52 attacks on the north.
It was George Bush who officially informed the international diplomatic community of Nixon's
March decisions. Bush addressed a letter to the Presidency of the UN Security Council in which he
outlined what Nixon had set into motion:
"The President directed that the entrances to the ports of North Vietnam be mined and that thedelivery of seaborne supplies to North Vietnam be prevented. These measures of collective self-
defense are hereby being reported to the United Nations Security Council as required by Article 51
of the United Nations Charter."
Bush went on to characterize the North Vietnamese actions. He spoke of "the massive invasionacross the demilitarized zone and international boundaries by the forces of North Vietnam and the (^)
continuing aggression" of Hanoi. He accused the north of "blatant violation of the understandings
negotiated in 1968 in connection with the cessation of the bombing of the territory of North
Vietnam." "The extent of this renewed aggression and the manner in which it has been directed and
supported demonstrate with great clarity that North Vietnam has embarked on an all-out attempt totake over South Vietnam by military force and to disrupt the orderly withdrawal of United States
forces." Bush further accused the north of refusing to negotiate in good faith to end the war.
The guts of Bush's message, the part that was read with greatest attention in Moscow, Peking, and
elsewhere, was contained in the following summary of the way in which Haiphong aharbors had been mined: nd the other
"Accordingly, as the minimum actions necessary to meet this threat, the Republic of Vietnam and
the United States of America have jointly decided to take the following measures of collective self-
defense: The entrances to the ports of North Vietnam are being mined, commencing 0900 Stime May 9, and the mines are set to activate automatically beginning 1900 hours Saigon time Mayaigon (^)
- This will permit vessels of other countries presently in North Vietnamese ports three daylight
periods to depart safely." In a long circumlocution, Bush also conveyed that all shipping might also
be the target of indsicriminate bombing. Bush called these measures "restricted in extent and
purpose." The US was willing to sign a cease-fire ending all acts of war in Indochina (thusincluding Cambodia, which had been invaded in 1970, and Laos, which had been invaded in 1971) (^)
within four months, as well as the Vietnams) and bring all US troops home within four months.
There was no bipartisan support for the bombing and mining policy Bush announced. Senator Mike
Mansfield pointed out that the decision would only protract the war. Senator Proxmire called it"reckless and wrong." Four Soviet ships were damaged by these US actions. There was a lively (^)
debate within the Soviet Politburo on how to respond to this, with a faction around Shelest
demanding that Nixon's invitation to the upcoming Moscow superpower summit be rescinded. But
Shelest was ousted by Brezhnev, and the summit went forward at the end of May. The "China card"
theoreticians congratulated themselves that the Soviets had been paralyzed by fear what Pekingmight do if Moscow became embroiled with Peking's new de facto ally, the US.
In July, 1972, reports emerged in the international press of charges by Hanoi that the US had been
deliberately bombing the dams and dikes, which were the irrigation and flood control system
around VNixon's "mad bomber" foreign policy. Bush appeared on the NBC Televison "Today" show toietnam's Red River. Once again it was Bush who came forward as the apologist for (^)
assure the US public that the US bombing had created only "the most incidental and minor impact"
on North Viet Nam's dike system. This, of course, amounted to a backhanded conformation that
such bombing had been done, and damage wrought in the process. Bush was in his typical whining
mode in defending the US policy against worldwide criticism of war measures that seemed