Nixon phone call with Dobrynin on Brezhnev summit and Casa Pacifica

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Hello.

Good evening, Mr. President.

Oh, Mr.

Ambassador.

Or rather, good night, I should say.

Yes.

I hope I didn't wake you up.

No, no, no.

I'm just sitting well, you know.

Now, of course, we're very much prepared for this wonderful event.

Yes.

I wanted to tell you that I was delighted to hear from Scowcroft that we were going to hit with San Clemente.

Yeah, well, he just sent a special message to me.

Right.

I didn't want to bother you personally.

No, no, no.

But things like that always get to me personally.

Yeah, I understand.

Let me tell you, we could just talk among friends.

Yes, of course.

I have just checked with Mrs. Nixon, and we have room for a naturally secretary.

And we have two other bedrooms.

If you could come, it would be fine.

Or if Gromyko's coming, he could be there.

I mean, the two of you.

And also, I have another room for a security man.

Oh, I understand.

And, you know, although our security men, they just stand outside.

So you just give an extra three rooms, I think.

I have three rooms, basically, where we could take three guests.

Now, the room that he will be in will be a room for him alone.

I understand.

And another room...

It will be in your house?

Yeah.

All of these are in my house.

All of them?

Everything is in my house.

Because other people, when they're there, they say that there will be no room there.

Okay.

No, no.

You see, there's one room, Mr.

Ambassador, you remember the little cottage that looks like a Japanese pagoda?

We put him there because it gives him a sense of privacy.

And then I have two guest bedrooms.

One is my daughter's room.

She won't be there.

And another is a guest room.

So, in other words, we can take care of you, of, of, of, of, naturally, Mr. Brezhnev.

And you, if you like.

And if Gromyko's there, we can take care of him.

But, uh, probably the, I mean, you decide.

Let me say, you work it out with him.

Probably you and the, and, and, uh, the secretary are the best.

Yeah, I think this will be the best.

And then have Grameko stay with Rogers up the, I mean, in a perfect suit.

Yeah.

Now, the beauty of all this is, as you know, is that it's totally secure.

If anybody gets within, let me say, three miles of the place, I'll have them shot.

I mean that.

No, I understand.

There will be no incidents when he's here.

No, I understand.

But really now, he really said, and some doctors over there really, they feel he's rather, I should say, strong man.

But they are making, here I have, for instance, doctors, and they're telling me, this is difficult.

And you see, when you give freedom for doctors, they could really put you in the bed.

And saying 10 hours, 7 hours, this is real nonsense.

Right.

But the thing is that if he stays there, we can have, you know, he can have his breakfast in bed and all that.

And then we can have long chats and walk on the beach.

You know that place.

Exactly.

That's why I'm pressing very hard on him.

And I think, too, though, you and Henry worked out, I think it's good to let the press see us walking a bit there.

What do you think?

About what?

I think you and Henry work out.

I think it's good.

Yes.

After we've been there a little while, let the press see the secretary, Mr. Bergstaff, and I walking around this pleasant place.

Of course.

There's no problem.

You see?

And we're going to do the same thing at Camp David because that'll give the visit an extra, you know, push.

Some dimension, you see, from Pacific to Atlantic, so to speak.

That's right.

And then he will have been all over the country.

But you can assure your colleagues that there is no concern about security.

Because, by God, if there's anything, I'm pretty...

He didn't raise this question at all.

I know he didn't.

But my point is, I'm concerned.

I'm not going to allow these nuts.

And we have nuts, and you probably have a few.

But we've got more.

And he will have a...

See, this is a military base, you see.

Yes.

I could see...

I was there, so I don't see... Well, you were there with me.

Yes, I was with you, and I have no concern.

Exactly yesterday, I sent him a private telegram explaining all the situation, and he answered me today.

He said, no, I don't care about it.

I'm sure if I will be with the president, there is no problem.

But he was just wondering how to make... What I would like to do is this, and this will give us a chance for a long talk.

We'll ride together on my plane.

How's that?

Yes, this will be verified.

Yeah, we'll ride.

Unless he wants to go on a separate plane, I'll give him.

But then we can have a chance to talk on the plane, and it's very safe.

And then I can show him a little of the country, and then we drop down there, and it's a good way to finish our visit.

No, this is definitely so.

I assume this will be the wonderful end of this really good trip.

Right, and then you see...

The thing about, as you know, the name of that place is Casa Pacifica, which means House of Peace.

Yes, exactly.

And then we can, our final announcement might well come from there, you know?

Yes, it will be another statement that can communicate going out from there.

There.

That's right.

Rather than having... You see, we had the spirit of Camp David, you remember?

And it sort of soured.

Now we can have the spirit of San Clemente, or the spirit of Casa Pacifica, and it gives a message to the whole world.

And be sure you pass that to Mr. Braschner, because...

He and I, you know, our differences are well known.

But, by golly, we're for the peace of the world.

And the two of us are going to decide it right now.

Huh?

This is exactly the point.

That's why he really, he is making it definite.

And he really is looking very much for this particular reason.

And that's why he asked me to take it.

I mean, in this case, he wrote me.

It's a rare case when he writes me, I mean, not specifically.

But this I received, and he called me by first name.

And I told him, I asked you to do it and make it because...

This is important.

This is why I was calling immediately to the lady.

Now, with regard to the other parts of the visit, of course we'll have the formal things.

We're at our house, and then your embassy.

Is your embassy Tuesday?

Our embassy will be Thursday.

Thursday?

Thursday.

Yours will be Monday, and ours will be Thursday.

And on Friday... What do we do Tuesday and Wednesday, then?

Oh, he's having other things.

No, we have it there, because then we have it on him meeting the Foreign Relations Committee.

Oh, yes, my God.

Just for lunch.

Mr. Fulbright, yeah.

You know, and then he's going to sign with you on Wednesday.

It's peaceful about the general principles.

And on Thursday, it will be signing of the major things about the prevention of atomic war.

Good.

You want to do that Thursday, right?

On Friday, then what do we do Friday?

Right.

He likes to see.

Remember, he told me he likes to see.

and he jokingly in this message he asked me to tell you that besides a cup of coffee which you're going to have on the board of your plane he said he would like to discuss something else now another thing i want to tell you but is this just a secret between the two of us and uh if you think it's wrong you tell me yeah but we're going to give him a couple things but yeah how do you think he would like one of those nice electric golf carts the same one that i've got

You see, he could run around the Kremlin and so forth.

You know, the electric golf cart.

No golf.

It isn't for golf.

But I'll wait until he gets there and see how he likes it.

If he likes it, we'll do it.

But that's just between us.

Don't tell him now, because I'll make it a surprise.

Now, at Camp David...

I think it's very important we have two solid days of hard work there.

Yes, this is true.

Don't you think so?

Definitely.

Because... As less people as possible, really.

You, of course, you will take, I don't know... No, no, no, no.

I'll take... We'll take the same number you take.

No more.

You see, the purpose of that is not to have a lot of show.

We'll let them have one picture.

But the main purpose of that is work.

It's like, basically be like the Dasha party, remember?

And we have a good hard talk.

Fine.

Well, I hope he's looking forward to it.

Yes, and thank you very much.

It's really, I'm going to send telegram right now, and he really appreciate what you are preparing to do for him.

And he asked me to send the best greeting, and he really hopes it will be a very good result.

Well, you and Henry worked that all out, and he and I will just talk about the weather.

Yes, and I agree with you, Peter.

At the same, he really, already for the second time, he wants to come the second time here, and he expects you next year, because he is preparing to make a public statement.

By the way, in his television address, he is going to say about it.

When does he make his television address, Mr. Baxter?

He will be, uh... Sunday?

Henry proposed it was Sunday, but he could be prerecorded on Saturday, I guess, and then he could be on Sunday.

But he would like to mention, he sent me a text, I saw it, and he would like to announce that he invited, he hopes that you, next year, you will come for another visit.

Yes, but let me say that we will say nothing here about the return visit until he says it.

Yes, I understand.

Because, but I will come, that's a commitment.

Yes, okay.

Right.

Yes.

Okay, well, I just wanted you to hear it from me personally.

You may hear it from Hager.

I do appreciate it.

Yeah, but I'm just so delighted, and we'll play it by ear when we get there, because you like Sam Clemente, didn't you?

Yes, exactly, because it's much more, I should say, easy.

You and him, you will just decide it on every hour and hour, so to speak, what you're going to do, because all these protocol people, they are just mixed up and making their life much more difficult.

I know.

But they get in the way.

And the point is that he and I can sit in that little room upstairs, you know, where I write my speeches.

We can sit and have a little talk.

Maybe with you and Henry and nobody else.

Good.

Well, I'm delighted and I appreciate all you've done on this, Mr.

Ambassador.

Very much.

Give my best to your wife.

Nixon phone call with Dobrynin on Brezhnev summit and Casa Pacifica

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Also recorded on June 13, 1973

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