On page 194 of The Final Days, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein state the following:
“On occasion [Henry Kissinger] expressed enthusiasm
at the size of the bomb craters that American B-52s left in North
Vietnam, and he once bragged to Elliot Richardson that they would
‘reduce Le Duc Tho to tears.’ When Anthony Lake, his executive
assistant, questioned the bombing policies, Kissinger ridiculed him. In
a long discussion that grew heated, Kissinger said that Lake’s approach
to the war was ‘not manly enough.’ Lake was so upset by the
conversation that he went into a hallway in the West Wing and pounded
the vending machines with his fists. [Alexander] Haig talked him out of
quitting on that occasion and on one other, but Lake did soon resign.”
I myself can be rather sensitive, so I can identify
with Lake’s reaction to Kissinger’s insult. At the same time, the way
that I would like to envision myself responding to Kissinger’s insult is
by saying, “Well, maybe my approach to the war is not ‘manly enough,’
but it’s more reasonable than your approach to the war, for the
following reasons.”
But, come to think of it, I really don’t take a
great deal of offense when my machismo is questioned. I guess it’s
because I never could be a “man’s man,” since I was never good at
sports, and so I didn’t bother to try. Plus, in this day and age, there
are many who question whether the machismo way of doing things is
necessarily the best.
But, when my intelligence is questioned, I take great offense.