig on as my deputy, to my intense discomfiture. Nothing like this happened. Haig was given his fourth star after having left the White House to become Army vice chief of staff at a ceremony at the Pentagon. I was present; Nixon was not.

These factual misinterpretations

pale before the distortions of history. "Kissinger and Nixon" simply stands history on its head. In the real world, Nixon had put forward three irreducible conditions: continuation of the Saigon government, return of prisoners and end to communist infiltration into South Vietnam. No doubt, a Hollywood scriptwriter can, 20 years after the event, invent tougher terms; at the same time, these terms were assailed as far too stringent in scores of congressional resolutions, editorials, and by a candidate for president.

The film brazenly reverses history. Those who for four years braved often violent protests because they refused to abandon Thieu are portrayed as betraying him. No mention is made of a central element in the collapse of

See KISSINGER on Page 26

Turner Pictures / All rights reserved

**FACT OR FICTION?** Ron Silver (left) plays Henry Kissinger and Beau Bridges (right) is the president in TNT's "Kissinger and Nixon," to be cablecast on Sunday night.

KISSINGER from Page 3

Vietnam: Congress' progressive reduction and eventual cut-off of aid to South Vietnam after the agreement, and its refusal to authorize either the stick of enforcement or the carrot of economic aid toward Hanoi.

The public record belies the film's central thesis — that the Nixon administration fell in with a Hanoi trick proposal as elections approached in 1972. In fact, the United States never deviated from the position Nixon put forward in May 1971 and made public on Jan. 25, 1972. Despite the film's many innuendoes to the

contrary, these proposals had been approved in advance by President Thieu, as Nixon announced on Jan. 25 without contradiction from Saigon.

The breakthrough of Oct. 8 was the exact opposite of the film's depiction of us softening our position. Instead, it was Hanoi's negotiator, Le Duc Tho, who accepted our terms of 15 months before. The producers ignored the statement available to them with which Le Duc Tho introduced his proposal, saying: "It is the same proposal made by President Nixon himself."

The alleged backbiting between Nixon and me raises the question of how we ever had time to manage the opening to China, the agreements with the Soviet Union and the Mideast peace process. While ending the Vietnam War, Nixon and I occasionally disagreed on tactical matters, but these were invariably resolved in our daily meetings. In addition, Nixon received detailed memoranda before and after each negotiating session. Nixon himself answered the innuendo that he was a reluctant participant. On Jan. 9, 1990, he wrote me, reaffirming a letter of October 1972 available to the producers: "I was often told that if we could get the right deal, we should do so regardless of what we thought the political consequences might be."

Equally egregious is the treatment of Nixon's statement to Thieu that he intended to enforce the peace agreement. While "Kissinger and Nixon" was being filmed, President Clinton claimed for months that he had the execu-

tive authority to send 20,000 troops to Bosnia to enforce a much more fragile agreement than the Vietnam accords and for which no Americans have as yet died. Why, then, would "Kissinger and Nixon" denigrate Nixon's promise to enforce an agreement to end a war, which he had inherited from his predecessor and in which thousands of Americans had died, as some kind of underhanded ploy? The letter to Thieu promising this was no more made public as similar letters in other administrations. But the intention was stated publicly at least 10 times in the four weeks immediately following the agreement by Nixon, myself, Secretary of Defense Richardson and other key officials.

No doubt the producers will point to a disclaimer stating that their film is based on a book and that some scenes are fictionalized. But the viewer is not told what is meant by "based on" or what events are fictional, not to speak of historically untrue.

Some reviewers have pointed out that I come out rather well in the film. But the issue is not my relative standing but whether the viewer is given a fair account of the period. Ending an inherited war that had torn America apart was bound to be anguishing. Serious people were divided on whether America's honor required a conditional or unconditional withdrawal. The agony of that process deserved an accurate and truthful docudrama. "Kissinger and Nixon" does not meet that test.

(■ Adapted from an article in this week's TV Guide.)

