On this day, December 14, in 1972

 President Nixon authorized the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, also known as the Christmas Bombings. Instead of halting the activities of North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front, whom the U.S. was greatly threatened by, this series of US attacks heavily damaged many cities and caused huge numbers of civilian deaths. These cruel and unnecessary bombings were protested around the world and were publicly condemned by almost every country with the exception of a few European ones. The Western media was alleged to have misreported both the extent of damage and the civilian casualties. Imagine that, whole nations being mis-educated by their own governments and media… preposterous!