Back to Vietnam: "In May 1972, unable to defeat the Vietnamese peasants and hounded by protestors at home, an increasingly frustrated Nixon proposed to his national security advisor and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger dropping a nuclear bomb on the northern capital of North Vietnam, Hanoi. 'I just want you to think big, Henry, for Christsakes,' said the president.

"Thumping a map of the world in anger, Nixon is heard on the tapes saying, 'I'll see that the United States does not lose. I'm putting it quite bluntly….South Vietnam may lose. But the United States cannot lose…Whatever happens to South Vietnam, we are going to cream North Vietnam...For once, we've got to use the maximum power of this country... against this shit-ass little country: to win the war. We can't use the word, "win." But others can."

"In a later exchange Nixon observed to Kissinger: "The only place where you and I disagree..is with regard to the bombing. You're so goddamned concerned about the civilians and I don't give a damn. I don't care." Kissinger replied, "I'm concerned about the civilians because I don't want the world to be mobilized against you as a butcher....""

Back to Vietnam: "In May 1972, unable to defeat the Vietnamese peasants and hounded by protestors at home, an increasingly frustrated Nixon proposed to his national security advisor and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger dropping a nuclear bomb on the northern capital of North Vietnam, Hanoi. 'I just want you to think big, Henry, for Christsakes,' said the president.

"Thumping a map of the world in anger, Nixon is heard on the tapes saying, 'I'll see that the United States does not lose. I'm putting it quite bluntly….South Vietnam may lose. But the United States cannot lose…Whatever happens to South Vietnam, we are going to cream North Vietnam...For once, we've got to use the maximum power of this country... against this shit-ass little country: to win the war. We can't use the word, "win." But others can."

"In a later exchange Nixon observed to Kissinger: "The only place where you and I disagree..is with regard to the bombing. You're so goddamned concerned about the civilians and I don't give a damn. I don't care." Kissinger replied, "I'm concerned about the civilians because I don't want the world to be mobilized against you as a butcher....""