Nixonland.

Chapter One. The buried the story in a skinny little column in Chapter One. The Post Post didn"t cover it at all. A didn"t cover it at all. A Times Times dispatch on a subsequent hearing in Albany, New York, read, in full, "A small group of legislators sat impa.s.sively today as, one by one, a half dozen young veterans of the Vietnam war quietly told of their "war crimes." The former soldiers, members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, told their stories in an alcove of the Capitol in an effort to "bring the horror of the war closer," one of them said." dispatch on a subsequent hearing in Albany, New York, read, in full, "A small group of legislators sat impa.s.sively today as, one by one, a half dozen young veterans of the Vietnam war quietly told of their "war crimes." The former soldiers, members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, told their stories in an alcove of the Capitol in an effort to "bring the horror of the war closer," one of them said."

Prev List Next

His voice rose slightly; some pa.s.sion was called for.

Occasionally the camera closed in on his chiseled face. The word Lincolnesque Lincolnesque appeared in the press reports. His tone turned rueful: "This attack is not simply the overzealousness of a few local leaders. It has been led, inspired, and guided from the highest offices in the land.... appeared in the press reports. His tone turned rueful: "This attack is not simply the overzealousness of a few local leaders. It has been led, inspired, and guided from the highest offices in the land....

"Let me try to bring some clarity to this deliberate confusion," he said. Democrats wanted security against lawlessness, too, but Democrats also thought you deserved economic economic security. The Republicans? "They oppose your interests" and "really believe that if they can make you afraid enough or angry enough, you can be tricked into security. The Republicans? "They oppose your interests" and "really believe that if they can make you afraid enough or angry enough, you can be tricked into voting against yourself. voting against yourself. It is all part of the same contempt, and tomorrow you can show them the mistake they have made." The debate wasn"t between left or right, but between "the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says: you are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says: the world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped to the will of men.... In voting for the Democratic Party tomorrow, you cast your vote for trust, not just in leaders or policies, but trusting your fellow citizens, in the ancient tradition of this home for freedom and, most of all, for trust in yourself." It is all part of the same contempt, and tomorrow you can show them the mistake they have made." The debate wasn"t between left or right, but between "the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says: you are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says: the world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped to the will of men.... In voting for the Democratic Party tomorrow, you cast your vote for trust, not just in leaders or policies, but trusting your fellow citizens, in the ancient tradition of this home for freedom and, most of all, for trust in yourself."

Maybe it was these marvelous sentiments that stopped the Agnewite tide. Maybe it just was the economy: 1970 was the first year in over a decade to post a decline in the production of real goods and services. The United States now accounted for 18 percent of the trade with the top industrial nations compared with 30 percent twenty years earlier. On October 21 the Labor Department released September consumer price index numbers showing inflation on essentials had risen by half a percentage point. On October 27 the headlines were that eighteen metropolitan areas, from Los Angeles to nearly all of New Jersey, were on a Substantial Unemployment List, up from six listings at the end of 1969.

The Democrats" success showed the brilliance of a Democratic Congress"s political maneuver. In August, Congress had handed the president new powers to impose wage and price controls-because they knew a business Republican such as Nixon would never use them. Republicans, boxed in, lamely called Democrats economic pessimists. Democrats returned that they had given the president authority to do something do something about people"s economic misery-but instead he sat on his hands. Muskie had spoken of a previous generation of working men"s "a.s.surance of a constantly rising standard of life which was his only a few years ago and which has been cruelly s.n.a.t.c.hed away"-which the president knew only to fight "by withdrawing money" from "the workingman, the consumer, the middle-cla.s.s American." The about people"s economic misery-but instead he sat on his hands. Muskie had spoken of a previous generation of working men"s "a.s.surance of a constantly rising standard of life which was his only a few years ago and which has been cruelly s.n.a.t.c.hed away"-which the president knew only to fight "by withdrawing money" from "the workingman, the consumer, the middle-cla.s.s American." The New York Times New York Times found a typical blue-collar swing voter to quote in Akron, Teamster Mike Mangione. He said the National Guardsmen were "one hundred percent right in Kent State." But his wife was taking a job for the first time because he had lost his overtime and they wanted to keep three kids in Catholic school. He was voting Democratic. "This summer only ten out of forty guys were working because of the slowdown in the construction industry." found a typical blue-collar swing voter to quote in Akron, Teamster Mike Mangione. He said the National Guardsmen were "one hundred percent right in Kent State." But his wife was taking a job for the first time because he had lost his overtime and they wanted to keep three kids in Catholic school. He was voting Democratic. "This summer only ten out of forty guys were working because of the slowdown in the construction industry."

The president learned the lesson. In a meeting on his reelection campaign, he told Haldeman, "I really want the economy to boom beginning in July "72." He didn"t really care how it was accomplished. On November 7 in Key Biscayne, he listed seven priorities for the coming year. The first was sprucing up his hermit image. The second was the economy-"greater changes than the President has been willing to consider." (The sixth: "The Vice President...must be toned down.") He began seeing 1972 in apocalyptic terms: if he lost the presidency, America might end. Any imaginable Democratic nominee was "irresponsible domestically" and "extremely dangerous internationally." He had come to understand something profound in his two years as president, in all those lonely afternoons brooding alone in his hideaway office in the Executive Office Building-the kind of profundity too deep to share with the mere public: "America has only two more years as the number one power." America had either to "make the best deals we can between now and 1975 or or increase our conventional strength. No Democrat can sell this to the country." increase our conventional strength. No Democrat can sell this to the country."

So it was that the Old and New Nixon, serpent and sage, collided in a single astonishing insight: in order to responsibly steward the American people through the coming crisis, he first had to bluff America into believing in its own invincibility.

Indeed, to keep from losing another election, he was willing to consider just about anything. This time around he would leave nothing, nothing, nothing nothing, nothing, nothing to chance. to chance.

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

How to Survive the Debacle OBVIOUSLY, THE WORLD WAS ENDING: BY 1971, 1971, THE CONCLUSION WAS THE CONCLUSION WAS unmistakable. Steve Roberts of the unmistakable. Steve Roberts of the New York Times New York Times wrote about the enveloping apocalypticism in California, where every trend began: "Prophets of doom are as common as girls in bikinis (there are even a few prophets of doom in bikinis). Some predict the whole state will break off and sink into the Pacific-probably this month." At the Timeless Occult shop on Sunset Boulevard, the young proprietor listed his bestselling items: astrological charts, magic candles, books by the psychic Edgar Cayce. "Some people just wander in and want to know how far they should drive inland. I tell them not to worry. This one won"t be so bad. Utter devastation won"t come until 1972." wrote about the enveloping apocalypticism in California, where every trend began: "Prophets of doom are as common as girls in bikinis (there are even a few prophets of doom in bikinis). Some predict the whole state will break off and sink into the Pacific-probably this month." At the Timeless Occult shop on Sunset Boulevard, the young proprietor listed his bestselling items: astrological charts, magic candles, books by the psychic Edgar Cayce. "Some people just wander in and want to know how far they should drive inland. I tell them not to worry. This one won"t be so bad. Utter devastation won"t come until 1972."

