Fiction R.I.P.
"Fiction is dead, reality has strangled invention."
Red Smith, New York Herald Tribune (October 4, 1951), written the day the New York Giants' Bobby Thompson hit a walk-off homer to take the National League Championship away from the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The 1960s and early 1970s saw a seemingly endless string of mind-boggling events take place. All of which were made even more incomprehensible as they came on the heels of the repressed and sterilized 1950s. If a novel had presented the same series of situations as its plot line it would be considered too farfetched to deserve any reader's attention.
Thirteen years of madness began with JFK's January 1961 inauguration speech when he asked the country to help him "fight war itself" and then promptly increased the American Military "advisors" in Vietnam from a few hundred to 16,000.
Then in November of 1963 when JFK was killed no one thought anything worse could ever happen – at least not until the Warren Commission issued their report. In terms of public angst, the O.J. Simpson verdict wasn't even in the same league as the Warren Commission findings. Jim Garrison, a Louisiana District Attorney, was one of several mavericks riding a growing wave of public skepticism. I watched when Garrison appeared as a guest on Jonny Carson's The Tonight Show. Carson was the consummate mid-westerner and always kept his political opinions to himself. However this night was an exception and you could tell early on that Carson considered his guest either a nutcase or an opportunist.
At one point Garrison told Johnny when the Warren Commission concluded their investigation, all 40,000 documents and exhibits had been sealed away for the next 75 years, Johnny asked in disbelief, "Oh come on now Jim, why would anyone do that?"
Garrison answered, "Johnny, that's exactly what I said."
The resounding response from the audience and the expression on Carson's face made it obvious that he suddenly realized how far out of the mainstream he was on this topic. Carson immediately became totally respectful through the remainder of their discussion.
In August of 1964, the U.S. Congress passed the Tonkin Resolution giving President Johnson the authority to conduct military operations without requiring a declaration of war. This was a direct response to an incident that took place three days earlier. Weather conditions had created radar blips that were initially interpreted as torpedoes coming from North Vietnam patrol boats. Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense at the time, later admitted he was fully aware there had been no such incident but he did not inform President Johnson or anyone else of this fact.
President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 removed U.S. trade restrictions which permitted major U.S. banks to finance factories in the Soviet Union that were responsible for providing North Vietnam (our enemy) with 80% of their munitions and equipment for the balance of the war.
In March of 1968, Eugene McCarthy, whose presidential campaign message was "end the war now", won the New Hampshire primary. Thoroughly embarrassed by this defeat, President Johnson immediately halted the bombing of North Vietnam hoping to encourage them to begin peace negotiations.
Later that year, RFK and MLK were killed as though public assassinations were becoming commonplace.
Nixon was elected President in 1969 after promising to end the Vietnam War and achieve "peace with honor." Prior to the election, Henry Kissinger, U.S. National Security Advisor, began negotiating secretly with Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam (our enemy). For the next four years these talks were conducted without informing South Vietnam (our ally). Ken Hughes of the University of Virginia's Miller Center reports that Nixon's oval office tapes reveal that Nixon and Kissinger utilized these secret negotiations to intentionally prolong the war, resulting in the needless loss of life for 20,000 Americans and at least a million Southeast Asians.
Nixon and Kissinger knew the U.S. had to withdraw at some point so they decided to sell out our ally to the enemy in order to gain concessions that would enable them to stay in office. Frequent discussions between Nixon and Kissinger show that the 500,000 U.S. Troops in Southeast Asia were purposely drawn down at a rate that would extend past Nixon's re-election. Nixon referred to this gradual approach as "Vietnamization" designed to enable South Vietnam to eventually take over its own defense - the same gimmick was resurrected for Iraq and Afghanistan. Nixon and Kissinger knew South Vietnam would collapse when our troops left and they had to delay it until after the election. Kissinger's secret talks with North Vietnam made clear South Vietnam's fate and he is heard on the tape saying South Vietnam would not survive the terms of the cease fire.
