Conversation 328-004

TapeTape 328StartMonday, March 27, 1972 at 12:06 PMEndMonday, March 27, 1972 at 12:55 PMTape start time00:26:03Tape end time01:11:42ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Recording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On March 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:06 pm to 12:55 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 328-004 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 328-4

Date: March 27, 1972
Time: 12:06 pm - 12:55 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Greeting

     Possible message to Edward R.G. Heath
          -Northern Ireland
                     -US Senators
                     -Administration
                          -State Department
                          -White House

     William Warnack
          -Contact with the Administration

     US foreign policy
          -Africa
                -Rhodesia
                      -Haig’s view
                            -Health
                      -Sanctions
                            -British proposals
                -The President’s view
                      -Heath
                      -Future
                -Haig’s view
                -Black Americans
                      -Protests
                            -Wage demands
                            -Teachers
          -Marshall Green’s previous trip to Asia
                -Henry A. Kissinger
          -Kissinger’s work
                -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                -Forthcoming Soviet summit
                      -Cooperation with the State Department
                            -Leonid i. Brezhnev
                                  -William P. Rogers
                                  -Substance
          -Green’s performance
                -Haig’s view
                      -US aid
                      -Taiwan, Republic of China
                      -PRC trip
                -Quality of work

     Kissinger
          -Conflicts with Rogers
               -Depth of conflict
          -Democrats strategy
               -Kissinger’s lack of responsibility to Congress
          -Rogers’s role as a spokesman
               -Forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
                     -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
               -Forthcoming trip to Europe
                     -Iceland

          -Possible stopovers
               -Iceland
               -Iran
               -Poland
                      -Haig’s view

**************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN-T-MDR-
2014-018. Segment exempt per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(1) on 04/29/2019. Archivist:
MAS]
[National Security]
[328-004-w001]
[Duration: 1m 27s]

     POLAND

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

**************************************************************************

          The President’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
                    -Possible visit by Rogers
                    -Possible visit by Spiro T. Agnew
                           -Polish-Americans
                                 -Agnew’s work
                           -The President’s view

**************************************************************************

[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number
LPRN-T-MDR-2014-018. Segment declassified on 04/29/2019. Archivist: MAS]
[National Security]
[328-004-w002]
[Duration: 47s]

      The President’s forthcoming trip to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
              -Preparations
                     -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s view
                             -Henry A. Kissinger
              -The President's Warsaw stopover
                     -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] response
                             -Department of State [DOS] analysis

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.