The proximate anxiety was earthquakes. But when it came to existential terrors, Americans could choose from a banquet. In February, forty-eight students at the University of Louisville undertook a fifty-four-hour weekend hunger strike to dramatize what the overpopulated earth would be like in the year 2000. Twelve quit before the end; they were said to have not "survived." "We"ve found people can adapt to stressful conditions," an organizer told the media. "We know that we will be able to keep living-miserably."

Apocalypse, up and down the culture: there were get-rich-quick versions (How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation offered "a plan that shows how to survive the debacle...and even make money out of it!") and religious ones (the cover of offered "a plan that shows how to survive the debacle...and even make money out of it!") and religious ones (the cover of The Late Great Planet Earth The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey of Campus Crusade for Christ announced, "The rebirth of Israel, an increase in natural catastrophes, the threat of war with Egypt and the revival of interest in Satanism and witchcraft...were foreseen by prophets from Moses to Jesus as being the key signals for the coming of an Antichrist. And a war which will bring man to the brink of destruction.") and biological (Paul Ehrlich"s by Hal Lindsey of Campus Crusade for Christ announced, "The rebirth of Israel, an increase in natural catastrophes, the threat of war with Egypt and the revival of interest in Satanism and witchcraft...were foreseen by prophets from Moses to Jesus as being the key signals for the coming of an Antichrist. And a war which will bring man to the brink of destruction.") and biological (Paul Ehrlich"s The Population Bomb The Population Bomb went into a new paperback printing every couple of weeks: "While you are reading these words four people will have died from starvation. Most of them children," the cover read). went into a new paperback printing every couple of weeks: "While you are reading these words four people will have died from starvation. Most of them children," the cover read). The Andromeda Strain, The Andromeda Strain, a hit in the new "disaster movie" genre, was about an apocalyptic virus brought down to earth by a fallen satellite. Dr. B. F. Skinner"s new bestseller, a hit in the new "disaster movie" genre, was about an apocalyptic virus brought down to earth by a fallen satellite. Dr. B. F. Skinner"s new bestseller, Beyond Freedom & Dignity Beyond Freedom & Dignity-seven paperback printings in one year-asked, "If all of modern science and technology cannot significantly change man"s environment, can mankind be saved?" His solution: "We can no longer afford freedom." Future Shock, Future Shock, by Alvin Toffler-seven printings in four months-said Americans were suffering a collective nervous breakdown: "In the neural system as now const.i.tuted there are, in all likelihood, inherent limits to the amount and speed of image processing that the individual can accomplish." The public appet.i.te for counsels of doom was bottomless. by Alvin Toffler-seven printings in four months-said Americans were suffering a collective nervous breakdown: "In the neural system as now const.i.tuted there are, in all likelihood, inherent limits to the amount and speed of image processing that the individual can accomplish." The public appet.i.te for counsels of doom was bottomless.

But the bestselling paperback of all-seven printings in two two months-proposed an antidote. months-proposed an antidote. The Greening of America, The Greening of America, by Yale law professor Charles A. Reich, was introduced to the public as a thirty-nine-thousand-word article in the September 26, 1970, by Yale law professor Charles A. Reich, was introduced to the public as a thirty-nine-thousand-word article in the September 26, 1970, New Yorker. New Yorker. Its thesis was printed on the paperback"s front cover: "There is a revolution coming. It will not be like revolutions of the past. It will originate with the individual and with culture, and it will change the political structure only as its final act. It will not require violence to succeed, and it cannot be successfully resisted by violence.... This is the revolution of the new generation." Its thesis was printed on the paperback"s front cover: "There is a revolution coming. It will not be like revolutions of the past. It will originate with the individual and with culture, and it will change the political structure only as its final act. It will not require violence to succeed, and it cannot be successfully resisted by violence.... This is the revolution of the new generation."

Reich called it Consciousness III and said it was born of the baby boomers: "Their protest and rebellion, their culture, clothes, music, drugs, and liberated life-style.... And it promises a life that is more liberated and more beautiful than any man has known, if man has the courage and the imagination to seize that life.... The process of that creation, which has already been started by our youth in this moment of utmost sterility, darkest night, and extremest peril, is what we have undertaken to describe in this book."

They did it simply by choosing what Reich called their "life-style." Their marijuana: "a maker of revolution, a truth serum"-"what happens when a person with fuzzy vision puts on gla.s.ses." Their bell-bottom pants: they "have to be worn to be understood. They express the body.... They give the ankles a special freedom as if to invite dancing right on the street.... The new clothes demonstrate a significant new relationship between man and technology." An entire new civilization had "sprouted up, astonishingly and miraculously, out of the stony soil of the American Corporate State." And as its avatars aged into adulthood, their revolution would become general. "It is both necessary and inevitable, and in time it will include not only youth, but all people in America."

Reich, as all the most ecstatic hymners of the new consciousness seemed to be, from Fred Dutton down to Herbert Marcuse, was middle-aged. So were his most enthusiastic readers. One of them was New Yorker New Yorker editor William Shawn. Another was that plain-speaking product of the soil of South Dakota, Senator George McGovern, who distributed it to his staff. He found editor William Shawn. Another was that plain-speaking product of the soil of South Dakota, Senator George McGovern, who distributed it to his staff. He found Greening Greening "one of the most gripping, penetrating, and revealing a.n.a.lyses of American society I have yet seen." Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas found it "a first-rate piece of creative thinking." Such testimonials covered three paperback pages. Mrs. Aldred Cosmann of Great Neck: "For the first time I began to understand the reason behind some of my 18-year-old son"s views which had heretofore perplexed and worried me." Mrs. Edward M. Post of Louisville: "I write this letter less for your gratification than my own-a piece of evidence that at thirty-six, five kids, two dogs, "one of the most gripping, penetrating, and revealing a.n.a.lyses of American society I have yet seen." Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas found it "a first-rate piece of creative thinking." Such testimonials covered three paperback pages. Mrs. Aldred Cosmann of Great Neck: "For the first time I began to understand the reason behind some of my 18-year-old son"s views which had heretofore perplexed and worried me." Mrs. Edward M. Post of Louisville: "I write this letter less for your gratification than my own-a piece of evidence that at thirty-six, five kids, two dogs, things things all around, it is possible to begin." all around, it is possible to begin."

