Page 3 - Eye War News Today

Ends. >> its classic johnson. its classic. you know, get to the head of the republican party to try to get nixon to do this. >> im reading their hand everett, i dont want to get this in the campaign. and they ought to be doing this, this is treason. >> i know. >> theyre contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war. >> thats a mistake. >> its a bad mistake, you tell them that their people are messing around in this thing. if they dont want it on the front pages, they have to quit it. >> hes ...

August 1968, anna chenault touches down in siaigon. 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 caravel downtown where most of the reporters are staying. its a weird atmosphere from the hotel restaurant on top. you could see flairs on the edge of the city, bright lights in the night sky. bombs, and so on. the war was a part of everybodys life. >> chenault arrived in saigon with an ironclad ally, h...

Protesters. >> when the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war against a fourth rate military power in vietnam. 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 presidential election. so now lets back up to march 31st, 1968. the day that vietnam ended the presidency of lyndon b. johnson. >> gosh, this is hard to read, jim, you have no idea. >> on that last evening in march, tv camera...

That existed. a lot of people didnt recognize it. >> by august of 1968, americas war in vietnam had already killed 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. >> on a standard day, youd go into a village and youd 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 and by taking target practice on...

Proposed this meeting to nixon. >> 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 and a tower 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...

1968. >> they got us into this war, and theyre afraid to get us out. >> richard nixon is behind sabotaging peace. >> 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. its definitely a smoking gun as regards richard nixons direct involvement and actions. >> theyre contacting a foreign power in the middle o...

>> the number one flying tiger and his chinese bride. general chenault played second world war history. >> anna chenault has an american story thats truly epically, even cinematically unique. shes a refugee from china. she rises to the highest levels of society in this country opinion what she did with that influence is a question of deadly seriousness. we got americas first taste of a candidate including with a foreign power to try to win a u.s. presidential election. and in this case, it would...

>> every american is to be freed from domestic violence. we shall have order in the united states. >> nixon leads in the polls, but his white house dreams are haunted by lbgs progress toward ending the war. nixon worries about the prospect of an october surprise, that peace is being negotiated that its in hand and that it boosts the prospects of hubert hum free. >> mid october, lyndon johnson fuels nixons worst fear. >> who is that speaking, dick is that you? >> im on. >> hubert, are you on? >> ...

Freight airline. anna had access. >> she always operated from behind the scenes, because she was a back channel operator. >> who is going to have the power to keep peace. >> and now artillery is being called in as you can hear. >> war and peace in vietnam. in 1968 that was the issue. how to end a war that had turned malignant. >> vietnam was the war that we saw in our living rooms every night. >> keep rolling. >> people would be watching the 6:00 news during dinner and see the carnage of vietnam...

Died in vietnam. >> i think there was a momentum behind that war. so many people had died in it, its hard for anybody to say, lets stop it. johnson said, i dont want to be the president who loses a war. especially when we had this mythology of having never lost a war as a country. we just didnt seem to be wing 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, he...