I wanted to include, uh, I know that he sent me a message regarding Northern Ireland, and I just thought it was somehow much better than that.
And, uh, very, very, I was very sympathetic about the comments that I had been told.
But I have to look at what you guys have said right out here.
I'm not in control of what some senators say, but I will see to it that the administration and the state are going to play out better than we will.
I'm not going to put this alive here and say that I'm talking to the Irish.
I don't believe in anything.
what is the situation with regard to uh
All right, so it's just not going to start happening.
Well, I think, uh, either the heat's going to start building.
The heat will start building on this issue in the bathroom.
Yeah.
And for us, it's going to be a session.
Yes, sir.
And then the bird will probably push in, which is going to be a problem.
It hasn't heated up yet.
And in real life, it becomes more and more evident that the program won't accept the greatest of both worlds.
And then our types are going to be the ones that are going to get the most important policy in domestic development.
But we'll say nice things about it from an iron-out point of view at this point.
We'll do our best to cut this flight off the Eurovision.
They aren't going to win on that one, so...
I don't know.
Africa really has no future.
I mean, black Africa.
Not for running any.
Sir, I don't see anything.
If you read his mail, it suggests that it doesn't.
It's just too far behind.
It's just what I'd like to know.
You see, you really saw Africa on a microcosm here on Sunday, where the boy, the kids were marching around asking for $6,500 a year.
They're not worth $6,500.
They're the black teachers on a kid's home.
Is that what you got?
The exportation of these kids.
I think you ought to tell Henry that he did a good job and that we had a good problem.
What we want to do is to get Henry off of the kid's body and shave him up and let him shine.
preparing for the Moscow summit, correct?
And also, get it set up in such a way that we do not have that contradiction we had, and we think, I don't think we need to do that.
It's natural.
You're not going to have the problem of the president not seeing Rogers instead of left.
That would be a little easier.
Easier than that, but we touch you on that.
We're also going to have to control the substance with an iron hand, because they're not going to speak correctly with us about it.
They can't have it as we know it.
But there are ways that we could do this one, but we just sort of had to find a way to develop it.
Because Ray did have one somewhere, didn't he?
Oh, I think he has.
He did a great job on the TV yesterday.
That's what I meant.
He's a timid, tense guy.
He's a typical state department type, but his substance was excellent.
I mean, his personality is
We received over two, but he said all the right things.
He gave us a good boost for aid, and military assistance, and that kind of thing.
And as he followed what you told me, the great old China trip, especially when he went off on his own, and kept away from the Chinese.
I think that they really could have pressed him more, but I can't look very well.
He was a bright guy.
But again, you just have to give him a function of the word.
And this is something that Henry has great difficulty in doing, because he can't tolerate stupidity or what he thinks is not his line.
And if you don't do it, it doesn't bring nothing.
We just have to tell Green.
And I think he got the message.
And that's it.
That's exactly what we need to do.
We've got to use them, and we can.
The platformer, Rogers, is correct.
I do, although I don't think it's over.
I think I intended to appear in a party here later on.
I can't claim that.
I state, you know, how the Democratic strategy is going to be.
It's going to be an issue of how it will be over.
Well, a combination of things.
I think that
by restricting the high leverage in the foreign policy without responding to the orders of Congress.
I don't think they want to play that.
That's what I don't believe in.
We've lost some of that, but it's still an important legacy that's been done.
And also, a lot of them, they've got to be pretty well supported when it comes to the right.
And this is all very troubling for them.
.
.
.
.
.
It should be very good.
It should be very good.
It should be very good.
It should be very good.
It should be very good.
What is your what is your advice come up and what are your suggestions of stopping what we're going to do in Iraq about the possible pollution?
We discussed that in front of you earlier.
I am, yes, I was about to tell them, please, you told me that we love the draft.
We're looking at it all over.
You know, it's a good message, right?
It's being very, very enticing.
That's right.
We're enticing.
How about having a private interview?
I think that's fine.
That's fine.
That's fine.
I think we need to show it up.
Yeah, I think there are a few lines.
How about having an interview?
How do we know?
The whole purpose of our purpose is purely domestic.
When you started exploring that a little bit, there was still a little difference between the enormous domestic focus
and all that, and got through, and got to the bottom, and probably won't do it.
