A Mixed Broadside

...It seems appropriate before the votes are counted to tell you what a privilege the last four years have been I am confident of the outcome today But it cannot affect the historic achievement-to take a divided nation, mired in war, losing its confidence, wracked by intellectuals without conviction, and give it a new purpose It has been an inspiration to see your fortitude in adversity and your willingness to walk alone For this-as well as the unfailing human kindness and consideration-I shall always be grateful ". The timing of this note is especially revealing because Nixon was then in the process of undermining the Vietnam peace agreement that Kissinger had just laid on the table There are very few heroes in this book Alexander M Haig Jr is portrayed as a manipulative warhawk Former Democratic Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas, who headed the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, is described as a racist and a weakling And America's leading columnists -James Reston, Hugh Sidey, Joseph Alsop, Rowland Evans, and Joseph Kraft-appear to be in Kissinger's pocket at all times One of the heroes is Secretary of State William Rogers, who was selected for his post because he knew almost nothing about foreign affairs "I was prepared to play a subordinate role," Rogers recalled "I recognized that Nixon wanted to be his own foreign policy leader ". Rogers made a fatal mistake, though As Nixon's long-time friend and adviser, he assumed, incorrectly, that his boss wanted honest advice That led him to oppose the bombing of North Vietnam and the Cambodian invasion Rogers did not view the antiwar activists as traitors Indeed, he accepted their premise that America should try to end the Vietnam War, not to win it...

...One comes away from it all with the feeling that Seymour Hersh has written two different books The first (and better) effort is a compelling account of Kissinger the man-ruthless, unprincipled, indifferent to all suffering except his own It is well-written, swiftly paced, and more believable than anything written to date by Kissinger's captive press Hersh set out to undress America's leading self-promoter, and he has done a brutally effective job For that alone, we are very much in his debt The other book is a disappointing indictment of Kissinger's diplomacy The reason, quite simply, is that Hersh cannot get himself to acknowledge the achievements of a man he thoroughly despises His approach is so obsessive, so ungiving in every respect, that one begins to believe less and less as the pages roll by The irony is inescapable By laying it on too thick, Hersh has damaged his case and created a kind of reverse sympathy for the defendant As a result, Kissinger's idolators have been trying to dismiss The Price of Power advocacy journalism at its worst Despite the serious flaw, this will not be easy Few books in recent years-and certainly none of the Watergate variety-have raised as many disturbing questions about moral corruption at the top The ball is now in your court, Henry...

...But the real villain is Kissinger, the only man (until now) to escape the Nixon White House with his reputation largely intact He was more dangerous than H R Haldeman and John Erhch-man, Hersh asserts, because his crimes were global in scope And he was more dishonest than the Chief Executive, who seemed to believe in most of his policies, however obnoxious they may have been In page after page, crisis after crisis, anecdote after anecdote, Kissinger emerges as a liar, a megalomaniac, a man obsessed with sabotaging the careers of his competitors to advance his own...

...Hersh's indictment of Kissinger centers on three major points 1) that Kissinger greedily usurped the authority of Rogers at State, Melvin Laird at Defense, and Richard Helms at the CIA, 2) that Kissinger routinely placed personal considerations above the national interest, and 3) that Kissinger's "achievements" invariably worked to America's disadvantage Hersh is so relentlessly hostile that, by my figuring at least, his 698 pages contain only one favorable reference to his subject In a footnote on page 463 he writes "By December, Kissinger had managed to convince Nixon that [John] Connally's approach would lead to diplomatic chaos, and it was Kissinger who joined Nixon at the Azores summit with [French President Georges] Pompidou The two men negotiated away the surcharge and worked out exchange rates for most of the world's important currencies ". Yet even here, Hersh cannot resist a back-handed slap "It was a tour de force for Kissinger," he adds, "who once again awed his associates with his ability to come immediately to grips with the essence of an issuean ability he seemed unable to use in dealing with the Vietnam War or great-power issues ". At times, Hersh can be extremely persuasive He is superb in dealing with the weaknesses of salti, the bombing of Cambodia, the missed chances in Vietnam, and the destabilization of Salvador Allende's government in Chile On the other hand, his treatment of Amencan policy in the Middle East, China and the India-Pakistan war is embarrassingly one-sided He calls our Middle East policy a failure because it "never came to grips with the real issue at stake a future homeland for the Palestinians " But he never mentions the successes-the new relationship with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, the decline of Soviet influence in the area, and the protection of Israel's southern border...

