Conversation 020-092

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Hello.

Hi, Henry.

How are you?

Well, that was an interesting evening.

Yeah, and it was interesting for all those other people to hear these, you know, hearing talk and so forth, and really hope somebody will make a mental note of the whole thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, of course, our afternoon session was more profound, actually.

He said it very distinctly.

The evening was a little bit too heavy on economics, because I'm absolutely convinced.

Yeah, I know, I know.

But that's the kick that all the lips are on, you know.

But we can tell them we're willing, but they don't want that.

Mr. President, I don't even think we should tell them we're willing.

Oh, no, no, no.

We can tell the libs we're willing, but we're not going to tell Mao that.

Hell no, because he ain't going to ask.

But he's going to ask, and he's going to consider it himself.

That's right.

And I don't think he's going to ask through a second liner either.

He's going to ask through a fourth line.

Right.

The reason he wants to see you is because you're the only world figure right now.

He doesn't see this as anything else.

Incidentally, he said a very interesting thing at the end of the evening as I was in the car, and I want you to get the translator to see if he can recall it.

He probably can.

He didn't write it, but he said, before he got in the car, he said, I am not General de Gaulle.

But he says, if I were General de Gaulle, I believe I would say that virtually is the fact that your trip can change the whole future of the world.

I wish you well.

I completely agree with that.

I don't know whether I didn't get it.

He said something in more detail in that, but that was the sense of it.

But if you could be sure the translator sees it, he can try to remember that part, because that was the most significant thing he said.

I thought that was a very nice touch, wasn't it, though?

Absolutely.

I think he was kind of moved by the evening himself, too, and the afternoon.

But particularly, they told me that he was tremendously moved by your talk.

Oh, did he?

Oh, yeah.

Sure.

See, I think the difference between the Moscow and the Peking summit is the difference he described between Nehru and Mao.

Oh, wasn't that brilliant?

Incidentally, I was leading him on there because I read his stuff on Nehru.

And he described Nehru as a rather cynical politician, you know?

That's right.

Moscow will do policy, and that will be very successful in that level.

But in Peking, we can make history if we have the right force.

I felt it was important to give him, though, a little feeling, as I was trying to do, that we, too, have sort of a sense of the mystery and the mystique, you know, the whole feeling of, you know, that maybe none of the modern American leaders, but Lincoln had that feeling, and people thought he had.

Because, you see, the French are greatly moved by mystique.

Don't you agree?

Absolutely.

And so are the...

Mr. Merrimack, who are the Chinese?

Are they really?

Oh, yeah.

You know, when I left Beijing on my first trip, I was taken to the airport by that marshal who's my number three now.

Yeah.

And he said, as we were driving into the airport, he said, you know, when I joined Mao, I had heard of the teacher who was in the mountains.

You have to remember Mao is not a military man.

I think it is.

We've got to play it that way with great dignity and no abrasiveness, but great confidence.

this is one of the things i really don't think that all of our you know deference to fellows like our like agnew or or even connelly could handle this i think this is one thing one well it isn't that i understand it but it's and it isn't my experience but i i think i'm i once said to when i lived in the west i went to school with chinese

I'm a little more Chinese than many Americans.

It's really true, you know.

Well, and the other thing, too, is that, boy, I'm telling you, you ought to feel pretty good about this day after all your damn suffering and all the son of a bitch trips, right?

you and i know something that none of those other fellows know keep it closed but he didn't say it quite that way he said it better but that was the i think what and if you get the translator if he will give you one we'll never see him again

Oh, God, you know, he gets hung up on the economic thing.

But on the other hand, wasn't it interesting where he said, Senator Kennedy said that.

He misinterpreted it.

It was a social luncheon.

And then he said it was a social luncheon.

And I was simply saying that looking at the situation in the world, this is the poorest country, most populous, and this is the richest country.

So this is the natural way they should get together.

Looking to the future, that may happen.

But it ain't going to happen on this trip.

You know, the one question we didn't really get an answer from him is why he believes the Chinese wanted this.

I know, and I think that's wrong.

See, that's the typical attitude of basically a Marxist, but not the... Well, and he hit that point that they...

He had, when he made the three points that Mao wanted to have before he died, that China must be united, of course, that's Taiwan.

Second, that China should be a great nation, respected, and third, economic progress.

Yeah, well, that's good.

I think they don't want to do it on their own.

Maybe further down the road, but that's relatively easy to find.

We will, you can be sure, we won't raise it.

that's up to them don't you think having him over was a good idea it's good to have smith there he's not going he's going to moscow but not here

Well, get a good sleep.

You deserve it.

Thank you.