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Conversation 239-004

TapeTape 239StartFriday, January 5, 1973 at 8:27 PMEndFriday, January 5, 1973 at 8:31 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Kissinger, Henry A.Recording deviceCamp David Hard Wire
AudioNARA Description

On January 5, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 8:27 pm to 8:31 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 239-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 239-4

Date: January 5, 1973
Time: 8:27 pm - 8:31 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

[See Conversation No. 160-4]
Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

Where'd they get you, home?
Oh, I see.
Right.
Right.
How'd you get along with Scott Ford?
What I want you to do, what I want you to do tomorrow with Manse, you're not going to like this, but I want you to do it.
I'm just going to tell him it's very cold.
I talked to the president tonight after the Senate vacation that they cut off on Monday morning.
The president, as he tried to tell Manse when he met with him,
probably torpedoed the whole thing for the banks of the Senate, but the president will go on television on Wednesday or Thursday of this week to tell himself, tell the nation so.
The negotiations.
I want you to play a very hard line, very cold, and say, Senator, I regret to say that we hadn't made, you know what I mean, that we haven't, what I mean is that we feel we had a very good chance.
Your resolution now has cooled it off.
The president is going to go on national television and he regrets doing it because it's a great personal affection for you.
He's going to have to say this.
Scared the shit out of me and I want to do that because it will speak.
Got to do it.
Got to start playing the game a little bit stronger than we've been playing on it.
Well, the star tonight has a thing that the Senate will cut off months of January from him.
Right.
That's right.
See what I mean?
I just want you to say, Senator, I regret to say, but your resolution probably destroyed the chance for honorable peace.
Now, President, can you say that you have no other choice but to advise the President to go on television and point this out in the future?
If it fails, put it that way.
You see what I mean?
What they've done.
The Canadian Parliament is something else.
The Democrats and the Congress play this kind of a line.
But I want him to be coldly treated in the market.
I would be icy.
and say that, I'm sorry, Senator, but I think you, I regret to say, you've torpedoed the negotiations, and that you are going to have to advise the president to go on and say so, and the president can talk to him.
He says, I regret to say that I'm gonna have to do it.
Get my point?
Then, of course, it comes out as something very different.
Right?
Okay.
Okay.
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