...Kissinger's duplicity is something to behold During the 1968 campaign, he volunteered his services to every candidate m sight Originally a Nelson Rockefeller man (with secret sympathies for Robert Kennedy), he offered to make Rockefeller's files on Nixon available to Hubert Humphrey's people "Look," he told one Humphrey aide, "I've hated Nixon for years " A few weeks later, with Humphrey way down in the polls, Kissinger apparently funneled the secrets of the Pans peace negotiations to the Nixon camp Hersh hedges a bit on the details, but his implication is clear Kissinger sabotaged a possible agreement in Vietnam "It is certain," he writes, "that the Nixon campaign, alerted by Kissinger to the impending success of the peace talks, was able to get a series of messages to the Thieu government making it clear that a Nixon Presidency would have different views on the peace negotiations ". As a member of the Nixon Administration, Kissinger became the dutiful subordinate, a role he played with typical finesse In private, we are told, he disparaged the President as a very unstable man In Nixon's presence, however, he flattered, talked tough about Communism, and flattered some more Hersh is at his best when describing Kissinger's "overwhelming obsequiousness" to his boss On the eve of the 1972 elections, for example, Kissinger placed the following note on the President's pillow...

...A Mixed Broadside The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House By Seymour M Hersh Summit 698 pp $19 95 Reviewed by David M. Oshinsky Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University, author, "A Conspiracy So Immense The World of Joe McCarthy" In 1973 Henry Kissinger lied to Seymour Hersh about his role in the secret bombing of Cambodia That was a serious mistake Hersh, who won the Pultizer Prize for reporting the My Lai massacre, has a strong conscience and a stronger memory In 1978 he began a study of Kissinger in the Nixon White House The finished product is a blistering indictment of power run amok...

...Hersh is still more unfair in dealing with China policy He describes the Nixon-Kissinger visits as sordid attempts to get the President some needed television exposure before the 1972 elections He further alleges that the China breakthrough was made at the expense of Taiwan's security-a charge that would have warmed the heart of Senator Joe McCarthy Of course Taiwan suffered at the expense of America's new relationship with Communist China But Amenca gained-and so did most of the world It is also difficult to accept Hersh's evidence without question He has interviewed hundreds of people for this book, yet many, many quotes and anecdotes come from anonymous sources Moreover, because Kissinger refused to be interviewed, the author relies heavily upon the words of his subject's enemies Every anti-Kissinger remark by Haldeman, Erlichman, Charles Colson, and others of their ilk is accepted at face value At several points, Hersh relies upon the insights of Albanian leader Enver Hoxha without informing the reader that Hoxha, a cruel, eccentric man, is as believable on Kissinger as V I Lenin would have been on John D Rockefeller...

...Hersh's portrait of the Nixon Administration makes one wonder how democracy ever survived those brutal years His stones-amply documented in most cases-are sordid enough to make Woodward and Bernstein blink in astonishment Everybody, it seems, was spying on everybody else Nixon was spying on Kissinger, Kissinger was spying on his aides, Admiral Thomas H Moorer was spying on all of them, and the FBI was spying on itself In Richard Nixon's Washington, officials survived by lying, bugging and setting up others in case of failure "It's hard to explain," one of Kissinger's aides recalled "After a while, you lose perspective You don't feel a sense of outrage All of the things that you think about later you've become inured to while in the White House It isn't a matter of constant torment when you're there ". Nixon is portrayed as a man with two basic goals getting re-elected and scaring hell out of the Russians He carefully cultivated the image of a "madman,' a guy who would do anything to achieve his objectives He took great pride in bombing Vietnam and Cambodia, Hersh tells us, and he came close to bombing Syria, the PLO and North Korea as well While the public Nixon was merely frightening, the private man was a paranoid slob He drank to excess, fretted constantly about "disloyal" Jews, and spewed racial epithets with machine gun speed According to Hersh, the President referred to blacks as "niggers," "jigs" and "jigaboos" before settling upon "jungle bunnies," a term he apparently picked up from the musical Hair...

...His honesty played right into Kissinger's hands It allowed the good doctor to portray Rogers as a corrupt "fag" who lacked the guts to stand firm in the face of Communist aggression Before long, Rogers found himself cut off from all decisions involving Vietnam, Soviet-American relations, nato, and the like His role became largely ceremonial, with trips to Africa and other places that interested Nixon not at all "Henry," the President was quoted as saying in one phone conversation, "let's leave the niggers to Bill and we' 11 take care of the rest of the world ". In the end, of course, Kissinger got the thing he wanted most-Rogers' job as Secretary of State Since he did not have the courage to fire Rogers himself, Nixon sent Al Haig to do the job for him According to Rogers, Haig came to his home one night with a Presidential order to resign Rogers said no, the President would have to drop the ax in person Haig was stunned "Are you telling the Commander in Chief to go fuck himself" "No," Rogers replied, "I'm telling you to tell the Commander in Chief to go fuck himself " A week later, after meeting with Nixon in the Oval Office, William Rogers submitted his resignation...

...Dear Mr President...