Suzan [Nichols' second wife] died, he would go back to that."

But of course, Jeffrey Nichols appeared to his daughter just as he did to everyone else who watched him on television that night — or saw him walk free from jail yesterday.

Amoral and self-justifying.

"That's the term she used," Marilyn says. "She does not want anything to do with this man."

Jeffrey Nichols walked out on his three kids who needed his love and attention far more than his dollars. Then he pandered for attention and pity — and soon will put it all down in a book.

He once tried to deny paternity — a cruelty that could have broken his own children's already bruised hearts.

But their mom softened the blow.

"She told them it was all just a legal ploy," says David Kane. "She just downplayed the whole thing to them."

Jeffrey Nichols cheated his children of everything he owed them.

Now it is their turn.

"They have their own lives now," says Kane, the only real dad in this noisy, bitter battle over child support.

"Once he left for Canada, he was out of their lives. Now, I give them the moral support, financial support and tender loving care. And they give it back. They always have. They have no relationship at all with their father."

The Nichols children's bright future — without him — is the exact punishment their father most richly deserves.

No calls to tell him of new jobs, new loves, new grandchildren. No card on Father's Day. No comfort in his old age.

No consideration at all.

"I don't want to force myself on

the children of the rich."

"I know they must have ambiguous feelings toward me. I just hope that with time, things will heal."

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Thieu into a flawed agreement. The viewer is spared any ambiguity: Every single American policy-maker is depicted in various shades of sleaze. The few heroes are Vietnamese leaders, North and South.

See KISSINGER on Page 26

New York Post: David Rentas
Katherine Jackson, the
hospital after visit.

Dan Brinzac
WORRIED WIFE: Jackson's wife, Lisa Marie,
leaves hospital after visiting stricken star yesterday.

## Towed recipe for disaster, docs say

said Dr. Warren Wexelman, director of the cardiac rehabilitation and exercise program at MaiMONides Medical Center in Brooklyn.

"He was probably sweating a tremendous amount. And we don't know what he was eating. But he probably lost a lot of electrolytes through the sweat — sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride."

The dehydration also could have made Jackson susceptible to developing a cardiac arrhythmia — a change in his heartbeat, Wexelman said.

"Until the fluid in the body is replaced, and until the electro-

lytes are replaced, the arrhythmia could continue," he added.

"What's interesting to me is that he is such a well-trained athlete, I'm surprised he got into trouble like this."

Jackson should have been drinking a lot of fluids while he worked out, the doctor said.

Two sources told The Post a member of Jackson's entourage told emergency staffers he'd been taking a blood-pressure medication called Clonidine.

Paramedic Norman Lantz of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Medical Center said when he and partner Andrew Purcell got there, Jackson was lying on the stage, complaining of abdominal pain."

Lantz also said he saw Jackson wearing make-up — but "not to any great degree — pretty much what you'd expect."

"If you don't have enough fluid in your body, the blood pressure can't come up," Wexelman noted. "The medication [Clonidine] could prevent the body from compensating. It's a set-up for disaster."

Wexelman added Jackson's diagnosis of gastroenteritis — an infection in the gastrointestinal tract — also could have contributed to the loss of fluid, through either diarrhea or vomiting.

Another doctor, Alexander Kuehl, chief of emergency services at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, said Jack-

son's diagnosis was "all relatively consistent with the episode."

But he noted a cardiac arrhythmia is "relatively unusual in a 37-year-old man."

"The presentation [of symptoms] could be anything from fairly minor to more serious," Kuehl said.

"From the information the doctors have given out, we don't have much of an idea as to whether he does suffer from a serious illness."

But Jackson may have benefited from some good old-fashioned advice.

"Like my grandmother used to say, stress and working too hard aren't good for you," Kuehl said.

Medical Center on the Upper East Side.

There aren't any flowers allowed there since it's part of the intensive-care unit — so Jackson has ordered some of his favorite posters delivered to brighten it up.

