(15 of 23)
Nixon's Gamble
My deputy, Alexander Haig, Haldeman and I met with Nixon in his hideaway in the Executive Office Building. The President was in good form, calm and analytical. The only symptom of his excitement was that instead of slouching in an easy chair as usual, he was pacing up and down, gesticulating with a pipe on which he was occasionally puffing, something I had never previously seen him do. On one level he was playing MacArthur. On another he was steeling himself for a decision on which his political future would depend.
Nixon then and there decided upon the mining of North Vietnamese ports. He would speak to the nation on Monday evening, May 8. He would convene the National Security Council on Monday morning.
It was one of the finest hours of Nixon's presidency. He could have taken the advice of his commander in the field, supported by his Secretary of Defense, and concentrated on the battle in South Viet Nam. He could have temporized, which is what most leaders do, and then blamed the collapse of South Viet Nam on events running out of control. He could have concentrated on the summit and used it to obscure the failure of his Viet Nam policy. Nixon did none of these. In an election year, he risked his political future on a course most of his Cabinet colleagues questioned.
The NSC meeting ended at 12:20 p.m. on May 8. Nixon said he would make a final decision at 2 p.m., and asked Kissinger to bring the necessary papers to his Executive Office Building hideaway at that hour for signing.
When I arrived, Haldeman was there. Before I could hand Nixon the order, he told me that Haldeman had raised new questions. To my amazement Haldeman described the dire impact that the proposed action would have on public opinion and the President's standing in the polls. When Nixon excused himself to go to the bathroom, I whirled on Haldeman, who had never meddled in substance, and castigated him for interfering at a moment of such crisis. Haldeman grinned shamefacedly, making clear by his bearing that Nixon had put him up to his little speech. I was used to many games from my complex leader; this one was beyond my comprehension—until the revelation of Nixon's taping system suggested a possible motive: the President wanted me unambiguously on record as supporting the operation lest the hated "Georgetown social set" seek to draw a distinction between him and me as they had on Cambodia. Be that as it may, Nixon returned from the bathroom and without another word signed the "execute" order.
At 8:30 p.m., while the President briefed the congressional leadership, I saw Dobrynin, whom I had called away from a dinner. Dobrynin asked what precise measures were implied in the blockade. He lost his cool only once when I asked him how the Soviet Union would react if the 15,000 Soviet soldiers in Egypt were in imminent danger of being captured by Israelis. Dobrynin became uncharacteristically vehement and revealed more than he could have intended: "First of all, we never put forces somewhere who can't