1968. Got us in this war and afraid to get us out. Richard nixon is behind the effort to sabotage peace. What we do or fail to do can determine the future of peace and freedom for the balance of this century. Tens of thousands of Young Americans and vietnamese died. Thats what was at stake. It was horrendous. It was treason, by any standard. This wealthy and connected Asian American woman could change history. Lbj knew there was collusion. Definitely a smoking gun, as regard to Richard Nixons direct involvement in actions. Conducting a foreign power in the middle of a war and they oughtnt be doing this. This is treason. Its november 3rd, just two days before the 1968 president ial election. Mr. President , im getting him right on. Mr. President . Yes . This is dick nixon. Yes, dick . In a call secretly recorded by the white house, president Lyndon Johnson draws a line in the sand for Richard Nixon, the republican candidate for president. Lyndon johnson is desperate before his term runs out to get the North Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese at the peace table. We all hope theyll come and really believe theyll come. Nixon was trying to sabotage those peace talks. If peace talks were announced before election day, that would help his opponent and it would destroy nixons very last chance to become president. U. S. Troops were mired in a brutal conflict between the forces of communist North Vietnam and our allies, South Vietnam. Johnson had escalated the war but now with the death toll soaring, protests and riots tearing the nation apart, president johnson had staked his legacy on getting america out of vietnam. I told all of you the other day. Johnson is talking to nixon, basically saying, i know that youre interfering with my diplomacy and i think its about as low as you can get and nixon lies and denies that hes doing it. You just say its your people, tell the South Vietnamese theyre going to get any better deal out of the United States government. Your people, thats how he puts it to nixon. Your people are messing things up. In other calls, johnson didnt hesitate to give nixons people a name. Mrs. Chenault. All the rest of them from running around here. Mrs. Chenault, anna. A woman known to power brokers across asia and in washington, dc as the steel butterfly. The number one flying tiger and his chinese bride, clair chenault, of shanghai. Made Second World War history and legend as commander of sky battles in china. Anna chenault has an american story that is truly epically even cinematically unique. Refugee from the communist takeover of china. Rises to the highest levels of society and political influence in this country, but then what she did with that influence is a question of deadly seriousness. Because with Anna Chenault and Richard Nixon, we got americas first taste of a candidate colluding with a foreign power to try to win a u. S. President ial election. In this case, it would also change the course of a war. The chenault affair shows us this wealthy and connected Asian American woman could change the course of american and vietnamese history. She was a businesswoman. She was a journalist. She was a significant fundraiser for the Republican Party. I think she would have loved to have been an ambassador and had some major job but i dont think that in those days, men didnt take women seriously that way. She was, in a way, ahead of her time, to have these feelings about, gee, why are all the people making decisions, white men . Ive seen hundreds of pictures of her. The only woman in the picture. A dozen men and theres Anna Chenault standing in the middle. Whats going on in vietnam . I just returned from the far east and Southeast Asia two weeks ago. A globe trotting journalist, the widow of a war hero revered from burma to beijing and by 1968, shes an executive for a global freight airline. Anna had access. But she always operated from behind the scenes because she was a back channel operator. Going to have the power to keep peace. And now artillery is being called in, as you can hear very close. War and peace in vietnam. In 1968, that was the issue. How end a war that turned m maligna malignant. It was the war we saw in our living rooms every night. People watched the 6 00 news during dinner and see the carnage of vietnam. All hell has broken loose. 