Dirksen frantically called Bryce Harlow, who awakened Nixon in his hotel room in Los Angeles to let him know the depth of the president’s anger. Nixon had to scramble—and he did, brilliantly. The next morning, November 3, the final Sunday before Election Day, Nixon went on Meet the Press and offered to be the solution to the problem he had created. He offered, if elected, to go to Saigon to persuade Thieu to join the peace talks. Calling Johnson, he was all wounded innocence. “My God,” he told LBJ, “I would never do anything to encourage Hanoi—I mean, Saigon not to come to the table….”
