On this day in 1968, retired general William Westmoreland met with Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon at Nixon's California home; the meeting was arranged by a mutual friend who had recommended Westmoreland to Nixon as a potential future Secretary of Defense.

As it turned out, however, Westmoreland would join the Nixon Administration in a much different capacity -- he would serve as White House chief of staff for most of Nixon's first time as President of the United States.