1968 was lbjs fifth year as commander in chief. It was the single deadliest year of the war, already more than 19,000 americans had died in vietnam. More than 170,000 vietnamese had died from the north and the south. I think there was a momentum behind that war. So many people that died in it, its hard for anybody to say, ah, lets stop it. Johnson said, you know, i dont want to be the president who loses a war, especially when we had this sort of mythology of never having lost a war as a country. We just didnt seem to be winning anything. Back in the u. S. , the war had become personal. Vietnam had become johnsons war. Every time he tries to leave the white house, hes met by protesters. Every public speech, hes going to hear those chants. You can see the toll the war is having on lbj. Physically, psychologically. The president was under fire from all sides. Politicians as well as protesters. When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years with vietnam with no end in sight, then i say its time for new leadership in the United States of america. And yes, at the apex of the war, the u. S. Was holding a president ial election. So now lets back up to march 31st, 1968. The day that vietnam ended the the presidency of lyndon b. Johnson. Gosh, this is hard to read, you have no idea. On that last evening in march, tv cameras rolled into the eau value office. Even president s staff had no idea how their world was about to change as johnson spoke live to an anxious nation. Tonight, i want to speak to you of peace in vietnam and Southeast Asia. There is no need to delay the talks that could bring an end to this long and this bloody war. Johnson was desperately trying to end the war on his watch. He had it in his head the hope that somehow, some way, he could get the North Vietnamese to negotiate and end the war. I renew the offer i made last august to stop bombarding North Vietnam in the hope that this action will lead to early talks. L brbj offers to stop the bombing, only if the north agrees to talk peace with South Vietnam and then johnson plays one last card. We Work Together on this speech. We went over march 28th two or three days before the president was going to deliver it and then the president said, maybe i shouldnt run for office. I will not seek or accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. Johnsons speech shocked the world. The president would not run for reelection and here was his offer to finally end the war. For president ial candidate nixon, the peace proposal was a political nightmare. Nixon needed the Democratic Party to own the horror show of the vietnam show, not to solve it. The steel butterfly, Anna Chenault, she saw it as a military blunder. Every time we stop the bombing, it only gives the other side the opportunity to rebuild their military installation. The sooner we win this war, the better off well be. Richard nixon and Anna Chenault. Their views closely aligned. No crime in that. But what if they went beyond words to deeds . What if they were to join hands in an effort to derail the quest for peace in vietnam . For peace in vietnam volunteer hey. old man come on in. volunteer you taught me the rules. vo you do more than feed seniors when you share the love. 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In 1968, americas war in vietnam drove the news and the president ial election. Republican frontrunner Richard Nixon seized every opportunity to fuel voters anxieties over the course of the war. Never has so much military, economic and diplomatic power been used so ineffectively as in vietnam. This time, vote like your whole world depended on it. 1968, hes not taking any chances and he sees that the democrats can politicize a Peace Process in vietnam. And hes not above the sabotage. The plot is born. July 12th. The tpierre hotel. Nixon campaign headquarters. The candidate and a top foreign diplomat meet in secret in an iconic tower on new yorks fifth avenue. The only people present at this meeting were nixon himself, his campaign chairman, john mitchell, and chenault and the vietnamese ambassador. Nixon decided to make it a very shady operation indeed. Just four people, alone in a back room at nixons headquarters. Lets break it down. John mitchell. Nixons 1968 campaign manager. That name may ring a bell. Mitchell will go on to becomes nixons attorney general and one of the coconspirators sent for the crimes of watergate. Also, bui dem. Saigons man in washington. And then theres Richard Nixon. By 1968, the perennial republican president ial wanna wannabe had lost. This was his shot. He was willing to do whatever was necessary. This was twice a big a crowd of 1960 and the result is twice as good. So back on fifth avenue, july 12th. We have three men in a hotel room. A veteran politician, plotting his comeback. The man running his political operation and South Vietnams man in washington. Plus one lone woman, Anna Chenault. Because i had the opportunity to not only talk to the leaders but the people. Nixon knew that Anna Chenault could establish a relationship between him and the South Vietnamese and that just in case it became public, nixon could pretend she was not his real envoy. After just ten years in washington, dc, anna had fast tracked her way to wealth and influence. And a penthouse on top of the brandnew Watergate Complex which she made into her private clubhouse for the global elite. She loved to do parties. Shes notoriously known as the republican social hostess of the nixon era. I just remember that when she would walk into a room, she owned the room. She had a lot of sexual power. Im not saying that she had sexual relationships