But, as ever, Nixon could not stand to deliver the news himself. He sent Ehrlichman, armed with a little speech the president had prepared, to face Mitchell: “I told Ehrlichman to tell Mitchell that this was the toughest decision I had ever made—tougher than Cambodia, May 8 [mining Haiphong Harbor], and December 18 [the Christmas bombing] put together. I said he should tell Mitchell that I simply could not bring myself to talk to him personally about it.” He added a vow that Mitchell “would never go to prison.”