Mr. Reich answered a need. His New Jerusalem would just sort of happen. happen. Automatically. No more riots, no more cataclysm, no more protests, no left, no right-no Automatically. No more riots, no more cataclysm, no more protests, no left, no right-no politics. politics. A comforting thought-now, as a skeptical young reviewer of A comforting thought-now, as a skeptical young reviewer of Greening Greening wrote, "that the daily editorial page reads like the Revelation of St. John the Divine." These wrote, "that the daily editorial page reads like the Revelation of St. John the Divine." These were were the most hopeful times since Christ was born in Bethlehem. For announcing this miracle, fifteen thousand copies of Reich"s tract rolled off the presses every week. the most hopeful times since Christ was born in Bethlehem. For announcing this miracle, fifteen thousand copies of Reich"s tract rolled off the presses every week.

For Americans of a thousand different descriptions, finding a path of retreat from the daily editorial page was the new way of life. Hippies were, of course, living on their communes, exploring "inner s.p.a.ce." But middle-cla.s.s suburbanites, heeding How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation"s warning of "an increasingly likely runaway inflation similar to the one in pre-n.a.z.i Germany," were taking its advice to sock away their a.s.sets in gold, silver, and Swiss francs. Many more citizens were "dropping out" by retreating from politics altogether. Turnouts for elections were growing so anemic that when geostrategist Edward Luttwak published an article in Esquire Esquire on "A Scenario for a Military Coup d"etat in the United States," he said necessary and sufficient conditions were already in place. "Phase One" of his timetable was labeled "The Growth of Indifference...19701976." on "A Scenario for a Military Coup d"etat in the United States," he said necessary and sufficient conditions were already in place. "Phase One" of his timetable was labeled "The Growth of Indifference...19701976."

The one growth area of ma.s.s political partic.i.p.ation was the antibusing movement, which fit into the same pattern. Since 1965, the riots on TV had been white people"s window onto a world on the verge of chaos. Now it was coming to you. More and more Americans were manning the barricades-fighting the judges and the politicians who ordered black students from decrepit and overcrowded schools shifted to uncrowded and pristine ones in the suburbs. Protecting yourself, keeping a scary outside world at bay: by 1971, for many Americans, left and right, that was what politics was for. for.

Richard Nixon understood.

Nixon began the year as he usually did, with flights of statesmanlike rhetoric. At the University of Nebraska, he spoke of "the problems of overpopulation, the problems brought about by technology, the problems of achieving full and equal opportunity for all our people, of health, the problems of prosperity itself, of poverty in the land of plenty," and called for "an alliance of the generations" to solve them. The greening of Richard Nixon: "As we put our hands together, your generation and mine, in the alliance we forge we can discover a new understanding, a community of wisdom." The State of the Union was another Kennedyesque ode: "We have gone through a long, dark night of the American spirit. But now that night is ending. Now we must let our spirits soar again. Now we are ready for the lift of a driving dream." He renewed the call for pa.s.sage of his guaranteed-income Family a.s.sistance Plan and his program for sharing federal tax revenues with the states, which he dubbed the "New American Revolution-a peaceful revolution in which power was turned back to the people, in which government at all levels was refreshed and renewed and made truly responsive." He proposed $100 million to cure cancer, a universal health-insurance program, quoted T. S. Eliot-"Clean the air! Clean the sky! Wash the wind!"-in proposing a program "to end the plunder of America"s natural heritage."

That, at least, was the public transcript. He put it a little differently to two Ford executives in the Oval Office: Ralph Nader and the environmentalists, he said, would rather "go back and live like a bunch of d.a.m.ned animals.... What they"re interested in is destroying the system." In a strategy meeting for the "72 election, he proposed either sabotaging pa.s.sage of the welfare plan-or pa.s.sing it and letting the actual implementation die after pa.s.sage, getting credit for caring, without doing anything at all.

In public, Nixon no longer spoke about "thugs and hoodlums" or the wayward senators who enabled them, his obsessions on the 1970 campaign trail. In private it was all the president could think about. The November losses, the antic.i.p.ation of November 1972, made of his imagination a dungeon, rotted through with paranoia and dread.

Jetting to Nebraska to utter his fine phrases on the alliance of generations, he plotted how to screw DNC chair Larry O"Brien. He decided to pa.s.s off the portfolio to John Dean, who had suffered a dark night of the soul back in August the first time he had been tasked with such "intelligence" duties, hara.s.sing a new left-wing magazine, Scanlon"s Monthly, Scanlon"s Monthly, that published an Abbie Hoffmanstyle prank purporting to be a memo linking Agnew to a plot to cancel the presidential election. Dean was baffled by the a.s.signment; to him the piece seemed obviously a put-on. He caviled to Murray Chotiner, Nixon"s dirty trickster since 1946, who told him not to ask questions: "If the president wants you to turn the IRS loose, then you turn the IRS loose.... Do you think for a second that Lyndon Johnson was above using the IRS to hara.s.s those guys who were giving him a hard time on the war?" that published an Abbie Hoffmanstyle prank purporting to be a memo linking Agnew to a plot to cancel the presidential election. Dean was baffled by the a.s.signment; to him the piece seemed obviously a put-on. He caviled to Murray Chotiner, Nixon"s dirty trickster since 1946, who told him not to ask questions: "If the president wants you to turn the IRS loose, then you turn the IRS loose.... Do you think for a second that Lyndon Johnson was above using the IRS to hara.s.s those guys who were giving him a hard time on the war?"

John Dean followed orders. He found his stature increased in the event-if not as much as Chuck Colson"s, who enjoyed a staff of twenty-three to carry out such malodorous tasks. As the president"s approval rating approached a new low-near 50 percent-and the Muskie-Nixon presidential matchup was a statistical dead heat, willingness to play dirty tricks was the currency of White House success.

Murray Chotiner fielded intelligence from an agent within the Muskie presidential exploratory team. Colson collated a private detective"s photos of Edward M. Kennedy dancing with an Italian princess. An ongoing project was the drafting of a White House "Opponents List": "I refer not simply to press and TV," ran Nixon"s action memo, "but the University community, religious organizations, finance, Eastern Establishment, the major Senate/House/Gubernatorial/Party leaders on the other side, and the special interest groups like Labor and Minorities." The first tally included journalists Hugh Sidey, Evans and Novak, Joseph Kraft, and David Broder. The third, drafted by Tom Charles Huston, included actress Carol Channing. The most venturesome came from Colson. It listed as White House "enemies" the AFL-CIO, NAACP, and the Brookings Inst.i.tution.

On January 31, 1971, the New York Times New York Times front page wondered why cargo flights to Saigon were being preempted by "higher priority traffic," as American bombers targeted the Laotian border. State and Defense Department officials refused comment and threatened to kick out Saigon correspondents who reported anything was going on in Laos. Explained Ron Ziegler helpfully, "The president is aware of what is going on in Southeast Asia. That is not to say there is something going on in Southeast Asia." front page wondered why cargo flights to Saigon were being preempted by "higher priority traffic," as American bombers targeted the Laotian border. State and Defense Department officials refused comment and threatened to kick out Saigon correspondents who reported anything was going on in Laos. Explained Ron Ziegler helpfully, "The president is aware of what is going on in Southeast Asia. That is not to say there is something going on in Southeast Asia."

