The stars were fading and streaks of rose were brightening the eastern horizon as a chartered Learstar, just in from New York, taxied onto an apron at Washington's National Airport. Rumpled and heavy-lidded, Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon stepped forth uncertainly, clinging to the doorframe with one hand as he felt for the step with a wavering foot. He had put in a long night's work.
For nearly eight hours, from 7:30 p.m. to 3:20 a.m., Nixon had huddled with New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller...