1968 United States presidential election

===Nixon campaign sabotage of peace talks===
The Nixon campaign had anticipated a possible "[[October surprise]]", a peace agreement produced by the Paris negotiations; as such an agreement would be a boost to Humphrey, Nixon thwarted any last-minute chances of a "Halloween Peace". Nixon told campaign aide and his future [[White House Chief of Staff]] [[H. R. Haldeman]] to put a "monkey wrench" into an early end to the war.<ref name=PBaker>{{cite news |last=Baker |first= Peter |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/nixon-tried-to-spoil-johnsons-vietnam-peace-talks-in-68-notes-show.html?mcubz=0 |newspaper= New York Times |title= Nixon Tried to Spoil Johnson's Peace Talks in '68, Notes Show|date= January 3, 2017 }}</ref> Johnson was enraged and said that Nixon had "blood on his hands", and that [[Senate Minority Leader]] [[Everett Dirksen]] agreed with Johnson that such action was "treason".<ref>Mark Lisheron. [http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/12/05/1205lbjtapes.html "In tapes, LBJ accuses Nixon of treason"]. [[Austin American-Statesman]]. December 5, 2008. "Johnson tells Sen. Everett Dirksen, the Republican minority leader, that it will be Nixon's responsibility if the South Vietnamese don't participate in the peace talks. 'This is treason', LBJ says to Dirksen."</ref><ref>[[KC Johnson|Robert "KC" Johnson]]. [http://hnn.us/articles/60446.html "Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal"]. [[History News Network]], January 26, 2009. Transcript from {{YouTube|ubVzX3y_yVE|audio recording}} of [[Lyndon B. Johnson|President Johnson]]: "This is treason."<br />"I know."</ref> Defense Secretary [[Clark Clifford]] considered the moves an illegal violation of the [[Logan Act]].<ref name="Clifford">{{cite book| last = Clark M. Clifford| author-link = Clark Clifford| title = Counsel to the President: A Memoir| year = 1991| edition = May 21, 1991| page = [https://archive.org/details/counseltopreside00clar/page/709 709]| publisher = Random House| isbn = 978-0-394-56995-6| url = https://archive.org/details/counseltopreside00clar/page/709}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=eeJ4AAAAMAAJ p. 582.] "The activities of the Nixon team went far beyond the bounds of justifiable political combat. It constituted direct interference in the activities of the executive branch and the responsibilities of the Chief Executive, the only people with authority to negotiate on behalf of the nation. The activities of the Nixon campaign constituted a gross, even potentially illegal, interference in the security affairs of the nation by private individuals."</ref> A former director of the Nixon Library called it a "covert action" which "laid the skulduggery of his presidency".<ref name=PBaker />

[[Bryce Harlow]], former Eisenhower White House staff member, claimed to have "a double agent working in the White House... I kept Nixon informed." Harlow and Nixon's future [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] and [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Henry Kissinger]], who was friendly with both campaigns and guaranteed a job in either a Humphrey or Nixon administration, separately predicted Johnson's "bombing halt": "The word is out that we are making an effort to throw the election to Humphrey. Nixon has been told of it", Democratic senator George Smathers informed Johnson.<ref>[[Robert Dallek]] (2007), ''Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power'', HarperCollins, pp. 73–74.</ref>

Nixon asked [[Anna Chennault]] to be his "channel to Mr. [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu|Thieu]]" in order to advise him to refuse participation in the talks, in what is sometimes described as the "Anna Chennault Affair".<ref name="history.state.gov">{{cite web|url= https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/ch5 |title= November 1–12, 1968: South Vietnamese Abstention From the Expanded Peace Conference; the Anna Chennault Affair |work= [[Office of the Historian]] |access-date= January 15, 2024 |archive-date= January 15, 2024 |archive-url=  https://web.archive.org/web/20240115035541/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/ch5|url-status=live}}</ref> Thieu was promised a better deal under a Nixon administration.<ref name="Chanoff">{{cite book | last = [[Bùi Diễm]] with David Chanoff| title = In the Jaws of History|edition= April 1, 1999|page= 367 | publisher = Indiana University Press| isbn= 978-0-253-21301-3| year = 1999}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=XNlnzQk2678C&dq=%22Waiting+for+me+in+the+lobby+was+Anna+Chennault%22&pg=PA237 p. 237.] ''Waiting for me in the lobby was Anna Chennault. A few minutes later I was being introduced to Nixon and John Mitchell, his law partner and adviser. (...) Nixon (...) added that his staff would be in touch with me through John Mitchell and Anna Chennault.''</ref><ref name="history.state.gov"/> Chennault agreed and periodically reported to [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]] that Thieu had no intention of attending a peace conference. On November 2, Chennault informed [[Bùi Diễm]], the South Vietnamese ambassador: "I have just heard from my boss in Albuquerque who says his boss [Nixon] is going to win. And you tell your boss [Thieu] to hold on a while longer."<ref>{{cite web|url= https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d212 |title= Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VII, Vietnam, September 1968–January 1969 |work= [[Office of the Historian]] |access-date= January 15, 2024 |archive-date= January 15, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240115035416/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d212 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1997, Chennault admitted that, "I was constantly in touch with Nixon and Mitchell".<ref>Dallek, pp. 74–75.</ref> The effort also involved Texas Senator [[John Tower]] and Kissinger, who traveled to Paris on behalf of the Nixon campaign. [[William Bundy]] stated that Kissinger obtained "no useful inside information" from his trip to Paris, and "almost any experienced Hanoi watcher might have come to the same conclusion". While Kissinger may have "hinted that his advice was based on contacts with the Paris delegation", this sort of "self-promotion ... is at worst a minor and not uncommon practice, quite different from getting and reporting real secrets".<ref>Dallek, pp. 73–74.</ref>

Johnson learned of the Nixon-Chennault effort because the [[National Security Agency|NSA]] was intercepting communications in Vietnam.<ref>[[Thomas Powers]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yi2GAAAAMAAJ "The Man who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms & the CIA"]. [[Alfred A. Knopf]], 1979, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yi2GAAAAMAAJ&q=%22during+the+week+which+ended+Sunday%2C+October+27%2C+the+National+Security+Agency+intercepted+a+radio+message+from+the+South+Vietnamese+Embassy+to+Saigon+explicitly+urging+Thieu+to+stand+fast+against+an+agreement+until+after+the+election.+As+soon+as+learned+of+the+cable+he+ordered+the+FBI+to+place+Madame+under+surveillance+and+to+install+a+phone+tap+on+the+South+Vietnamese+Embassy%22 p.198.] "during the week which ended Sunday, October 27 [1968], the National Security Agency intercepted a radio message from the South Vietnamese Embassy to Saigon explicitly urging [[Nguyen Van Thieu|(Nguyen Van) Thieu]] to stand fast against an agreement until after the election. As soon as Johnson learned of the cable he ordered the FBI to place Madame (Anna) Chennault under surveillance and to install a phone tap on the South Vietnamese Embassy"</ref> In response, Johnson ordered NSA surveillance of Chennault and wire-tapped the South Vietnamese embassy and members of the Nixon campaign.<ref>Dallek, p. 75.</ref> He did not leak the information to the public because he did not want to "shock America" with the revelation,<ref>[[KC Johnson|Robert "KC" Johnson]]. [http://hnn.us/articles/60446.html "Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What the New LBJ Tapes Reveal"]. [[History News Network]], January 26, 2009. Transcript from {{YouTube|ubVzX3y_yVE|audio recording}} of [[Lyndon B. Johnson|President Johnson]]: "Now, I can identify 'em, because I know who's doing this. I don't want to identify it. I think it would shock America if a principal candidate was playing with a source like this on a matter this important. (...) I don't want to do that."</ref> nor reveal that the NSA was intercepting communications in Vietnam.<ref name=BBCTreason>{{cite news |first=David|last=Taylor|title=The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixon's 'treason'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668 |location = London |work=[[BBC News]] |date=March 15, 2013| access-date=March 18, 2013}}</ref> Johnson did make information available to Humphrey, but at this point Humphrey thought he was going to win the election, so he did not reveal the information to the public. Humphrey later regretted this as a mistake.<ref>[[Jules Witcover]]. "The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat". [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ePRIONzLmEoC&dq=%22Johnson+had+turned+over+incriminating+evidence+about+Chennault%27s+activities+to+Humphrey+for+use+in+the+final+days+of+the+campaign%22&pg=PA131 p131.] "[[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]] had turned over incriminating evidence about (Anna) Chennault's activities to [[Hubert Humphrey|(Hubert) Humphrey's]] for use in the final days of the campaign. The idea was that such an act of treason would sink Nixon and elect Humphrey. But Humphrey declined to use it, partly because he felt he could not reveal the sources of the classified material (...) Later, in his [https://books.google.com/books?id=L6u94c-7wX8C&q=The+Education+of+a+Public+Man memoir], Humphrey recounted a memo of his own at the time: "I wonder if I should have blown the whistle on Anna Chennault and Nixon. I wish [his italics] I could have been sure. Damn [[Nguyen Van Thieu|Thieu]]. Dragging his feet this past weekend hurt us. I wonder if that call did it. If Nixon knew."</ref> The South Vietnamese government withdrew from peace negotiations, and Nixon publicly offered to go to Saigon to help the negotiations.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05tapes.html?_r=0 "In Tapes, Johnson Accused Nixon's Associates of Treason"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 4, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2013.</ref> A promising "peace bump" ended up in "shambles" for the Democratic Party.<ref name=BBCTreason />