Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 169-032
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 1973 at 10:59 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.
Recording device: Camp David Study Table
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/169-032

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.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, Al.
[0:01] Yes, sir.
[0:03] I thought you might tell Sonnenfeld and possibly Ziegler to put down their complete recollections of the dinner tonight, because it was quite significant, you know.
[0:15] I thought it was a remarkable thing, and, you know, they should, you know, could you tell them I want each of them to write a full Mimcon?
[0:24] Right, I've already told that to Sonnenfeld.
[0:26] Sonnenfeld had a good memory, and so there's probably remembering things, too.
[0:30] Right, absolutely.
[0:32] That's really quite a deal.
[0:34] God, I never believe I've never been through so many posts I didn't think I'd get through.
[0:38] But, you know, the guy is just absolutely enamored with this thing, and he's personal.
[0:45] Oh, the personal thing.
[0:47] Boy, I'm telling you, he's...
[0:48] I really think he should have had Johnson there, because Johnson's more of a plower than I am.
[0:55] I'm not good at plowing.
[0:57] Well, I'll tell you, you didn't really accomplish something here.
[1:03] It's just a goddamn shame the American people couldn't see that.
[1:06] They wouldn't believe it.
[1:08] You know, I don't think they would, would they?
[1:10] No.
[1:12] And yet, you know, you can't be...
[1:15] too strong on it because it's all built on the other thing.
[1:19] Yes.
[1:20] And so you have to preserve it, but it was just up into a hole.
[1:25] And he was.
[1:26] Yeah.
[1:27] I'm sure there's never been an exchange like that between the Russians and ourselves.
[1:34] Oh, never.
[1:35] Not even in the Roosevelt days.
[1:36] No, sir.
[1:37] Without Stalin, you know, they got along, but they didn't have that kind of exchange.
[1:42] Stalin wasn't that kind of a man.
[1:43] He was a cold bastard.
[1:45] This guy is something.
[1:48] He has to mean it.
[1:49] That could not be anything.
[1:51] He needs it.
[1:51] No question.
[1:53] In our earlier talk, when we were talking privately, he just goes all out.
[1:58] It's just unbelievable.
[2:00] Ron and I were just talking about that.
[2:02] It just was something to witness.
[2:05] And we do have to get a complete record of this detail.
[2:08] I told that to some fellas, and I don't give a goddamn...
[2:12] How cynical you might feel.
[2:15] No, I'm cynical.
[2:17] No, well, we all are, but we have to the record and run to make this work.
[2:22] Well, I'll get rid of it.
[2:24] What did you think?
[2:25] Yes, well, it really was.
[2:26] Yeah.
[2:27] I think your staff in there just did a superb job.
[2:30] Oh, the dinner?
[2:31] The way they served.
[2:32] Yeah, I went back in the kitchen.
[2:34] They served a beautiful dinner, and they worked their tails off, too.
[2:36] They really did.
[2:37] I told them a little, and it added to it.
[2:40] It was as a good meal does.
[2:44] Yeah.
[2:44] It was well-served, the Russian wine and all that.
[2:47] Yeah.
[2:48] And the food was delicious.
[2:50] Absolutely perfect.
[2:51] Could have been better.
[2:53] You know, better any place in the world.
[2:54] You don't need.
[2:56] Right, you know, when you think of this, I mean, this crap of a lot of data just pales on its significance, doesn't it?
[3:02] It really does.
[3:03] It really does.
[3:04] And that's why I was sitting there, and I damn near cried when I thought about this achievement.
[3:10] That freaks me out, what it's meant to our people and the world.
[3:15] And the point is that what it can mean in the future, and here these jackasses want to poison it all, huh?
[3:25] No, sir, I do not.
[3:28] I'm very, very, very convinced of it.
[3:33] Am I going to do it?
[3:35] Well, we hope not.
[3:37] Okay.
[3:37] Fine, Mr. President.
[3:39] Good.
[3:39] Bye.