with people but i just think that she exuded an aura of sexuality and exoticcism. You whisper in his ear and give him a good idea and suddenly, its his idea and acting on it. Ive seen it happen a million times. She always would serve chinese food and mabke jokes lie this is concubine chicken. In her mind, she was playing to their expectation. Yes, this is a chinese woman. She knew what she was doing. She was setting up an environment for people to conduct business. This is how anna operated and the july 12th, fifth avenue meeting is her masterpiece. Dug up the calendar page from her daily calendar. Ny to see dick nixon with ambassador biu. First with nixon but its dick nixon who turns the private meeting into a cloak and dagger campaign operation. Nixon is eager to meet but wants to keep it secret. Even from his own secret service detail. Which is suspicious all by itself. Secret meetings, middlemen and women, foreign ambassadors in new york city. Exactly what is said is not really recorded anywhere but the clear message from nixon to the ambassador was, if you want to communicate anything to me, use mrs. Chenault as a way to talk to me. The intrigue begins. The goal is to undermine the peace talks that president johnson believes will end the war. Sabotage any negotiations that might get u. S. Troops out of vietnam. Point man for the operation, point woman, mrs. Anna chenault. 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Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. August 1968. Anna chennault touches down in saigon, South Vietnams wartime capital. It would be the next domino to fall to the communists unless america held the line against communist North Vietnam. Now anna had come to join the struggle as Richard Nixons secret agent. I went with her on one of her trips to saigon. We stayed at the hotel where most of the reporters were staying. We were in the atmosphere from the Hotel Restaurant on top. You could see flares on the edge of the city, bright lights in the night sky. Bombs and so on. The war was a part of everybodys life. Chennault arrived in saigon with an ironclad alibi. Her work as an Airline Executive and with contacts that went right to the top to South Vietnams new president. The information from the campaign to the government was nixons going to win the war for you. Hes going to stand by you better than any democrat. For anna, this mission for nixon was driven by bitter personal history. She hated the communists because she hated what had happened to china. It was about china, china, china. Anna chennault believed she was the right side of history, the worst thing for asia and the asian people was communism. Only by showing our strength that well be able to bring the communists to the conference room. Until then, we will have to carry on our action. I dont believe she acknowledged in any way to herself the military situation that existed. A lot of people didnt recognize it. By august of 1968, americas war in vietnam had already killed yet another 11,700 americans. That year alone. For the vietnamese, those numbers were even more grim. At least 116,000 dead in just seven months. A standard day, youd go into a village and start searching it, throwing stuff around inside of somebodys house and worse. You dont win hearts and minds by burning down houses and shooting chickens. Target practice with some farmer. Not that these things were typical, but they happened often enough to not win hearts and minds. I used to remember thinking, god, this is so different than how this war is being portrayed back home as something valiant and noble and containing communism. The time has come for honest government in the United States of america. Richard m. Nixon stood before the Republican Party and for the second time in his life, accepted their nomination for president of the United States. We shall begin with vietnam. Nixon was very twofaced. We all hope in this room theres a chance for current negotiations to bring an honorable end to that war. In his Public Acceptance speech at the Republican Convention said that he would do nothing to interfere with the chances for negotiating peace. We will say nothing during this campaign that might destroy that chance. In secret, however, he did everything he could to make sure that peace talks could not start before election day. Because peace talks were the biggest threat to his candidacy. That threat is fresh in nixons mind. Just hours before nixon accepted the nomination, lbj had called to congratulate him as the president watched the convention on tv from his texas ranch. Dick . Hello, mr. President. How are you . Well, im just fine. Havent had any sleep, but you know. I sure do and i give you my congratulations and my sympathy. Boy, i tell you, isnt that the truth. Johnson never liked or trusted nixon. It goes way back to the time he was in the senate and nixon was in the senate. Dick, i want to keep in close touch with you. Were both supposed to be great political a