Our Presidents

“If the negotiations break down tomorrow we will have to resume massive bombing.”
-Henry Kissinger letter to President Nixon, December 6, 1972

“The Christmas Bombings” - From December 18 – 29 (with a 24 hour reprieve, suggested originally by Alexander Haig, on Christmas Day) the United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps flew 3,420 sorties over North Vietnam including up to 120 B-52 sorties per day. In that short period, the US Air Force dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than it had in the years 1969 to 1971. Coming on the heels of weeks of optimistic reports from Paris, this massive US bombing campaign came as huge shock and drew world-wide indignation.
A week earlier, Henry Kissinger had just returned from talks with North Vietnam in Paris. The negotiations had broken down with both sides placing blame on the other. On December 14, Kissinger and Haig met with President Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss next steps. The meeting is captured on tape and is a unique record of the decision to begin a massive bombing campaign.
Listen to the meeting here - Operation Linebacker II: “The Christmas Bombings”
More - Nixon and the December Bombings

“If the negotiations break down tomorrow we will have to resume massive bombing.”

-Henry Kissinger letter to President Nixon, December 6, 1972

“The Christmas Bombings” - From December 18 – 29 (with a 24 hour reprieve, suggested originally by Alexander Haig, on Christmas Day) the United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps flew 3,420 sorties over North Vietnam including up to 120 B-52 sorties per day. In that short period, the US Air Force dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than it had in the years 1969 to 1971. Coming on the heels of weeks of optimistic reports from Paris, this massive US bombing campaign came as huge shock and drew world-wide indignation.

A week earlier, Henry Kissinger had just returned from talks with North Vietnam in Paris. The negotiations had broken down with both sides placing blame on the other. On December 14, Kissinger and Haig met with President Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss next steps. The meeting is captured on tape and is a unique record of the decision to begin a massive bombing campaign.

Listen to the meeting here - Operation Linebacker II: “The Christmas Bombings”

More - Nixon and the December Bombings

Source: nixon.archives.gov