Volume 18, Number 10 · June 1, 1972
I.F. Stone Reports: Nixon's War Gamble and Why It Won't Work
By I.F. Stone
Catch the Falling Flag
by Richard J. Whalen
Houghton Mifflin, 308 pp., $6.95
National Security Study Memorandum No. 1: The Situation in Vietnam
Anonymous Xerox Publication, 548 pp.
Four years ago Richard Nixon was just where he is now on Vietnam, i.e., on the brink of a wider conflict. He didn't think the war could be won, but didn't want to lose 'leverage' by saying so in public. His one hope, his 'secret plan' for 'an honorable peace,' i.e., for snatching political victory from military defeat, was to shut off Haiphong and bring about a confrontation with the Soviet Union. This is exactly where he—and we—are today. After all the years of costly losses, all he offers is a bigger gamble.
Review, 8085 words
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