Of course, if I die in a place like a park, that's, you know, how slow is a park just coming from?
Maybe we have a better form of security than that, but we can do it.
But I can do it, and maybe at a lower level.
I'm going to resist.
Let Henry work the thing out and so forth.
But I'm surprised the Russians would approve the polls asking, inviting me to do what they have.
That's what the state said.
That's what the reporting team said.
The CIA says, yes, they probably did, but they may have underestimated them.
There could be a terrible underestimation of the reaction.
And I think they were very frightened at the moment.
Uh, I noticed a blue sign this morning.
What's your estimate on that?
Why are the trees in such bad color?
Well, they're a combination of things that have to do with plants.
One is economic.
He's got an economic problem.
That's the big thing.
There's a few tight over there.
They have always been suspicious of this.
There's a lot of people, you know, some of the characters around here.
Yeah.
Great city.
It's far.
It's not all over here.
It's far.
See, I don't know.
And it's terrified.
I'm afraid they might lose the boat.
And so it's going down.
One boat is that tight.
Well, it said that, but what if they lose it there?
They've got a five-boat market there.
They wouldn't think that the other party would.
They could lose some of their own parties.
Or some of their own.
All right, well, that works.
So I don't think this is going to happen.
I think it will.
We're not.
We're not.
We're not.
We're not.
They're just trying to use that, and I don't think you're quite right in your perspective.
It's not going to do that.
It's going to be a broad-facing perspective of the economic setback.
It's going to have to fight that technology, particularly in certain circumstances.
It's going to have to fight it.
It's going to have to fight the correlation.
It's going to have to fight that.
It's pretty logical that they brought this stuff in.
It's by far the one that's coming in.
And I think that the original government group calls a separate trip to the next kind of mountain region.
And also they want to hear about it.
Which it does, but...
What about the possibility of a four-hour distance rule so I know I'm the person who can't fight terror on the back?
And the way that the narrative, whatever you said, I know you can't fight this terror on the back.
But if you can stop that distance rule, so maybe just four or five hours on an informal, you know, whatever way you call it, non-official stop and so on.
But, uh,
You can't fly the mystical long-hand, you know, that's the...
I mean, it's reasonable, it's the...
The shame of it is that you really don't see it.
It's not able to detect the heart.
That's the way it is, man.
You always see it there.
Uh-oh.
You know, there's the problems in the same cypress image.
You know, you have to be able to see the interior, you have to see what's there, and stuff.
I don't get you that, though.
I don't know, it's a crazy place.
It's very open.
You've got to, you can't build it.
Well, I guess you just, you're too late.
I think, you know, we're going to know how you come over.
But we're going to do Ireland way over there.
I think that's going to be, we're having a hell of a time.
Okay.
A lot of people are over there.
I thought,
Stop at Ireland.
That's a simple way to stop at Ireland, yeah.
The rare problem is that if you don't, if you stop anywhere, that is subsequent to it.
Anyway, you've got to go to Europe.
Azores, I guess, is, uh...
I don't know if Azores will have to, you know, I don't know if it has any...
I don't know if they'll tell me, so it's interesting.
They might do Ireland, yeah.
I think maybe they'll do Ireland.
If Ireland works out, we'll just pop right back in.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Yeah, that I know, but I'm not sure.
They got out of there and traded.
What are they doing?
Trying.
Well, yes, they asked to the Swiss, but it was
One area that is, to me, very troublesome, and I'm not going to do a little thinking about it, but I'm going to run a camera and look through it.
As you know, Henry is now talking about, for political reasons, he says the United States is not the nation.
And so far as the interest of the United States is concerned, our policy, our policy as to what heritage in the world where it has been
Our policy is to get the medal of the United States, and they're not holding it.
Now, we've got it.
I know the argument that is made by some to the effect that, well, the aid is illiterate.
There's a thorn on the Russian side, and it's harder than it's actually holding the Russians back.
That's not true.
But, you know, we know very well that, as far as the U.S. is concerned, there's a thorn on our side because what is given to Russians is the presidency.
is because of the fact that we're leaving because of Israel.
Now, at the present time, the Russians, for reasons of their own, indicate some words to discuss the settlement in which they would withdraw or repudiate their military presence in Iran.
And, of course, the person on our side is
on the goodwill in terms of the territorial situation.
However, to raise this political argument, it is like an old record.
I remember when, in the 70s, I had raised this thing.
