President Nixon was “very disturbed” when his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, brought him the news. He was “afraid his [Cambodia] decision set it off and that is the cause of the demonstration there,” Haldeman wrote in his diary. The White House issued a statement. “The president shares the sadness of the parents involved and that of all Americans over their unnecessary deaths. This should remind us all that when dissent turns to violence, it invites tragedy.”
