The tapes and cables confirm the general outlines of what
President Nixon told Rose Mary Woods about the events leading up
to the December bombing decision. In November and December 1972,
Henry Kissinger had repeatedly recommended launching a major
bombing campaign against North Vietnam to a hesitant President.
In December, it was Kissinger who pushed for "bombing the
bejesus" out of the North Vietnamese during a six-month air
campaign. In light of this evidence, President Nixon's
frustration at news accounts in early 1973 that he had pushed a
reluctant Kissinger into bombing Hanoi makes sense. The tapes do
suggest that by February 1973, President Nixon had perhaps
forgotten (or did not wish to remember) that he had once
formally endorsed Henry Kissinger's October 26 "peace is at
hand" statement. The President, in conversations with his close
political advisor Charles Colson, revealed that he had wanted
the American public to get an optimistic assessment of the talks
on the eve of the election and that his na