One of the high points of the presidency of Richard Nixon must have been the return of the long-suffering Ameircan prisoners held by Hanoi. The memorable photo of John McCain shaking Nixon’s hand at the ceremony marking the return of the POWs is emblematic of the fidelity that Nxon had shown to our efforts in Vietnam and to the return of the POWs with honor.
In his memoirs Henry Kissinger recalled his visit to Hanoi as Nixon’s national security advisor to negotiate the 1973 agreement that terminated American involvement in the war. The POWs were evidently on his mind:
Two little lakes formed the center of Hanoi. We walked along them, the first American officials to move freely in Hanoi in two decades, while a few hundred yards away other Americans, our prisoners of war, still languished in a cruel captivity.
Today’s New York Sun reports that Kissinger endorsed McCain yesterday. I doubt that it’s an endorsement that will swing any votes among Republican (or independent) voters, but it is an endorsement that highlights the strongest element of Senator McCain’s candidacy.
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