Article: Nixon suggested nuclear bomb use in Vietnam

Nixon suggested nuclear bomb use in Vietnam, tapes show

By DEB RIECHMANN

Associated Press

Friday, March 1, 2002

College Park, Md. -- A few weeks before ordering an escalation of the Vietnam War, President Nixon matter-of-factly raised the idea of using a nuclear bomb. The notion was quickly shot down by national security adviser Henry Kissinger.

Nixon's abrupt suggestion, buried in 500 hours of tapes released Thursday at the National Archives, came after Kissinger laid out a variety of options for stepping up the war effort, such as attacking power plants and docks, in an April 25, 1972, conversation in the Executive Office Building.

"I'd rather use the nuclear bomb," Nixon responded.

"That, ...

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