We never will have an election in this season, for the election came only this season.
We never will have the election.
The problem is that the election directions may not be as interesting in nature and legal
I would be getting head hours for 25 years.
And this is my argument.
This is a quote from the States.
The States looks at it.
The States looks at it.
The United States looks at it.
The United States looks at it.
The US looks at it.
The US looks at it.
Of course, it doesn't serve us.
Would you agree?
I do agree.
Now, quite a few Russians would be willing to talk about, you know, getting out of it.
Maybe that they just don't want the burden down there.
Maybe they have questions about it.
Maybe they realize that it is a black swamp.
Whatever the reason is, there's an opportunity there.
Now, the argument that all the Jews who are quite considerate of the Jewish community
The rest is really not valid for this reason, though.
And, uh, like, what the election will have to say in the case that you vote in this way.
It hires the election, so it doesn't make a damn what happens.
Despite what the mayor said, she said, frankly, the reason that you vote in this way.
As far as the election, the Jewish vote, it's not.
We vote, though, we get about, you know, eight or twelve
As far as Jewish media is concerned, the Jewish media, Henry doesn't want to face up to this fact, and I don't blame him a bit, but all the Jewish media, they think they can't do worse.
You see my party workers, you see them.
They can't do worse than the New York Times and the Washington Post and the network, the Jewish control group, and what the hell they're showing us anyway.
So we're going to screw them over.
On the other hand, we're not getting any of the benefits, which should be quite considerable in this country.
And a hell of a lot of people in the United States should not be constantly playing a totally varied mind at the expense of our own foreign policy interests.
Now, that's one of the reasons.
And right in front of this law is a
I don't go to the Cisco State Farm, but I understand it's there.
The reason that we do it is in order for us to get the Russian presence down some, to get our presence in, we need to get it through the UAR, and we need to get it through
the other states that border Israel.
And, frankly, it doesn't make any difference.
It affects Algeria.
It affects Libya.
It affects Israel.
It affects, obviously, the nutheads in Syria and Iraq, to the extent that they're affected.
I mean, the United States is following a policy here that is very detrimental to our interests now.
I think that argument seems to be both a part of the correct or not correct.
No, I think we've been used by the Israelis.
There's no question about that.
That's the problem with the Soviets.
Right now, I think we have reason to believe that they do want to work out of the island.
If they will reduce their presence as an adult there, it means that somehow they want to explore it.
It also means that they don't have to put the students on the ground.
They don't need to have that kind of stuff.
They'll never be in here.
The solution is the land.
But now all that is stored there.
If you wait... You see, you wait for it.
You might not win the election.
In that case, an American foreign policy is subject to direct responsibility as a democratic administration to decide whether or not the Russians will take control of the place.
The other side of the problem is that you wait until the election.
The Russians may not.
The Russians may not.
their interest may pass.
I think that when you have this summit, then you must not fail to seize those issues that they may be interested in discussing.
What I hear you saying is this, that I cannot buy any more of the idea that we've got to wait to do anything about Israel until
after the election.
That is the good reason.
It is the reason that I'm inclined with him.
But he merits to lead us to the conclusion that this is the time for us to get something out of Russia.
And we ought to put it to the future.
I'm going to let him squeal.
I'm sorry to say, but George is going to be sent to the
I don't know any serious disturbance on this issue.
And I know that my father here would be an ex-fisher and I would be really ready to say that I have to be as ready as appreciably as possible.
They're all very, very appreciative of what we're doing.
They have no policy.
They have no policy.
It's simply...
Well, we'll fight.
We won't give an inch.
You know, I think she realized a little thing of saying to her father.
You know, he was trying to do something for Jesse, and she just...
But he was trying to come up with something helpful, and she just let him have it.
So they're tough to deal with, and they're self-serving to the extreme.
They've gotten just about everything they ever wanted from us, one way or the other.
We've got to get it out and handle it.
We can keep it out of the Cisco channel.
It's too much of a temptation, isn't it?
I'm inclined to think that we ought to find out how serious the Russians are.
And we're serious about playing in this country.
And I know it's the last time I've talked to him.
He said that he was trying to...
I don't know.
It wasn't the time.
He said he couldn't have a secret deal on it.
I agree.
