Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 020-086
Date: Wednesday, February 9, 1972 at 3:36 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/020-086

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:02] Mr. President?
[0:03] Say, Henry, just to be sure, I'm right on thing.
[0:10] You can't have sent me something over that said that a White House spokesman had said to you that you appeared to be flexible or something.
[0:21] No, no.
[0:21] He said on Tuesday.
[0:21] Well, maybe it was Tuesday.
[0:22] I just want to be sure, but I thought it was Roger we were talking about.
[0:27] No, it's Roger that they're complaining about.
[0:29] Yeah, I know they're complaining about, but this is... No, Ron was asked at a press briefing in which we had told him not to comment.
[0:38] He was asked, do we stand behind the Secretary of State?
[0:42] And he, in fact, said, well, we've always said we've been flexible.
[0:46] I see.
[0:46] It says that the White House spokesman said the United States is indeed flexible on the issue.
[0:52] Well...
[0:52] I see what you mean.
[1:01] That's how it came about.
[1:04] That's how it came about, Mr. President.
[1:10] I pulled away from it yesterday at the briefing, a little dance with Times characters, no other favorite characters.
[1:13] What did you say?
[1:14] Essentially what we recommended to do.
[1:14] That it was a very generous patriotic gesture by the Jews that the other side hadn't responded to it.
[1:18] The Jews...
[1:19] that you is raising an issue of if there's no point making these concessions, but the other side has made it, and that these were not our concessions to make, and that this was based on his understanding, because obviously we had always taken all positions in conjunction with him, and that on the political issues, they of course played a big role.
[1:47] Right.
[1:47] As a matter of fact, the offer to resign is.
[1:48] That's
[1:48] He made the, you know, his idea.
[1:51] It was his idea.
[1:53] Well, why don't we say that?
[1:55] Give him credit for it.
[1:58] That's right.
[1:58] You can say, as you pointed out, it could be.
[1:59] Well, you know, that's the way we wrote it.
[2:01] We all know how it came about, doesn't it?
[2:03] It was his idea.
[2:04] He came to us and said, I offer to resign.
[2:09] Therefore, clearly, it is not a proposal he would make on our own.
[2:11] And they say, well, if you flex the ball on it, I'll say we're not going to get any ground.
[2:18] So you see what the other side does.
[2:18] And then they will get everything for them.