What was going on was that U.S. airpower was softening up the border for an attack by the South Vietnamese army. It was thought that a single big push into Laos could sever the Ho Chi Minh Trail for good, and the Communist insurgency in South Vietnam would wither away-or at least America casualties could be held down for the 1972 presidential campaign season.

Laos couldn"t be hit with American troops: the Cooper-Church amendment"s December pa.s.sage had seen to that. That was a tactical opportunity for Nixon: the chance to prove that Vietnamization was working. The Pentagon defended its news embargo as necessary to ensure the operation"s security. Why the safety of South Vietnamese troops might be enhanced by keeping secret from Americans Americans the news of the B-52s, F-111s, and F-4 Phantoms whistling ostentatiously above Communist positions was left unexplained. The intimidation effort, though, worked: film of the operation called (in Vietnamese) Lam Son 719 and (in English) Operation Dewey Canyon II stayed off TV for the time being, and a repeat of the Cambodian invasion backlash was avoided. the news of the B-52s, F-111s, and F-4 Phantoms whistling ostentatiously above Communist positions was left unexplained. The intimidation effort, though, worked: film of the operation called (in Vietnamese) Lam Son 719 and (in English) Operation Dewey Canyon II stayed off TV for the time being, and a repeat of the Cambodian invasion backlash was avoided.

The president plotted political plots. On February 4, in between Laos updates, accepting the annual Humanitarian Award from the America College of Cardiology, and delivering a high-minded speech on the Const.i.tution, he huddled for two hours with Mitch.e.l.l and Haldeman. One subject was J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI chief of forty-seven years was proving an unexpected nuisance. When he had received Tom Charles Huston"s July memo advising break-ins, hara.s.sment, and surveillance against domestic critics under a White House directorate, Hoover, perhaps fearing an a.s.sault on his turf, called in Huston (ostentatiously forgetting his name) and told him his plans were "too dangerous." Nixon, Mitch.e.l.l, and Haldeman puzzled out ways to inst.i.tute the Huston Plan by other means, and schemed to put Hoover out to pasture for good. Then the subject turned to Governor Wallace, who, Haldeman confided to his diary, appeared "interested in making a deal of some kind that will make it unnecessary for him to run for P." They kicked around ideas on neutralizing Mayor Daley; maybe they could convince him to sit on his hands in 1972 in exchange for Clement Stone not contributing to the Republican candidate for Illinois governor in 1974.

On February 8, T. S. Eliot"s words on cleaning the air and washing the wind rang from Richard Nixon"s lips, and twenty thousand troops of the Army of Vietnam poured over Laos"s border. For a good ten days they marched without real Communist resistance, a splendid romp: confirmation of the wisdom of Vietnamization, Time Time reported, noting the prowess of the ARVN"s "crack" First Division. reported, noting the prowess of the ARVN"s "crack" First Division.

Then the tide turned.

Forty thousand Communist troops counterattacked in waves-made easier because South Vietnam"s President Thieu hoped to have as few ARVN casualties as possible so the army could protect him against coups. Two Communist divisions hammered the South Vietnamese mercilessly. Nixon, panicking, demanded, "We must claim victory regardless of the outcome." The military objective was to be the Laotian town of Tchepone, the "hub of the Ho Chi Minh Trail." Nixon came up with a plan: "It would be a great public relations coup if the ARVN actually reached Tchepone."

So they scripted a military dumb show: two thousand bedraggled South Vietnamese soldiers were airlifted to the town, whose once fearsome antiaircraft batteries-and every building besides-had already been pounded into rubble by U.S. ordnance. William Rogers and President Thieu both announced a triumph. "Major Victory by South Viets," dutifully rhapsodized the always gung ho Chicago Tribune; Chicago Tribune; "Viets Overrun Key Laos Base," reported the usually skeptical "Viets Overrun Key Laos Base," reported the usually skeptical Chicago Daily News. Chicago Daily News.

In fact ARVN radio frequencies had been commandeered by the North Vietnamese, who used them to call in American salvos against ARVN positions, and the "crack" ARVN units hugged the skids of the helicopters that had inserted them into battle rather than fight-images that soon made the U.S. evening news.

The president was once more politically on the ropes. When he traveled to the Midwest on March 3 to sell the New American Revolution, a White House special a.s.sistant described "construction workers and farmers among the ranks of obscenity-shouting antiwar forces." A week after that Nixon did an extended interview with C. L. Sulzberger of the New York Times: New York Times: "I rate myself as a deeply committed pacifist, perhaps because of my Quaker heritage from my mother." The 291-year-old Philadelphia Yearly Meeting responded in an open letter: "This is not our understanding of the Quaker peace testimony." "I rate myself as a deeply committed pacifist, perhaps because of my Quaker heritage from my mother." The 291-year-old Philadelphia Yearly Meeting responded in an open letter: "This is not our understanding of the Quaker peace testimony."

CBS earned a privileged place on the White House enemies list with the doc.u.mentary The Selling of the Pentagon, The Selling of the Pentagon, which exposed a Pentagon public affairs budget that deployed generals for political sales jobs in plain violation of army regulations, enlisting trusted anchors such as Walter Cronkite as unwitting dupes. TV critic Jack Gould called the program "a whale of a constructive blow for unfettered TV journalism free from Washington manipulation." President Ahab reacted predictably. Vice President Agnew called it "a subtle but vicious broadside against the nation"s defense establishment" and accused its producers of ethical lapses in 1966 and 1968, one for a show that never aired, and one in a complaint the FCC dismissed. Then he charged the interviews had been edited out of order, one obtained for a separate program; "the matter of the network"s own record in the field of doc.u.mentary making," he concluded, "can no longer be brushed under the rug of national media indifference." which exposed a Pentagon public affairs budget that deployed generals for political sales jobs in plain violation of army regulations, enlisting trusted anchors such as Walter Cronkite as unwitting dupes. TV critic Jack Gould called the program "a whale of a constructive blow for unfettered TV journalism free from Washington manipulation." President Ahab reacted predictably. Vice President Agnew called it "a subtle but vicious broadside against the nation"s defense establishment" and accused its producers of ethical lapses in 1966 and 1968, one for a show that never aired, and one in a complaint the FCC dismissed. Then he charged the interviews had been edited out of order, one obtained for a separate program; "the matter of the network"s own record in the field of doc.u.mentary making," he concluded, "can no longer be brushed under the rug of national media indifference."

