A Futile Meeting in Paris; Prodding the South Vietnamese; Soviet Summit in the Balance; Mining North Vietnam’s Ports, Bombing Its Rail Lines, Resuming Heavy Bombing in the Hanoi–Haiphong Area, and Internal Dissent; a Supreme Commander in Vietnam?; the Battle and B-52s in South Vietnam; the SALT Agreements; and Danielle Hunebelle’s <i>Dear Henry</i>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter discusses a meeting in Paris between Kissinger and North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho and Nixon’s talk of bombing Hanoi and Haiphong before the meeting, fleeing South Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam and declining U.S. prospects there, and Nixon’s order for a “supreme commander” in Vietnam. The chapter also covers the U.S. blockading of North Vietnam by mining its ports, particularly Haiphong, and Melvin Laird’s opposition to the mining; the administration’s resumption of heavy bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong and other targets in the North, including its rail lines to China; and bombing in South Vietnam. Plus the chapter discusses the Soviet summit, including whether Nixon should cancel it given U.S. weakness in Vietnam and whether the Soviets would cancel it because of the mining. And the chapter discusses a book by Danielle Hunebelle about her relationship with Kissinger and Barbara Walters’s advice to him on how to handle it.</jats:p>