Members of Congress and defense secretary James Schlesinger also recalled a worrisome remark from December, when during one of the group meetings in the White House dining room with senators and representatives as part of the “Operation Candor” push, Nixon had blurted out a bizarre answer to a question about fighting Communism. “I can go in my office and pick up a telephone, and in 25 minutes, millions of people will be dead,” the president had said.