It inspired a renewed bout of morbid self-examination in media executive suites: were they, as Joe Kraft had argued in 1968, "biased" toward liberal causes? The Washington Post Washington Post took Agnew"s side: "It seems a great pity and a waste to let a doc.u.mentary on such an important subject...be undermined in terms of credibility and public confidence by these editing techniques." The House Armed Services Committee subpoenaed CBS"s files. CBS refused to turn them over. For months the const.i.tutional debate flared, as Nixon did some Pentagon-selling of his own. He told Howard K. Smith that the Laos operation had been a success. Unconvinced, one group of Republican senators met with Defense Secretary Laird at Jake Javits"s home and pleaded for an end to the war-even as another senator, party chair Bob Dole of Kansas, Nixon"s favorite congressional hatchet man, called Democrats who said the same thing publicly "the new Chamberlains in what they hope will be another era of appeas.e.m.e.nt." He singled out George McGovern, who had made the earliest major presidential candidacy announcement in history, on January 18, as coming "as close as anyone has yet come to urging outright surrender." took Agnew"s side: "It seems a great pity and a waste to let a doc.u.mentary on such an important subject...be undermined in terms of credibility and public confidence by these editing techniques." The House Armed Services Committee subpoenaed CBS"s files. CBS refused to turn them over. For months the const.i.tutional debate flared, as Nixon did some Pentagon-selling of his own. He told Howard K. Smith that the Laos operation had been a success. Unconvinced, one group of Republican senators met with Defense Secretary Laird at Jake Javits"s home and pleaded for an end to the war-even as another senator, party chair Bob Dole of Kansas, Nixon"s favorite congressional hatchet man, called Democrats who said the same thing publicly "the new Chamberlains in what they hope will be another era of appeas.e.m.e.nt." He singled out George McGovern, who had made the earliest major presidential candidacy announcement in history, on January 18, as coming "as close as anyone has yet come to urging outright surrender."

Dole"s salvo didn"t work. Pat Buchanan, in a March 24 memo recommending a "Muskie Watch" based in the White House, warned that Vietnam was no longer a handy wedge with which to slice the opposition: "Less and less is this an issue dividing Democrats; more and more is it a unifying issue as conservative Democrats begin to adopt a "let"s get the h.e.l.l out" stand." "Another Stormy Spring Foreseen for Nixon," Max Frankel of the Times Times reported two days later. The White House reviewed novel political options. They loved what cartoonist Al Capp was up to, especially his speech to the annual convention of the National a.s.sociation of Broadcasters excoriating Tom Wicker of the reported two days later. The White House reviewed novel political options. They loved what cartoonist Al Capp was up to, especially his speech to the annual convention of the National a.s.sociation of Broadcasters excoriating Tom Wicker of the New York Times New York Times and the three networks for bias against Nixon. Chuck Colson spied a new potential recruit on the horizon: Frank Sinatra. "Sinatra has the makings of another Al Capp; he is thoroughly disenchanted with liberals, as evidenced by his support of Reagan and his current friendship with the Vice President. Most of our Hollywood friends believe that Sinatra is the most influential celebrity in the country because if he goes, so go many other prominent figures, particularly new young stars." and the three networks for bias against Nixon. Chuck Colson spied a new potential recruit on the horizon: Frank Sinatra. "Sinatra has the makings of another Al Capp; he is thoroughly disenchanted with liberals, as evidenced by his support of Reagan and his current friendship with the Vice President. Most of our Hollywood friends believe that Sinatra is the most influential celebrity in the country because if he goes, so go many other prominent figures, particularly new young stars."

The renewed public relations push was driven by paranoia-a consuming rage for control. The White House was starting to smell from it, and some were noticing the stench.

Senator Sam Ervin was on the case. He didn"t understand, when he first started looking into abuses of army intelligence begun under Lyndon Johnson, why he couldn"t interest the Nixon administration in following up on the Democrats" sins. His suspicions were p.r.i.c.ked when he learned in February of 1970 from the army"s general counsel that certain army domestic intelligence activities were being transferred to the Justice Department. During debate on the D.C. crime bill that July, the attorney general announced his intention to spy on political activists, citing "the inherent powers of the federal government to protect the internal security of the nation." Ervin shot back in a speech on the Senate floor, citing a recent Washington Monthly Washington Monthly expose, that army domestic spying programs "appear to be part of a vast network of intelligence-oriented systems which are being developed w.i.l.l.y-nilly throughout the land" and represented "a potential for political control and intimidation which is alien to a society of free men." expose, that army domestic spying programs "appear to be part of a vast network of intelligence-oriented systems which are being developed w.i.l.l.y-nilly throughout the land" and represented "a potential for political control and intimidation which is alien to a society of free men."

One month after the 1971 State of the Union address, Ervin convened hearings t.i.tled "Federal Data Banks, Computers, and the Bill of Rights." With a folksy, aw-shucks manner, he opened by hefting a fat book: "This particular family Bible weighs eleven pounds."

He displayed a tiny spool of film.

"Contrast it to this piece of microfilm, which contains on it 1,245 pages of a Bible, with all 773,346 words of it. This means a reproduction of 62,500 to one."

He paused.

"Someone remarked that this meant the Const.i.tution could be reduced to the size of a pinhead. I said I thought maybe that was what they had done with it in the executive branch because some of those officials could not see it with their naked eyes." An appreciative audience laughed.

TV viewers learned the army had infiltrated a church youth group in Colorado Springs, that army agents compiled lists of "potential troublemakers" in Kansas City high schools, that Martin Luther King, Julian Bond, folksinger Arlo Guthrie, Adlai Stevenson III, Governor Otto Kerner, and Congressman Abner Mikva had been profiled in army intelligence data banks. Senator Roman Hruska of Nebraska countered that the army"s surveillance program was a military necessity. He had a good trump card for his argument: the latest Weather Underground bomb had just gone off-in a restroom in the Capitol, near the spot where George Washington had laid the building"s original cornerstone in the fall of 1793.

Hruska cited the bombing in his opening remarks when the surveillance hearings reopened in March: "The people must receive every protection possible against those elements who consider even the United States Capitol Building as a legitimate object of their violence." Ervin countered that moments of national peril were exactly when we needed civil liberties protections the most: "When people fear surveillance, whether it exists or not, they grow afraid to speak their minds and hearts freely to their government or to anyone else." a.s.sistant Attorney General Rehnquist answered for the administration: "self-discipline on the part of the executive branch," he promised, would "provide an answer to virtually all of the legitimate complaints against excesses of information gathering."

Though it most certainly would not.

Tuesday morning, March 23, 1971, the president of the United States and his new secretary of the treasury met with representatives of the dairy industry. Nixon began by a.s.suring them the meeting was off-the-record. He bade for their trust with a joke playing off his Tricky d.i.c.k reputation: "Matter of fact the room is not taped. Forgot to do that!"

