Johnson has picked this up through CIA intercepts and FBI wiretaps on the Presidential Palace in Saigon and the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington. He calls up Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader, and says, “This is treason.” Dirksen said, “Yes, it is.” Then Nixon calls up LBJ and says, “I would never do anything like that.” And Johnson says, “Okay, Dick.” To this day one of the great mysteries of the war is why Johnson didn’t use the information to Humphrey’s benefit.
