Republican President Richard Nixon’s reelection was confirmed, manned Moon missions ended, and the U.S. began dropping more bombs over North Vietnam than any time since World War II, all within 24 hours over Dec. 18-19 1972. Still, Nixon took time at 12:21 p.m. on Dec. 19 to call the junior Democratic senator-elect who was just 29 when he won the Delaware seat a month earlier.