It can't be a secret deal, but I can face up to the goddamn problem now.
And I'm not going to make any decisions or withdraw from it.
At least the other side can go forward.
Yeah, let's just go back to the 1950s.
I think there's a chance of getting there.
Yeah.
But what the hell will you do?
Give up.
You'll be pretty sad.
Well, they won't give up a lot.
They'll buy time, and they'll probably be more comfortable now because they've got their arms.
They wouldn't mind a war.
They feel, you see, this has been one of the not-so-good results in China.
They believe that the Soviets
are no longer interested in supporting an air war.
Or at least they're concerned about China.
Because of China, they're not going to change that game in the sense of helping the right.
Well, if that's the case, if the Soviets are interested in that, then if they want to cool it in that part of the world, goddammit, let's play that game too, because
Our anchors are not Israel's anchors.
That's the only way we have to realize it.
They are not Israel's anchors.
I think this was happening.
I was very anxious to get in there and talk about it.
I'd given some ideas of flexibility.
Now I've decided that maybe one of the best things to do is to have a lot of
yeah yeah yeah yeah
Well, I think you need to send all the trailers to all the people who are in the garden.
Yes, because you're going to have something else with you.
You're pretty tough with the trailers.
You know, they just have to be pretty.
See, I can't just buy this idea that Henry has to come back and do the same thing.
Well, the election and so forth.
Let me think about the election as my concern.
I just assume I'm going to risk the election.
where the hell is the united states
It's right.
It's so tough.
I know.
Well, I think the only way is camping too much in the factory.
And I think the big change in our campus is we're going to have to save that stuff.
He's in Morocco for a week's leave, and they're going off the wall.
I haven't seen him in a while.
He'll die.
I think.
They know what the hell they're doing.
They want to start playing around with ambassadors who are drinking on airplanes.
We'll find out whether Congressmen drink on airplanes.
We've got files half the Congressmen are sitting in the United States right now, especially some of these guys in the Navy.
Like Hayes.
Hayes is a lot of people.
Right, we have your point.
Well, it's just that you write it out and not give it any indication.
Rogers didn't intend on letting you do it.
Oh, no, but the effect of it was, but it was on your list.
We, as a matter of fact, you and I know that you started to do it anyway.
It's all going to be worked out.
And Rogers doesn't know this because he didn't want to hear it on the channel.
That's what we're going to work on.
Of course, if there's anything or something that's really important in this other video, we just would, that's all we do is present it.
Oh yeah, I was letting you know, Senator Rodney, there's a story, and there's somebody who takes people at hand.
And he's an editor of a cabin or something.
Yeah, I was named for that.
Yeah, at the airport, you know.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
I'll work with you about Gallaudet.
Well, it's all happening on the flight from London to Washington.
Oh, I thought it was going back.
Oh, sure.
Yeah, well, he's on his wedding here.
He expected us to go there.
Some of us are going to Gallaudet.
Oh, I mean, we're only going to be here for a couple of days.
That's it.
We're going to go.
Or Congress and our senators are going to Gallaudet and so forth.
Now, that is not going to happen.
I think that's why the secretary did not want to come out just categorically with that.
And it was distorted by full black people.
You know, the last thing I want to mention,
I was just thinking after reading that quote, I just thought it was a sad bunch of goddamn sacks.
There wasn't this guy there that raised his voice about the United States and our position and all the rest.
One of those guys that's going to do something about the
that proposal for non-verified scoping of all atomic tests and your test bank period.
Didn't you think that that was the American establishment at its very worst?
I was pretty horrified that it got hit.
I can't even sit in the same room as Rowena, and that's the same thing.
Who?
Rowena, the fellow who was on your left.
Oh, yeah, the person from Harvard.
He's just bad, he really is.
But even these men that have been in public service, for Christ's sake, look at Gnorsstad.
I just forget to say a goddamn word.
Gnorsstad, and the others down at the other end of the table, and Scranton, and Lee, and Lee.
and I thought, what a bad business, we have to do something to do, so, what a, you know, we can't do it now, and I just remember, you know, using the same names, I just, the thing to do is just put them aside for a while,
trying to work this thing out the wrong way.
At least Smith is on part of it.
Yes, and he seems to be, as he said, he said, I think we just can't break this now.
He must have gotten the word from some of the people, but he knows damn well that they can't do it there, and they aren't going to do it there either.
But the real question that I have is whether on the SLVNs,