As a matter of fact, it was one of the first meetings picked up by Richard Nixon"s brand-new Oval Office taping system.

While Ervin"s hearings were unfolding at the Capitol, Secret Service agents had been installing voice-activated microphones in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and Executive Office Building. Reel-to-reel tape recorders in the White House bas.e.m.e.nt would produce a record of every word uttered when the president was in one of those rooms. Back in 1954, when Eisenhower was saying one thing in private about Joe McCarthy and another thing in public, Nixon said he"d love to have a hidden recording gadget to "capture some of those warm, offhand, great-hearted things the man says, play "em back, then get them press-released." Now his dream had come true.

Eventually, the White House tapes would become public. A follow-up meeting on March 23 with advisers to prepare him for his next consultation with the dairymen was later transcribed as Exhibit 1 in the case United Statesv. John Connally, United Statesv. John Connally, in which Nixon"s treasury secretary was charged, among other things, with two counts of arranging bribes. in which Nixon"s treasury secretary was charged, among other things, with two counts of arranging bribes.

The Department of Agriculture had just lowered agricultural price supports for milk, a decision with which the president had concurred. Connally reminded him in a preparatory meeting that the economic reasoning behind the decision was sound, but, "looking to 1972, it, uh, appears very clear to me that you"re going to have to move, uh, strong in the Midwest.... These dairymen are organized; they"re adamant; they"re militant.... And they, they"re ama.s.sing enormous amounts of money that they"re going to put into political activities, very frankly." Economics take the hindmost; these people required a political payoff.

Connally briefed the president on what they would be asking for: a price peg for milk at $5.05 a hundredweight instead of $4.92. Nixon could wait to give it to them next year, closer to the election, but that would look like extortion. If he did it now, "they think you"ve done it because they got a good case and because you"re their friend."

Nixon weighed countervailing political considerations: that Congress might get credit from the dairymen instead of him; that he would get blamed for higher prices by supermarket shoppers. The ranking minority member of the House Agricultural Committee suggested how to play it. The price supports were going to be raised by Congress anyway, and Nixon would have to sign it. When it came to that, he"d be able to blame the liberals for raising the price of babies" milk, while in the upcoming meeting with milk producers he could feign reluctance, then let them make a hard case, then adjourn. Later, the White House could "pa.s.s the word" to the dairymen that it had decided they were right and would lean on Congress to pa.s.s the increase. The appreciative milkmen would flood his reelection coffers with cash.

"Heh, heh," an unidentified voice kicked in. A Department of Agriculture undersecretary added, "If you give them cookies, they, they"ll love it." John Ehrlichman suggested making it only a two-year deal-then they could do the same thing for the 1974 elections. They went back and forth about how to correct the $35 to $100 million trade imbalance that would ensue from the payoff they were about to give the dairymen. They decided they could sock it to the meat producers: "Fortunately, beef prices have held up very well." Ehrlichman ended the meeting with a joke: "Better go get a gla.s.s of milk."

The a.s.semblage roared.

"Better get it while it"s cheap."

"Milk is a sedative," the commander in chief awkwardly contributed, before his team dispersed to get to work on the intricate task at hand. Lawyer Kalmbach, the master of inventing front groups, put together the details: groups with names like Americans Dedicated to Better Public Administration, Volunteers Against Citizen Apathy, Supporters of the American Dream, and Americans United for Objective Reporting became the conduits for the laundering of $250,000 in milk money to a secret campaign committee linked to the group Richard Nixon set up to run his campaign without interference from anyone else in the Republican Party, his new Committee to Re-Elect the President, down the street from the White House.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

Cruelest Month THE L LAOS OFFENSIVE DID NOT RESULT IN WIDESPREAD PROTEST: THE bombing of the Capitol privy, an occupation of the Stanford computer building led by the Maoist Melville scholar H. Bruce Franklin, some fires at the new University of California campus at Santa Cruz, little else. The really dangerous antiwar uprisings were all in Southeast Asia, among GIs. bombing of the Capitol privy, an occupation of the Stanford computer building led by the Maoist Melville scholar H. Bruce Franklin, some fires at the new University of California campus at Santa Cruz, little else. The really dangerous antiwar uprisings were all in Southeast Asia, among GIs.

On March 20, alongside Route 9 by the Laos border, a captain ordered two platoons to wade into heavy enemy fire. They refused to budge: why fight for these cowards who refused to fight for themselves? A lieutenant colonel pleaded, then ordered; fifty-three still refused. They also refused to give their names. No disciplinary action was taken. The bra.s.s feared that the mutiny would spread brigade-wide.

The American army was collapsing in the field. "I just work hard at surviving so I can go home and protest the killing," explained one GI. At Fort Bliss, soldiers were calling commanding officers by their first name, who in turn pa.s.sed anyone through basic training who promised he wouldn"t go absent without leave (AWOLs went up fivefold between 1966 and 1971). MPs used to arrest soldiers who attended off-base protest rallies. But if MPs did that now, they would do little else. In Vietnam soldiers wrote semi-seditious slogans on their helmet headliners ("The unwilling, led by the unqualified, doing the unnecessary, for the ungrateful"; "Eat the apple, f.u.c.k the Corps") and, caught in infractions, responded, "What are you going to do about it, send me to "Nam?"

Life had first reported on the GI protests in May of 1969: the off-base antiwar coffeehouses; the underground newspapers; the terror it struck in the bra.s.s. The Student Mobilization Committee started mailing bundles of antiwar newsletters to a list of three hundred active-duty supporters, with articles laying out legal options for soldiers who"d like to resist. had first reported on the GI protests in May of 1969: the off-base antiwar coffeehouses; the underground newspapers; the terror it struck in the bra.s.s. The Student Mobilization Committee started mailing bundles of antiwar newsletters to a list of three hundred active-duty supporters, with articles laying out legal options for soldiers who"d like to resist. New York Times New York Times columnist Scotty Reston wrote on August 27, 1969, that Nixon "has been worried about the revolt of the voters over Vietnam against the war...but now he also has to consider the possibility of a revolt of the men if he risks their lives in a war he has decided to bring to a close." Reston was paraphrasing a common soldier"s lament: which of them would be the last to die for a war even the president seemed to admit was a mistake? columnist Scotty Reston wrote on August 27, 1969, that Nixon "has been worried about the revolt of the voters over Vietnam against the war...but now he also has to consider the possibility of a revolt of the men if he risks their lives in a war he has decided to bring to a close." Reston was paraphrasing a common soldier"s lament: which of them would be the last to die for a war even the president seemed to admit was a mistake?

