Nixon phone call with Haig on Henry Kissinger and India-Pakistan conflict

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Hello.

Just called to wish you a Merry Christmas.

And also tell you not to worry about all this.

You mustn't, I can see Henry's in one of his sort of doldrums, but he mustn't allow perspective to be blinded, you know, by this sort of thing.

He's personalizing this India thing.

i've been making a few calls around the country because you know the last couple days nobody talks about india pakistan no but you know what i mean henry is he's you know watches these little things and this column and that column and the rest but the great majority of the people just think well it was one of those damn things and on balance they think we're doing pretty well but uh

And the other thing that's a doubling on the Maher thing, you just couldn't even dream of having Maher out of that thing.

I mean, he's part of a system, and the damn thing, I'm sure, started before he was there.

I think it goes back over years, and it probably went further than he ever expected it was going to go.

That's my guess.

And we've got to remember that basically he's our ally in terms of what we believe in, and the worst thing we can do now is to hurt the military.

I tried to get that through Henry's head, but...

But that's the line we're playing in the thing.

Don't you agree?

We've just got to do that.

In June, of course, we can take a look, but not now.

Well, after all, Moore is a good man, and he's with us.

This thing, of course, is pretty bad.

I understand not sending the information over, but going through briefcases, that goes too far.

It just developed.

The guy thought he was, you know, doing his job.

And then we got a guy that starts to leak.

That, of course, is the worst.

But that's the Ellsberg syndrome.

But all in all, Al, I know it's tough over there.

And the main thing is just, you know, you keep the balance.

Another thing, too, is that we've just got to get this thing cooled off somewhat between Henry and Rogers, you know.

Now, for example...

The Rogers press conference yesterday, Henry, he was complaining about something Rogers said on India.

The most important thing was that Rogers said the right things about Vietnam.

You know what I mean?

And that's what led the story.

And we've just got to remember that whenever you get a chance, don't let that State Department stuff really irritate him.

What he really ought to do now

Henry ought to concentrate on his state of the world report.

He should quit talking to reporters and, you know, trying to justify himself and this and that.

The more he talks, the more they think he's trying to cover something.

See?

I really believe that the more he can get out of the line of fire now for a while and concentrate on that, the better.

And I'd get the world report out and then do the China thing and it's all forgotten.

Yeah.

What do you think about the, incidentally, uh,

on the uh there's uh i guess nothing more we can do on the uh vietnam side except just we're not going to get them yeah and if they don't do it now we haven't got any time to win i know we have to wait though

It's too late.

I know.

We're getting too close to China.

Well, we shall see.

We shall see.

Yeah.

We, uh, we should, uh...

The bringing's back on the 8th, huh?

Yeah, sir.

Nothing.

I mean, I don't have a little talker like that.

They have been nice.

Of course, they've done so well, they don't have to be too...

They've got what they want down there.

But also, they've got a few problems there.

You know, I wouldn't... Would you want to have that India thing in your gut right now?

No, I think this is going to take a very, very long time.

Yeah.

Yes, I agree, I agree.

And the long run is what counts.

What he does.

Well, we know that, I don't know whether the state people agree or not, it's irrelevant.

We know from everything we read that Mrs. Gottlieb was out to knock over the West as well as the East.

You think she is?

Yeah, just sort of drag her feet.

But in the meantime, you talk to Henry, just say we're depending on him.

It's hard to know how to handle him, you know, when he's in one of these things, you know.

I told him, now, damn it, don't go over and let his children see that he's discouraged.

Well, now he talks.

It's not personal, but of course that's what it is.

It's all personal.

Don't you agree?

Is he any better?

I, incidentally, called Rockefeller and told him to call in, so maybe that cheered him up.

Is he feeling a little better?

Is he still... Yeah.

Well, I told him to forget this thing about the Maurer thing.

Just forget it.

Leave it to Mitchell to work out.

But I've already decided we're going to cool this thing and I'm going to tell the Ehrlichman we ought to keep that yeoman right here in Washington.

Sign him over to Pentagon where we can watch him 24 hours a day and then that's it.

That's right.

But the best, rather than sending him out of town, or he could do something, I'd rather keep him here.

Wouldn't you?

If you send him out of town, you've got to know what you're doing.

Well, and here, my thought was, call him and say, look, we've got the date here, and you're going to be under surveillance from now on.

You're on trial.

That's that.

Okay, well, have a good Christmas.

Thank you very much.

Nixon phone call with Haig on Henry Kissinger and India-Pakistan conflict

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Also recorded on December 24, 1971

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