whether our interests really want to be better served.
And there's a way to handle that.
I think the price that we would have to pay is probably too great.
I think we've got to talk about it.
But then have a very strong statement in the N.K.
that the arms control representatives will now start talking about it outside the entrance.
We've got to talk about it when it comes to you.
How does that work?
I think that's the better way to do it.
I don't know if we're ready for an SLBM, and I don't understand the pens as I do at all.
Here's the one area where they can get money from the Congress, which is maybe the defense.
I mean, they're on the defense policy, and they know the Navy, and they know a lot of other things, but whatever it is, it just doesn't make sense.
You know, I think they don't think they can get the money from Congress, and they need to do it.
The thing is, we would have a whole, unless we have a very strong statement indicating that we're not looking forward to SLVs, then people would say,
In other words, in agreement with the principal, there would be a limitation on this.
You know, like we did on the other thing.
Then we would come back to the area.
We've got to be sure that later this board and its chiefs have got to be aboard.
These jackasses are in our control and they sat there.
We have to be consistent with the constituency.
We need to worry about who did us harm.
We don't have to worry about who did us harm.
Who did us harm is a supporting thing we do.
But what we have to worry about are the non-designers of this agreement.
Those are the ones that are going to be cutting the hell out of us.
We've tried to talk to the Chairman in greater detail in a large and very frank way, and he hasn't moved a little on it.
And this is all the same self-serving.
This is no longer concerned with the national security.
It's less certified.
And I want to get in on that.
I heard you.
Well, I think what you're saying is that this is the way we're going to go.
Well, we'll play it out, play it out hard.
So, see, we've got the state pushing that now, Hunter, and the other, whatever it is, Rogers and Larry, they're pushing it.
So we've got to get a major play, and then let Smith be the one who comes back and says, look, I negotiated this damn thing, and I can't get it.
We'll get out this, and this, and this, and then something will be right.
You see, I was setting that up when I asked that question, and the press delivered on that.
They delivered on putting SLBMs out there.
The rest of it is an aging problem, so people know that they're going to be compromised.
It plays very well, too.
But it scares me.
What I meant is, by putting it out there now, it's much better than having it come out from the fence.
or somebody else, and I put it on him to mess up the unseen when he comes.
So therefore, where did we preempt his advance?
And now we'll handle it the way we need to.
And we'll see.
I'll tell you this, though, one thing I'm better with than this, though.
In terms of foreign policy, he was told that we'd be dead if we hadn't made the challenge.
Huh?
No.
It has just changed the game.
It has changed the game.
There is just no question about that.
God can't help but say something.
He said, look, he said, I just got back from work.
He said, just make another trip to China.
He said, I don't care.
I won't have to go next time.
This is great.
He said, I've never seen anything like that.
It's just God's own exception.
to get something wrong.
I think they're in trouble at home.
I think the leadership's in trouble.
I think the leadership's in trouble.
With what?
With what this guy did.
He started talking to the economy.
And what he got instead was a China trip.
So now he's got the living.
It's not succeed.
He's talking Dayton, for example, with the brilliant settlement.
That's Dayton, right?
And these other areas.
All of a sudden, they stick China's wrong.
They played too long.
They had Arizona first.
Remember, we were ready in 1770, and they strung us along.
I think when we struck that China thing, there were a bunch of them that sent the cameras through that tunnel and the Chinese.
of course, for their own purposes, desperately need to, because they are scared, or we're scared.
But then, and the great part of it is that the Soviets had no recourse but to blame themselves.
We played a strength.
That's why I think they had such a terrible period of neutrality, and they will continue to do so.
I think the fact that the Soviet has a mission
I think they're going to try to, you know, move the Chinese back.
But I would think the prime change would trust them.
I don't know if all that stuff pointed for it.
I don't think they'll trust them for a minute.
They had another option.
They wanted this.
They've got it now.
And if we play a card game,
Henry has had a good time.
I think he's had the best rest of his life.
He loved it down there.
It's a great society place and yet it's also a magnificent climate.
He's sleeping well.
He needed it.
Now he can come back and keep him.
Well, you know, don't let anyone have the hell to worry about all of it.
All of it.
All of it.
We got our own reasons.
We're going to get Henry out of the road.
We're going to get Henry out of the road.
We're going to get Henry out of the road.
Very good.