haven't figured it out

Toward the end of Fear And Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72, there's a conversation between candidate George McGovern and HST (Hunter Thompson) --
McGovern: No, and I still haven't figured it out. I mean, I still haven't really figured out the dimensions of it. I think the war thing had a big impact at the end there, the fact that Kissinger was able to say that peace was at hand, just give us a few more days. It almost looked like if we threw them out it would disrupt all this effort that has gone on over the last months. You know, they kept him in orbit for weeks ahead of the election. I think that had an impact.

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Reading that I thought, Nixon had already been president for four years -- 1968 to 1972. He had four years to get busy and end our involvement in Vietnam. Suddenly in -- Hello, October 1972, right before the election ("coincidentally") -- suddenly "peace is at hand." Aahhh.
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[Excerpts from Grace And Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House]:
The public euphoria of Kennedy's first hundred days masked concerns in the West Wing over communist encroachments in Southeast Asia and Cuba. The first flashpoint was tiny (population an estimated two million) Laos, which, according to Schlesinger, occupied more of Kennedy's time than anything else during his first months in office. After the expulsion of French colonial forces from Southeast Asia by the communists in 1954, Laos had survived as a weak neutralist kingdom, bolstered by $300 million in American aid over five years. Now, with Pathet Lao guerrillas (backed by both the Soviet Union and North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, the victor over the French) poised to overrun the country, Kennedy was developing plans to intervene with the U.S. military.

Events in Laos also affected neighboring South Vietnam. Communist Viet Cong guerrillas, who relied on North Vietnam for men and materiel, would benefit greatly from unfettered supply routes through Laos. "The President was watching this thing," recalled Walt Rostow. "He knew that he had inherited a disintegrating situation." If the pro-Western governments in both Laos and South Vietnam fell, according to the prevailing "domino theory," the communists could gain control of Southeast Asia before extending their reach to India and possibly the Middle East.

Among those Kennedy consulted in his deliberations was Sir William David Ormsby Gore....They [Kennedy and Ormsby Gore] had first met when Joe Kennedy was ambassador to Britain, and Jack and David were students at Harvard and Oxford. ...
JFK admired Gore as an exemplar of what Schlesinger described as "English political society, with its casual combination of wit, knowledge and unconcern." ...They shared a sense of the ridiculous, and an impatience with long-winded or self-important bores.

Both men were sons of dogmatic fathers, and were touched by the tragedy of losing a beloved older brother in his youth. Kennedy and Gore gave the appearance of being laid-back and unemotional in the stereotypical English manner. Recognizing aspects of himself in Kennedy, Gore observed, "I think he had deep emotions, but he very much disliked the display of them"....

As they matured, the two friends recognized the extent of their political and intellectual compatibility. A member of Parliament since 1950, Gore was a Tory -- but of the "wet" or liberal variety, an advocate of the sort of policies Kennedy supported. ...

In that spirit, Gore and JFK had dinner in late February at the White House. "Speaking with the bluntness of an old friend," wrote Schlesinger, Gore "offered a caustic picture of American policy in Laos." The British government opposed military intervention, advocating instead a cease-fire negotiated by an international commission. But Kennedy leaned nevertheless toward using American troops to keep at least part of Laos in friendly hands.

A month later, in a state of "deepest anxiety," Kennedy sought advice directly from [British Prime Minister] Harold Macmillan [a relative of the Kennedys by marriage] in a hastily convened meeting at Key West, Florida. ...Macmillan...possessed "a sharp, disillusioned mind," wrote Schlesinger, and "a vivid sense of history."

...At age sixty-six, Macmillan was close to Eisenhower, a contemporary whom he had known since World War II. He and Eisenhower had "common experiences," Macmillan said at the time. "Now there is this young cocky Irishman. . . . How am I going to deal with him?"

Macmillan disliked Joe Kennedy and feared the possibility of his malevolent influence. The British prime minister had also been alerted by Eisenhower's ambassador to Britain, Jock Whitney, about JFK's flaws. "Kennedy must be a strange character," Macmillan wrote in his journal after Whitney's post-election briefing.

...When Kennedy and Macmillan met for the first time in Florida,...Macmillan later told Jackie, ..."We seemed to be able (when alone) to talk freely and frankly to each other (as if we had been lifelong friends) and to laugh (a vital thing) at our advisers and ourselves."
...Their shared irreverence provided a level of comfort neither man had anticipated....Kennedy's bond with Macmillan was his most important among America's allies, and he would repeatedly tap the elder statesman's judgment in international crises. They would meet seven times in three years.

Macmillan didn't prevail in their Key West meeting, however, as Kennedy insisted on keeping the military option open in Laos. {end Excerpts}------------------

Fear / Loathing. Hunter Thompson. 1973.
Grace / Power. Sally Bedell Smith. 2004.

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