A sergeant wrote on behalf of his infantry company that "the Moratorium had wide support. It was, in fact, very much a morale builder. The men are intelligent enough to realize that the peace demonstrations are on their behalf.... While many wore black arm bands for the October 15 Moratorium, they are for the large part prevented from demonstrating their feelings on the war." Life Life interviewed one hundred soldiers across Vietnam and reported that protests "are not demoralizing troops in the field," that "many soldiers regard the organized antiwar campaign in the U.S. with open and outspoken sympathy." In the words of one private, "I think the protesters may be the only ones who really give a d.a.m.n about what"s happening." interviewed one hundred soldiers across Vietnam and reported that protests "are not demoralizing troops in the field," that "many soldiers regard the organized antiwar campaign in the U.S. with open and outspoken sympathy." In the words of one private, "I think the protesters may be the only ones who really give a d.a.m.n about what"s happening."

Monkey-wrenching was epidemic. Vietnamese-speaking psy-ops officers rewrote propaganda leaflets to condemn the Saigon Saigon government. Aircraft carrier crews grounded planes. Government-issued amphetamines-"speed"-meant to keep soldiers alert on patrols were taken recreationally. So was marijuana, which traded for tobacco cigarettes at an exact one-to-one rate. The army started cracking down. So, just as in Haight-Ashbury, soldiers moved on to heroin, which when smoked mixed into cigarettes was odorless: "I can salute an officer with one hand," a soldier explained, "and take a drag of heroin with the other." government. Aircraft carrier crews grounded planes. Government-issued amphetamines-"speed"-meant to keep soldiers alert on patrols were taken recreationally. So was marijuana, which traded for tobacco cigarettes at an exact one-to-one rate. The army started cracking down. So, just as in Haight-Ashbury, soldiers moved on to heroin, which when smoked mixed into cigarettes was odorless: "I can salute an officer with one hand," a soldier explained, "and take a drag of heroin with the other."

The GI movement at home entered a new phase the week before the Route 9 mutiny: the debut outside Fort Bragg of an antiBob Hope variety show called FTA. FTA. The organizers, which included Jane Fonda and her The organizers, which included Jane Fonda and her Klute Klute costar Donald Sutherland, said the name originated from an army recruiting poster that promised "Fun, Travel, Adventure" and signified "Free the Army"-though when the troupe sang the show"s theme song, they left a long pause where the word costar Donald Sutherland, said the name originated from an army recruiting poster that promised "Fun, Travel, Adventure" and signified "Free the Army"-though when the troupe sang the show"s theme song, they left a long pause where the word free free should be. The soldiers who made it off base to attend-which the bra.s.s strongly discouraged-responded with "more than a cheer," the should be. The soldiers who made it off base to attend-which the bra.s.s strongly discouraged-responded with "more than a cheer," the Washington Post Washington Post said, "a roar, a visceral reflex that burst from five hundred throats in the same instant." said, "a roar, a visceral reflex that burst from five hundred throats in the same instant."

In one vaudeville-style routine, Sutherland drawled Gomer Pyleishly, "I think I"m gonna get me a watchdog."

"What do you need a watchdog for, Sarge? You"re surrounded by 250,000 armed men."

"That"s why I"m gonna get me a watchdog!"

He referred to something called "fragging": soldier-murder of hated officers (the word was short for "fragmentation bomb"-they scattered pellets so indiscriminately it looked like an accident). In 1970, there were at least 109 cases. One officer walked around with a $10,000 bounty on his head.

The Post Post quoted an audience member: "Man, if I had it to do over, I would have gone to Canada." He was a returnee from Vietnam. There were more returnees from Vietnam every day; Nixon"s Vietnamization policy a.s.sured that. They were the fastest-growing segment of the antiwar movement. quoted an audience member: "Man, if I had it to do over, I would have gone to Canada." He was a returnee from Vietnam. There were more returnees from Vietnam every day; Nixon"s Vietnamization policy a.s.sured that. They were the fastest-growing segment of the antiwar movement.

That part of the movement came of age in 1970. In public hearings, Vietnam Veterans Against the War members testified about the My Lailike crimes they had themselves seen or taken part in. They marched eighty-six miles from Morristown, New Jersey, to Valley Forge, just like George Washington"s army in 1777. (In small town squares along the way they staged guerrilla theater simulating search-and-destroy missions, announcing their arrival with firecrackers, rushing a crowd from all directions, "forcing" prearranged allies down on their knees for "capture," "killing" those who resisted, as leaflets circulated explaining that this was how America "pacified" Vietnamese villages.) Entering Valley Forge July 4, they were met by the World War IIvintage members of the town"s Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter: "Why don"t you go to Hanoi?"

"We won our war, they didn"t, and from the looks of them, they couldn"t."

A Vietnam vet hobbled by on crutches. One of the old men wondered whether he had been "shot with marijuana or shot in battle."

In January 1971, 105 ex-soldiers testified at "Winter Soldier" hearings in Detroit. The rest of the world didn"t notice-despite the presence of Jane Fonda, who had moved full-time to Detroit to help the organizing. Media outlets refused to believe the men were veterans. The New York Times New York Times buried the story in a skinny little column in Chapter One. The buried the story in a skinny little column in Chapter One. The Post Post didn"t cover it at all. A didn"t cover it at all. A Times Times dispatch on a subsequent hearing in Albany, New York, read, in full, "A small group of legislators sat impa.s.sively today as, one by one, a half dozen young veterans of the Vietnam war quietly told of their "war crimes." The former soldiers, members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, told their stories in an alcove of the Capitol in an effort to "bring the horror of the war closer," one of them said." dispatch on a subsequent hearing in Albany, New York, read, in full, "A small group of legislators sat impa.s.sively today as, one by one, a half dozen young veterans of the Vietnam war quietly told of their "war crimes." The former soldiers, members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, told their stories in an alcove of the Capitol in an effort to "bring the horror of the war closer," one of them said."

Hugh Hefner donated VVAW a full-page ad in the February 1971 Playboy. Playboy. It brought in over ten thousand new members. Their next step, in April, was to be spectacular: a five-day encampment on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Their public face was a handsome, charismatic twenty-seven-year-old Yalie who had volunteered to command a "swift boat," the most dangerous naval duty in Vietnam. John Kerry led off the press conference on March 16 with his Purple Hearts and Silver Star flashing in the TV lights. He said enlistees were but offered "a chance to die for the biggest nothing in history." A statement was read from retired brigadier general Hugh B. Hester; he charged Nixon with prosecuting "a genocidal war," whose napalm, white phosphorous, and cl.u.s.ter bombs were "as evil as. .h.i.tler"s crematories." It brought in over ten thousand new members. Their next step, in April, was to be spectacular: a five-day encampment on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Their public face was a handsome, charismatic twenty-seven-year-old Yalie who had volunteered to command a "swift boat," the most dangerous naval duty in Vietnam. John Kerry led off the press conference on March 16 with his Purple Hearts and Silver Star flashing in the TV lights. He said enlistees were but offered "a chance to die for the biggest nothing in history." A statement was read from retired brigadier general Hugh B. Hester; he charged Nixon with prosecuting "a genocidal war," whose napalm, white phosphorous, and cl.u.s.ter bombs were "as evil as. .h.i.tler"s crematories."