He gazes at Shirley Temple (three different shots), Clark Gable, Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. There's also a picture of Topo Gigio, Mickey's Italian rodent cousin, hanging on the wall.

He's on an I.V. line and is being given lots of liquids.

He's big on orange juice. Drinks lots of the stuff.

He's wearing a regulation hospital gown without a single military button or epaulet.

He's not sporting any false eyelashes and hospital rules say there's no makeup allowed in ICU.

Michael's first night was very restful, I'm told.

He slept soundly from 3 to about 6:30 a.m.

Then he rang for a nurse.

She arrived and drew a curtain around his bed.

Then, and I've learned this exclusively, he went potty.

Michael spends a lot of his time on the phone — although the other patients in the other five rooms of the ICU don't usually get telephone privileges.

He's getting a lot of well-wishers — and there aren't any of those nasty restricted visiting hours to worry about like the rest of the hospital's very important guests.

Wife Lisa Marie showed up yesterday. His mom flew in also. Sisters Janet and

Rebbie were also there.

His own Dr. Allan Metzger rushed in from Los Angeles yesterday to be with his very important patient. The good doctor arrived about 30 minutes after the aforementioned potty episode.

Michael doesn't have a private nurse. And he doesn't talk much to the staff. But when he makes contact with mortal human beings, he's always very polite. Always finds the time to say thank you.

Michael's mother must be very proud.

His private security men do a lot. They helped carry all the posters upstairs.

Otherwise they stand outside the room all the time.

Bodyguard John Lioacano, who made the original call to 911 when his boss collapsed at the Beacon Theater Wednesday night, took the overnight shift yesterday before he was relieved by Joe Cavaliere.

When the bodyguards were bringing in the posters yesterday, a waiting media type joked "Who are they bringing in next — Buster Brown?"

Some of Michael's loyal fans gathered outside the hospital were not amused.

"Shut your bloody mouth," one said.

Security is very tight.

The driver of the van that brought the posters was in such a rush to get the art inside that he locked the car keys inside.

The cops had to help him get back inside.

Only in Neverland, kids. Only in Neverland.

© 1995 Cindy Adams

Henry A. Kissinger for The New York Post

In "Kissinger and Nixon," a Machiavellian Kissinger cons a boozing, anti-Semitic Nixon into peace talks with Hanoi. Nixon surreptitiously undercuts his adviser but joins him in double-crossing South Vietnamese President Thieu into a flawed agreement. The viewer is spared any ambiguity: every single American policymaker is depicted in various shades of sleaze. The few heroes are Vietnamese leaders, North and South.

This fairy tale raises serious questions about so-called docudramas - fiction presented as fact. Thus in the movie "JFK," President Johnson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were accused in docudrama style of colluding in the assassination of Kennedy. Similarly, in "Kissinger and Nixon" a skillful blend of innuendo, distortion, and misrepresentation is served up to a new generation unaware that Vietnam era passions are masquerading as history.

The producers, unwilling to let evidence interfere with their quest for ratings, proceeded with essentially the original script. As a result, the movie is filled with inaccuracies that even a minimum regard for available documentary material could have avoided.

In an early scene, Nixon calls for me (asking for his Jewboy) because he has just learned from a State Department intercept that I have started negotiations with Hanoi behind his back. Nothing like this ever happened or could have happened. Every negotiation, including the last one, was approved by Nixon in advance. The round of negotiation on which the movie is based in fact grew out of correspondence between Brezhnev and Nixon. A summary of all these communications was available to the producer and ignored by him. The meticulous diaries of H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's Chief of Staff, make no reference to the movie's allegation.

In another scene I am depicted as raging because the fact of the negotiations with Hanoi has been leaked to television. The next scene shows Nixon gloating and congratulating the leaker because now I will get blamed for the expected failure of the negotiations. Nothing like this happened or could have happened. A minimum of

2

Another scene shows Nixon giving Haig a fourth star, in
effect for spying on me for him, and simultaneously
keeping Haig on as my deputy, to my intense discomfiture.
Nothing like this happened. Haig was given his fourth
star after having left the White House to become Army
Vice Chief of Staff at a ceremony at the Pentagon. I was
present; Nixon was not.

