February 4, 1972

Muskie and Nixon on dueling soapboxes with POWs

Throughout Nixon's first term, the plight of POWs in Vietnam was the Administration's counterargument to antiwar opponents. By 1972, public cynicism about Nixon's plans to "end the war" was widespread. On January 25, 1972, Nixon outlined a new political settlement. Muskie called it a "welcome initiative" while offering his own proposals. Nixon's proposal was, of course, rejected by Hanoi. Oliphant illustrates the sense of exhaustion which gripped many Americans about the dueling proposals and the war itself.

Courtesy of Pat Oliphant and the Susan Conway Gallery of Washington, D.C.