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that--

Oh, no. As far as I was concerned it was Vietnam. And I don't have any second-- guessing on that at all. I don't know what the history--what the political science writers have felt about it, but in my gut Vietnam was the thing that did him in.

Did you ever have any more extended discussions of Vietnam after the initial report that you made to him?

Never.

Never.

I'm not sure I'm giving you a straight answer on that. And the only way I could answer it would be to check my records. But there was a night when he asked me to come down to meet with some of his staff people about some issue that he thought I could help on, and I can't remember what it was. I was having dinner in the White House mess--in a private room in the mess--with this group of guys, and I was at the head table. It was sort of a quadrangle.

Somebody on his staff was chairing the meeting, and I was sitting with him, when I got a slip of paper and it said: “The President wants to see you in his quarters immediately.” This was like nine o'clock at night. I was ushered up into his bedroom, and he was propped up in bed. The bed was filled with all kinds of documents, and he had reports on the Vietnam situation. I don't know now whether that was before or after I went out to