The U.S. Military rules of engagement for the Vietnam War were declassified in 1985 and provided support to Nixon and Kissinger's efforts to prolong the conflict. The policy was made known to the North Vietnamese during the war and forbade U.S. forces from (1) attacks on anti-missile installations until they became operational; (2), pursuing the enemy into Laos and Cambodia; and (3), establishing any target without prior approval from the U.S. Military High Command.
On tape Nixon and Kissinger also voiced concern that a "decent interval" of time pass after our troops were withdrawn before the demise of South Vietnam so the phrase "peace with honor" didn't look like a complete sham. Kissinger secured commitments from China and the Soviet Union that they would honor a minimum of twelve months before capturing South Vietnam in return for us withdrawing our troops. During a conversation recorded on August 3. 1972, Kissinger tells Johnson, "After a year, Mr. President, Vietnam will be a backwater, no one will give a damn."
On March 8, 1968 the Soviets lost contact with their Submarine K-129 armed with nuclear missiles approximately 1,500 miles northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. The Soviets were unable to locate the ship but U.S. Naval tracking technology picked up a heat plume and pinpointed the location at a depth of three miles. Kissinger proposed to Nixon that a salvage vessel be specifically constructed in secret by the CIA and sent to recover what it could from the sunken sub. Kissinger saw it as an opportunity to get a hold of Soviet missile technology and code books. Nixon approved the project and the CIA commissioned the Western Gear Corporation to produce a 619 foot-long craft than costs 1.7 billion in today's dollars.
Secrecy was required as the Soviets were adamant that the U.S. not interfere with their submarine and if they got wind of any salvage effort they might renege on the cease fire agreement. The salvage craft was named the Hughes Glomar Explorer (HGE) and the cover story was that it would mine manganese from the sea floor. Howard Hughes had no involvement in the project but did agree to let them use his name as it would lend credence to the mining scenario.
The enormous HGE hull concealed the salvage recovery vehicle that would descend to the sub and return with salvaged material completely out of sight from any ship, plane or satellite. The recovery vehicle had massive claws that were designed to clomp onto the 150-foot long submarine so it could be raised up into the hull of the HGE. The HGE was completed in 1974 and carried out its salvage operation undetected by the Soviets. A claw mechanism failure limited the recovery to a 38-foot long part of the sub containing six dead Soviet sailors as the rest of the sub broke off and fell back down to the ocean floor. A few details about this operation named Project Azorian began to first surface publicly in 1975.
In 1971 an amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. This meant that if there were any U.S. Citizens still alive between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one when the next election was held, they would be permitted to vote.
In June of 1972 the Watergate break-in took place.
In October of 1972 Kissinger called a press conference where he said, "Peace is at hand." This came after the negotiators spent six months arguing over the name plates and the shape of the table to be used in the peace talks. When South Vietnam got its first look at the terms of the deal and realized that Kissinger has screwed them, they pulled out of the talks. North Vietnam, thinking they had been suckered into concessions by Kissinger, also pulled out.
In December of 1972 Nixon ordered a twelve-day, 35,000 ton "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam. It was the greatest concentrated bombing in world history. U.S. loses included 26 planes and 93 men. Nixon wanted South Vietnam to return to the peace talks and he used the bombing to demonstrate the air support the U.S. would provide should North Vietnam attack after U.S. forces were withdrawn. No such air support materialized in 1975 when North Vietnam overwhelmed South Vietnam and ended the war.
In January 1973 all parties returned to the peace talks and a cease fire agreement was drawn up but proved to be meaningless. None of the parties complied with the terms. The U.S. withdrew its remaining troops but violated the agreement when it left all its weapons and equipment with the South Vietnamese. The North and South never stop fighting until 1975, when having waited out the "decent interval"; the North launched an assault and overtook the South.
Later in October of 1973 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. For the first time in the history of the award two members of the Nobel Committee left in protest. Kissinger said he accepted his award "with humility." At least Le Duc Tho had the decency to refuse his award saying the cease fire agreement failed to establish any peace.
On October 10, 1973 Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office and pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
On November 27, 1973 President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as Vice President.
On August 9, 1974; faced with certain impeachment and removal from office, President Nixon resigned.
On September 8, 1974 President Gerald Ford granted Nixon an unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed while President of the United States.