Camera savvy, the VVAW put wounded veterans up front. Their press release was devastating, too-a parody of the Pentagon"s Newspeak: "Operation Dewey Canyon III [is] a limited incursion into the District of Columbia [that] will penetrate into the country of Congress for the limited purpose of severing supply lines currently being utilized by the illegal mercenary forces of the Executive Branch...to ensure the safe withdrawal of our limited forces of Winter Soldiers from the countries of the District of Columbia."

White House tapes registered hours upon hours of strategizing to neutralize the political threat of the "alleged veterans"-the phrase White House spokesmen always used. Antiwarriors who had been warriors cut off the Silent Majority argument at the knees. These were not spoiled brats: they were the people who weren"t able to get college deferments, who couldn"t work the system to get doc.u.mentation to excuse them from service (in Los Angeles, at least ten dentists would fit kids for service-disqualifying orthodontics for $1,000 to $2,000), who re-upped because their families needed the reenlistment bonus. They were unglamorous, empirical witnesses. They were also former officers, trained to fight, fight, who had seen a lot worse in their previous job than anything any pale bureaucrat could throw at them. who had seen a lot worse in their previous job than anything any pale bureaucrat could throw at them.

They had to be destroyed.

The president was glad for a politically useful distraction. On March 29, after the longest court-martial in history, Lieutenant William "Rusty" Calley, commander at the My Lai ma.s.sacre, was convicted of murder by a jury of his military peers.

When Calley had first been called to Washington in June of 1969, he thought it was to receive a medal. He was shocked to learn it was for a court-martial: "It seemed like the silliest thing I had ever heard of. Murder." It betokened a national confusion. His defense lawyer argued, "This boy"s a product of a system, a system that dug him up by the roots, took him out of his home community, put him in the army, taught him to kill, sent him overseas to kill, gave him mechanical weapons to kill, got him over there and ordered him to kill." The lawyer said the decision to scapegoat Calley went all the way up the chain of command-better to indict a fall-guy lieutenant than the entire "pacification" and "free-fire zone" atrocity-manufacturing system. The lawyer tried to call Defense Secretary Laird as a witness. The judge overruled him.

The argument was lent support by the fate of the commanding officer of Calley"s division, Major General Samuel Koster, who had witnessed the ma.s.sacre from an observation helicopter, complaining only that they weren"t recovering enough enemy weapons. He signed off on an army report that said noncombatants were "inadvertently killed...in the cross fires of U.S. and V.C. forces." He suffered a mere reduction of a grade in rank. Everyone else involved ended up acquitted or had his charges dropped.

At his sentencing-life at hard labor-Calley mewled in a breaking voice about his victimhood: "Yesterday, you stripped me of all my honor. Please, by your actions that you take here today, don"t strip future soldiers of their honor." But you didn"t have to construe Calley a put-upon innocent to conclude that something stank. "Calley Verdict: Who Else Is Guilty?" read Newsweek Newsweek"s cover line. "Who Shares the Guilt?" asked Time. Time.

John Kerry had an answer: "We are all of us in this country guilty for having allowed the war to go on. We only want this country to realize that it cannot try a Calley for something which generals and presidents and our way of life encouraged him to do. And if you try him, then at the same time you must try all those generals and presidents and soldiers who have part of the responsibility. You must in fact try this country." It was a common conclusion of liberals. For that reason, Calley became conservatives" hero.

The VFW"s national commander led the way: "There have been My Lais in every war. Now for the first time we have tried a soldier for performing his duty." A little Mormon boy in Utah wrote his senator begging him to intervene: "I"m only eight years old, but I know that Lieut. Calley was defending our freedoms against Communism." His mother-many mothers-had explained that the villagers of My Lai must have done something to deserve it. So did Joseph Alsop. He complained in his second column after the verdict about the way his first one was edited, that "By no fault of this reporter, the persons Lt. Calley was convicted of killing were miscalled "civilians."...These victims from My Lai in fact came from a "combat hamlet" of a "combat village." From about the age of four on up, all persons in a "combat village," of both s.e.xes, are trained to kill. By the iron rules of the Viet Cong, if they do not follow their training, they are killed themselves after one of the VC kangaroo-trials."

The American Legion post in Columbus, Georgia, home of Calley"s Fort Benning jail cell, promised they would raise $100,000 to help fund his appeal "or die trying": "The real murderers are the demonstrators in Washington who disrupt traffic, tear up public property, who deface the American flag. Lieut. Calley is a hero.... We should elevate him to saint." At a revival at Columbus"s football stadium, the Reverend Michael Lord p.r.o.nounced, "There was a crucifixion two thousand years ago of a man named Jesus Christ. I don"t think we need another crucifixion of a man named Rusty Calley." FREE CALLEY FREE CALLEY stickers blossomed on car b.u.mpers like toadstools after a spring rain. A Nashville record producer slapped a solemn recitation as if in William Calley"s voice over a backing track of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and moved two hundred thousand 45 rpm records in a day. "While we were fighting in the jungles they were marching in the street," it p.r.o.nounced. "While we"re facing V.C. bullets they were sounding a retreat." The narrator also claimed, of that village of women and children and not a single weapon captured, to have "responded to their rifle fire with everything we had." stickers blossomed on car b.u.mpers like toadstools after a spring rain. A Nashville record producer slapped a solemn recitation as if in William Calley"s voice over a backing track of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and moved two hundred thousand 45 rpm records in a day. "While we were fighting in the jungles they were marching in the street," it p.r.o.nounced. "While we"re facing V.C. bullets they were sounding a retreat." The narrator also claimed, of that village of women and children and not a single weapon captured, to have "responded to their rifle fire with everything we had."

Radio stations played the song in nonstop rotation, interrupted only by calls for donations to Calley"s defense fund. Respectable editorialists were aghast; the Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal pointed out, "This is a young man duly convicted of taking unarmed prisoners entirely at his mercy, throwing them in a ditch, and shooting them. Is this nation really to condone such an act, as a strange coalition of super-patriots seems to urge?" The pointed out, "This is a young man duly convicted of taking unarmed prisoners entirely at his mercy, throwing them in a ditch, and shooting them. Is this nation really to condone such an act, as a strange coalition of super-patriots seems to urge?" The Washington Star Washington Star said, "The day this country goes on record as saying that unarmed civilian men, women, and children of any race are fair game for wanton murder, that will be the day that the United States forfeits all claims to any moral leadership of this world." Scotty Reston wondered whether "somebody were going to propose giving Lieutenant Calley the Congressional Medal of Honor." said, "The day this country goes on record as saying that unarmed civilian men, women, and childre

Prev List Next