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The meeting started at 9:35 a.m., Jan. 23. Le Duc Tho managed even on this solemn occasion to make himself obnoxious by insisting on ironclad assurances of American economic aid to North Viet Nam. I told him that this could not be discussed further until after the agreement was signed; it also depended on congressional approval and on observance of the agreement. Finally, at a quarter to one, we initialed the various texts. After this, Le Duc Tho and I stepped out on the street in a cold misty rain and shook hands for the benefit of photographers.
America's Viet Nam War was over.
Next Week
In Part 3: A momentous decision "to risk war in the triangular Soviet-Chinese-American relationship"—on Peking's side. -A near showdown with Moscow over a Soviet-backed invasion of Jordan by Syrian troops and tanks. -Tips on the statesman's craft ("The old adage that men grow in office has not proved true in my experience"). -An unsentimental philosophy of foreign policy: "One reason the Viet Nam debate grew so bitter was that both supporters and critics of the original involvement shared the same traditional sense of universal moral mission."
— William Shawcross, the British journalist who wrote Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia.