Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 024-004
Date: Monday, May 8, 1972 at 1:35 PM
Participants: Kissinger, Henry A.; Rush, [David] Kenneth
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-004

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello?
[0:01] Hello, Henry.
[0:01] Ken, how are you?
[0:03] Fine, thank you.
[0:04] How did things go this morning?
[0:05] Well, your leader fought with the... You know what his position is?
[0:11] Yes, I do.
[0:13] And he... That's the position he took.
[0:18] And the president is in the process of making up his mind.
[0:22] Well, I hope he makes it up the way you and I think.
[0:27] Right.
[0:29] Ken, what I called you about is to see whether we could get that German vote delayed a week.
[0:37] Which one?
[0:38] The German vote, which is now set for Wednesday.
[0:41] Right.
[0:41] Do you think we can do something without getting caught at it?
[0:46] I doubt that we can.
[0:48] In Germany today, Henry, both parties are, well, you might say both groups, because each one has two so-called parties.
[0:55] are in disarray.
[0:57] Yeah.
[0:57] Broad is fighting for his life.
[1:00] Right.
[1:01] Broad and Boehner are very anxious to bring this thing to a vote this week.
[1:06] Yeah.
[1:06] Really to start tomorrow and have it voted on the following day.
[1:10] Well, you see, they want a message from the president, but I don't want to waste the presidential message on these guys.
[1:15] Yes, they want the president.
[1:17] Well, they both want a message from the president.
[1:19] Bartzell wants a message from the President saying that he's in favor of a bipartisan foreign policy.
[1:26] And Brandt wants some help, of course, for his Moscow agreement.
[1:34] You see, I would be glad to recommend a message to the President.
[1:41] In return, the Soviets lay off, let us go through with what we are thinking of.
[1:46] Yes, yes.
[1:47] But for that, we need a week.
[1:49] Yes.
[1:50] Well, without bringing broad into it directly, it would be impossible for us to intervene, I think, and not be very, very seriously misunderstood.
[2:03] Yeah.
[2:04] And probably permanently damaged for quite some time.
[2:10] What you have now, Henry, is a fight for control of the government and for domination of the party.
[2:17] Look, I've got to see the president.
[2:19] I'll call you in about half an hour if you can give some more thought to it.
[2:23] I will, Henry.
[2:24] Thanks very much.
[2:25] Right.
[2:26] Good.