These factual misinterpretations pale before the
distortions of history. "Kissinger and Nixon" simply
stands history on its head. In the real world, Nixon had
put forward three irreducible conditions: continuation of
the Saigon government, return of prisoners, and end to
Communist infiltration into South Vietnam. No doubt a
Hollywood scriptwriter can, 20 years after the event,
invent tougher terms; at the time, these terms were
assailed as far too stringent in scores of congressional
resolutions, editorials, and by a candidate for
President.

The film brazenly reverses history. Those who for four
years braved often violent protests because they refused
to abandon Thieu are portrayed as betraying him. No
mention is made of a central element in the collapse of
Vietnam: Congress' progressive reduction and eventual
cut-off of aid to South Vietnam after the agreement, and
its refusal to authorize either the stick of enforcement
or the carrot of economic aid towards Hanoi.

The public record belies the film's central thesis - that
the Nixon Administration fell in with a Hanoi trick
proposal as elections approached in 1972. In fact, the
United States never deviated from the position Nixon put
forward in May 1971 and made public on January 25, 1972.
Despite the film's many innuendos to the contrary, these
proposals had been approved in advance by President
Thieu, as Nixon announced on January 25 without
contradiction from Saigon.

The breakthrough of October 8 was the exact opposite of
the film's depiction of us softening our position.
Instead, it was Hanoi's negotiator, Le Duc Tho, who
accepted *our* terms of 15 months before. The producers
ignored the statement available to them with which Le Duc
Tho introduced his proposal, saying: "...It is the same
proposal made by President Nixon himself."

Mideast peace process. While ending the Vietnam war, Nixon and I occasionally disagreed on tactical matters, but these were invariably resolved in our daily meetings. In addition, Nixon received detailed memoranda before and after each negotiating session. Nixon himself answered the innuendo that he was a reluctant participant. On January 9, 1990 he wrote me, reaffirming a letter of October 1972 available to the producers: "I often told you that if we could get the right deal we should do so regardless of what we thought the political consequences might be..."

Equally egregious is the treatment of Nixon's statement to Thieu that he intended to enforce the Peace Agreement. While "Kissinger and Nixon" was being filmed, President Clinton claimed for months that he had the executive authority to send 20,000 troops to Bosnia to enforce a much more fragile agreement than the Vietnam accords and for which no Americans have as yet died. Why, then, would "Kissinger and Nixon" denigrate Nixon's promise to enforce an agreement to end a war, which he had inherited from his predecessor and for which thousands of Americans had died, as some kind of underhanded ploy? The letter to Thieu promising this was no more made public as similar letters in other Administrations. But the intention was stated publicly at least ten times in the four weeks immediately following the agreement by Nixon, myself, Secretary of Defense Richardson and other key officials.

No doubt the producers will point to a disclaimer stating that their film is based on an Isaacson book and that some scenes are fictionalized. But the viewer is not told what is meant by "based on" or what events are fictional, not to speak of historically untrue.

Some reviewers have pointed out that I come out rather well in the film. But the issue is not my relative standing but whether the viewer is given a fair account of the period. Ending an inherited war which had torn America apart was bound to be anguishing. Serious people were divided on whether America's honor required a conditional or unconditional withdrawal. The agony of that process deserved an accurate and truthful docudrama. "Kissinger and Nixon" does not meet that test.

1130 WORDS

12/7 11AM

2

In an early scene, Nixon calls for me (asking for
his Jewboy) because he has just learned from a State
Department intercept that I have started negotiations
with Hanoi behind his back. Nothing like this ever
happened or could have happened. Every negotiation,
including the last one, was approved by Nixon in advance.

