Was Nixon's interferance in 1968 actually worse than Watergate?

[Sir Mohamed]

It's well documented Richard Nixon and his camp interfered in the 1968 election by pressing South Vietnamese govt to "hold on" with a peace treaty until after November 5. Through Anna Chennault, Nixon surrogates promised Saigon a better deal than with Johnson or Humphrey. Compared to Watergate, I think this might actually be worse since the war went on for years, with 20,000 more American lives lost. Looking at how close the election was, it could have changed the outcome.

Is it fair to say this is worse than Watergate? Or is it more likely a successful treaty wouldn't have happened under Humphrey or during the end of the Johnson Admin?

What I also don't get, is why Johnson as incumbent prez didn't make it public? From all I know, he was informed before election day. The only logical answer is he secretly wanted Nixon to win.

I don't know why this severe interferance is so rarely discussed when Nixon is being talked. Watergate was just one of his crimes.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Absolutely.

[brucejoel99]

LBJ knew but couldn't go public because the intel came from illegal CIA wiretaps.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

LBJ knew but couldn't go public because the intel came from illegal CIA wiretaps.

Nixon was not the first president to be bugging his opponents, he was just the first president to get caught.

Yes, this was basically treason on Nixon's behalf.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

If we're just talking about Watergate, and not the slew of dirty tricks Nixon's campaign deployed against his Democratic rivals in '72, undoubtedly so.

[Sir Mohamed]

LBJ knew but couldn't go public because the intel came from illegal CIA wiretaps.

For sure he himself couldn't, but he could have leaked the information? I'm sure he would have found a way.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Hoover and the KGB has been widely known that they have been connected to all 4 Civil Rights Leaders assassinations. Hoover was aware of all of the Civil Rights Leaders attempt on their lives, he had communications with Russia; consequently,  as Jesse Ventura said, how quickly they found Lee Harvey Oswald. But, up until after 911, CIA, FBI and Secret Service didnt have an intelligence czar. Also, negligence on part of Kennedy riding in open limo, King going to a regular hotel, and RFK going thru a kitchen, got them killed. Hoover, was standing in the same room as Malcolm X was shot. Case closed

[Orser67]

The reason it's not a bigger deal in the general public's understanding of Nixon is that it was shrouded in secrecy for years and is still a topic of debate among historians. A lot of Nixon supporters/sympathizers still push back against the idea that Nixon played a role in the collapse of the talks or that the talks had any serious chance of success.

Nixon met with Mrs. Chennault and the South Vietnamese ambassador earlier in the year to make clear that she was the campaign’s “sole representative” to the Saigon government. But whether he knew what came later has always been uncertain. She was the conduit for urging the South Vietnamese to resist Johnson’s entreaties to join the Paris talks and wait for a better deal under Nixon. At one point, she told the ambassador she had a message from “her boss”: “Hold on, we are gonna win.”

Learning of this through wiretaps and surveillance, Johnson was livid. He ordered more bugs and privately groused that Nixon’s behavior amounted to “treason.” But lacking hard evidence that Nixon was directly involved, Johnson opted not to go public.

[Clarence Boddicker]

Watergate was a scummy misdemeanor. 1968 was borderline treasonous.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

As stated above, Hoover had contacts with KGB, it's no accident RFK, whom didnt want Hoover as FBI head was killed in election yr. The KGB got a Palestinian sympathizer to murder RFK