The peace process of 1968 fell apart and Nixon was elected president. Things turned out exactly as he wanted, but how did he evade the later allegations of dirty tricks around the Paris talks? Simple: he denied everything. He rejected the very idea of a Chennault connection to journalists, and even to Lyndon Johnson, saying to the former president, “My God, I would never do anything to encourage… [the South Vietnamese]… not to come to the table.”

And he had good reason to deny it. His actions would likely have been regarded as illegal, a violation of the Logan Act, which forbids any unauthorised citizens to negotiate with foreign powers who are in dispute with the United States. In the words of Clark M. Clifford, a veteran White House advisor, “the activities of the Nixon team went far beyond the bounds of justifiable political combat… The activities of the Nixon campaign constituted a gross, even potentially illegal, interference in the security affairs of the nation by private individuals.”

Even though Johnson knew full well what was going on, the decision was made to sit on the story. Partly because the Democrats believed they’d win the election anyway, and partly because revealing the truth would have also exposed the wiretapping and surveillance between the rival parties – the blow to the public psyche would have been too much to bear.

As for whether the war would have ended without Nixon’s interference… the jury is out. Many experts believe the peace talks would have broken down anyway, as there was too much hostility between the North and South Vietnamese. But the fact remains there was a chance, however slim, to end the conflict, before so many more soldiers would perish. And it set a precedent for incredible skulduggery that would later prove Nixon’s downfall with Watergate.