3

In another scene I am depicted as raging because
the fact of the negotiations with Hanoi has been leaked
to television. The next scene shows Nixon gloating and
congratulating the leaker because now I will get blamed
for the expected failure of the negotiations. Nothing
like this happened or could have happened. A minimum of
research would have shown that there was nothing to leak,
since every single negotiating session in the summer of
1972 was disclosed to the press within 24 hours.

4

5

No mention is made of a central element in the collapse
of Vietnam: Congress' progressive reduction and eventual
cut-off of aid to South Vietnam after the agreement, and
its refusal to authorize either the stick of enforcement
or the carrot of economic aid towards Hanoi.

6

The alleged backbiting between Nixon and me raises
the question of how we ever had time to manage the
opening to China, the agreements with the Soviet Union
and the Mideast peace process. While ending the Vietnam
war, Nixon and I occasionally disagreed on tactical
matters, but these were invariably resolved in our daily
meetings. In addition, Nixon received detailed memoranda
before and after each negotiating session. Nixon himself
answered the innuendo that he was a reluctant
participant. On January 9, 1990 he wrote me, reaffirming
a letter of October 1972 available to the producers: "I
often told you that if we could get the right deal we
should do so regardless of what we thought the political
consequences might be..."

7

8

1

1100 WORDS

12/7 10:30AM

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Ending an inherited war which had torn America
apart was bound to be anguishing. Serious people were
divided on whether America's honor required a conditional
or unconditional withdrawal. The agony of that decision
deserved an accurate and truthful docudrama. "Kissinger
and Nixon" does not meet that test.

1100 WORDS

12/7 10:30AM

2

3

4

5

6

The alleged backbiting between Nixon and me raises
the question of how we ever had time to manage the
opening to China, the agreements with the Soviet Union
and the Mideast peace process. While ending the Vietnam
war, Nixon and I occasionally disagreed on tactical
matters but these were invariably resolved in our daily
meetings. In addition, Nixon received detailed memoranda
before and after each negotiating session. Nixon himself
answered the innuendo that he was a reluctant
participant. On January 9, 1990 he wrote me, reaffirming
a letter of October 1972 available to the producers: "I
often told you that if we could get the right deal we
should do so regardless of what we thought the political
consequences might be..."

7

Why, then, would "Kissinger and Nixon" denigrate Nixon's
promise to enforce an agreement to end a war which he had
inherited from his predecessor and for which thousands of
Americans had died as some kind of underhanded ploy? The
letter to Thieu promising this was no more made public as
similar letters in other Administrations. But the
intention was stated publicly at least ten times in the
four weeks immediately following the agreement by Nixon,
myself, Secretary of Defense Richardson and other key
officials.

8

DEC-06-1995 18:45

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042

P.01/07

1

1082 WORDS

12/6 6PM

In "Kissinger and Nixon," a reptilian Kissinger cons a boozing, anti-Semitic Nixon into peace talks with Hanoi. Nixon surreptitiously undercuts his adviser but joins him in double-crossing South Vietnamese President Thieu into a flawed agreement. The viewer is spared any ambiguity: every single American policymaker is depicted in various shades of sleaze. The few heroes are Vietnamese leaders, North and South.

This fantasy raises serious questions about so-called docudramas - fiction presented as fact. Thus in the movie "JFK," President Johnson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were accused in docudrama style of colluding in the assassination of Kennedy. Similarly, in "Kissinger and Nixon" a skillful blend of innuendo, distortion, and misrepresentation is served up to a new generation

DEC-06-1995 18:45

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042 P.02/07

2

In an early scene, Nixon calls for me (asking for
his Jewboy / something I am absolutely confident the
tapes will show he never did) because he has just learned
from a State Department intercept that I have started
negotiations with Hanoi behind his back. Nothing like
this ever happened or could have happened. Every

DEC-06-1995 18:45

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042

P.03/07

negotiation, including the last one, was approved by
Nixon in advance. On the negotiation to which the movie
is based in fact. E.g., in fact, of a correspondence
refers, Nixon actually personally interceded with
between Nixon,
Brezhnev to help get it started. A summary of all these
communications was available to the producer and ignored
by him. The meticulous diaries of H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's
Chief of Staff, make no reference to any of this.
the movie's allegation.

In another scene I am depicted as raging because
the fact of the negotiations with Hanoi has been leaked
to television. A cut shows Nixon gloating and
congratulating the leaker because now I will get blamed
for the expected failure of the negotiations. Nothing
like this happened or could have happened. A minimum of
research would have shown that there was nothing to leak,
since every single negotiating session in the summer of
1972 was disclosed to the press within 24 hours.

DEC-06-1995 18:45

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042 P.04/07

simultaneously keeping Haig on as my deputy, to my
intense discomfiture. Nothing like this happened. Haig
was given his fourth star after being promoted to Army
Vice Chief of Staff at a ceremony at the Pentagon. I was
present; Nixon was not.

DEC-06-1995 18:46

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042 P.05/07

refused to abandon Thieu are portrayed as betraying him. No mention is made of a central element in the collapse of Vietnam: Congress' progressive reduction and eventual cut-off of aid to South Vietnam after the agreement, and its refusal to authorize either the stick of enforcement or the carrot of economic aid towards Hanoi.

DEC-06-1995 18:46

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042 P.07/07

Perhaps most egregious, at the particular moment

when the President has claimed for months that the movie
was being made that he had the executive authority to
send 20,000 troops to Bosnia to enforce a much more
fragile agreement than the Vietnam accords and for which
no Americans have as yet died, why, then, should
"Kissinger and Nixon" denigrate the proposition that

Nixon promised to enforce an agreement to end a war which
he had inherited and for which thousands of Americans had
died as a result of an unintended play? The letter to Thieu promising
no more made public, but it has been
this was secret, as many similar letters in other

Administrations, but the intention was stated publicly at
least ten times in the four weeks following the agreement
by Nixon, myself, Secretary of Defense Richardson and
other key officials.

TOTAL P.07

DEC-06-1995 18:48

KISSINGER ASSOC.

212 759 0042 P.01/01

TOTAL P.01

1

1082 WORDS

12/6 6PM

2

In an early scene, Nixon calls for me (asking for
his Jewboy - something I am absolutely confident the
tapes will show he never did) because he has just learned
from a State Department intercept that I have started
negotiations with Hanoi behind his back. Nothing like
this ever happened or could have happened. Every

3

negotiation, including the last one, was approved by
Nixon *in advance*. On the negotiation to which the movie
refers, Nixon actually personally interceded with
Brezhnev to help get it started. A summary of all these
communications was available to the producer and ignored
by him. The meticulous diaries of H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's
Chief of Staff, make no reference to any of this.

4

5

6

The alleged backbiting between Nixon and me raises the question of how we ever had time to manage the opening to China, the agreements with the Soviet Union and the Mideast peace process. While ending the Vietnam war, Nixon and I were collaborators whose occasional tactical disagreements were invariably resolved in our daily meetings. In addition, Nixon received detailed memoranda before and after each negotiating session. Nixon himself answered the innuendo that he was a reluctant participant. On January 9, 1990 he wrote me, reaffirming a letter of October 1972 available to the producers: "I often told you that if we could get the right deal we should do so regardless of what we thought the political consequences might be..."

7

Perhaps most egregious, at the particular moment when the President has claimed for months while the movie was being made that he had the executive authority to send 20,000 troops to Bosnia to enforce a much more fragile agreement than the Vietnam accords and for which no Americans have as yet died, why, then, should "Kissinger and Nixon" denigrate the proposition that Nixon promised to enforce an agreement to end a war which he had inherited and for which thousands of Americans had died, as a secretive ploy. The letter to Thieu promising this was secret, as many similar letters in other Administrations, but the intention was stated publicly at least ten times in the four weeks following the agreement by Nixon, myself, Secretary of Defense Richardson and other key officials.

8