Nixon & Kissinger on Foreign Policy and Vietnam War

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I have two islands, three islands, and one other thing.

One is the end of tribes.

Oh, yeah.

Roger says Allende went on national television yesterday.

It was coming and that he wanted to show the American sailors authentic democracy.

Roger still feels that we ought to cancel it.

And we'll take a little flat.

Oh.

He's already been on television.

Authentic democracy.

See, he feels that he's using it for the worst and probably other purposes.

And he had, uh...

Laird had already announced today that it would be operationally difficult.

And Laird said he'll take the heat for it.

We'll do it there.

We have to delay it for a while.

Why don't we put it that way?

I wouldn't pretend so.

No, we'll just say we'll do it some other time.

Yeah, we will.

We would be glad to do it.

But we, from an operational standpoint, we've got various operations.

It's a very good point that we can't do it this time.

And he'd like to hold off with the farming authorization until next week.

He's willing to do it, but he... Well, he now says he's willing to do it, but... Well, he repeats that.

He says the political reason is serious.

He just doesn't want to make it look that because we lost the hill, we now have to go and farm it.

Fair enough.

I think he's... as far as I'm concerned, I'm not too...

I just thought the psych...

I wasn't doing it because of the hospital.

I just thought that psychologically it was a damn good thing that he's banned.

And also, I must say, the day after the tax statement, to then hit them, I'd just like to see whether we get an answer from Kosykin through your letter.

What is the...

What's your evaluation?

My evaluation is that...

I think it's the minimum that they could do.

They would have had a hell of a lot of experience.

Well, I think they must have had some help from Hanoi.

Why it is that they didn't make any statement of support.

And China must have attacked them.

And

I think it's the minimum that they can do, but maybe it indicates that they're shifting to a tougher line, I said.

I doubt it.

You couldn't draw that conclusion.

After Cambodia, they made an immediate statement.

They held a press conference.

They went into high gear.

This time, they said nothing official.

I wonder if they're doing it because they think that maybe they're going to get public support from French Europe and support from this country.

I think that's one of the factors.

That's what I was thinking.

And I think that the public support is...

They would always react to that.

But as a matter of fact, it's interesting to notice they're setting the doves at one hell of a time.

They're splitting them without slamming the knee and all these other things.

What's your conversation supposed to be about at the end of the day?

Till then.

And I just want to see if you might have an answer from the letter.

I compare the way it's going.

It's not the same.

I know Rodgers, I didn't have any confidence in Smith.

I didn't want him to have any discussions with him if I had any.

And I said, I was thinking greatly about this whole assault case.

I might want to make a statement or I might want to write a letter or something.

And I said, if I do, I'll tell you, you're going to tell Smith, but I'm not going to let him in.

Now, you see, I figured we'd do it.

Now, if he doesn't come and get it,

My view is that we get it, and I'll get the letter, and I'll write it up, and I'll go over to Sarah and say, this is it.

I'm going to do this on my own.

I think, Mr. President, if he doesn't come, you ought to make a public statement offering it publicly.

That's what I was saying to you.

I mean, because if we don't get an answer, then I would make a very forthcoming offer.

So I told Bill, I said, I've got to get the record back to him for anything that happens in our school.

And I said, it can't be said.

I said, he's a small player and had no trust.

I put it right to him.

I said, therefore, I've got to make a statement.

I didn't have to take a letter to whom, but he could.

I just, I might not write a letter to him soon before the thing begins, and I will not discuss this then, so we're all set on that.

Now the bonus, if you're recording, you can go over to the camera.

I hope it's a letter.

Oh, that would be spectacular.

That would be great.

That would shut up the doubts a bit.

Well, how is your feeling about your state of the world?

I think it's gotten very respectful attention, I don't know.

I was, I thought that the Times and the Post and the Trials were promising access.

They were really pretty small potatoes, weren't they?

And so they pick it away at the Vietnam side, nothing new.

Well, they have the problem.

They cannot give you the reputation of being thoughtful and philosophic.

If Kennedy had put out such a document, how McNamara put out a pastoral statement on defense, it was considered the greatest intellectual innovation in government.

I met with a European correspondent at last today, and they are enthusiastic.

Brands liked it.

He liked it.

Oh, they did.

The point is, as I said, don't be disappointed in the times you posted.

It was part of what you expected.

Oh, no, last year the post was worse.

Was it?

I've had Max Franks on this one, too.

I didn't read that.

It wasn't bad.

I just, I read it deliberately just to see what, because I knew it was good, and I knew it deserved to be retrieved.

But as it turned out, it got, it got a lot of coverage.

Well, it got a lot of coverage.

I mean, arm's coverage.

Yeah, that was all that was my health center, but I didn't have to do it.

The average person didn't care.

I thought more than well this morning.

He did that.

He did the, you know, laid it out there in a calm way.

He's pretty good.

Yeah.

I notice now that they're cutting out polls.

Yes, I saw it on Harry Reid's magazine.

Well, I think that the liberals are doing a slow burn.

Rexon called me up.

I was on calc this morning for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, to give background on the report.

Of course, I should have known that I pleaded with all the members' clients.

You were online.

Yeah, but I wasn't going to talk about substance, but I should have known this couldn't work.

So, of course, they immediately sent in a substantive question, and I said, that's the only one I'm going to answer.

But I don't want to give the impression that I'm ducking it.

Sure.

Go ahead.

So, of course, immediately Respa called me up and said, you've now become the public spokesman.

He said, this is the most sickening administration for you.

news management he's ever seen.

He said, the way you're handling laws, he said, you're invading a sovereign country.

And never even tell the foreign government, never even tell the American public, I said, you know, that you should be so much more underage than Sivana Fulmer, that there hasn't been one word of complaint from him, and have you, I hope you're right to

Did I point out that the North Vietnamese were there five years before?

Eight years.

Over eight years before.

What did he say?

Well, he said, oh, yes, I understand that this whole thing is sickening.

And here's the thing.

I'll bet they'll have a war.

What's that mean?

I think they just can't stand the thought that this might work, the thought that the war isn't ending, the thought that they have no alternative.

And the fact that the war is not ending.

And they have no alternatives to ending it.

The point is, it is ending.

This is the end.

Anybody, if they're all they want about this, they don't want to see the end.

Of course.

And those four North Vietnamese divisions, I'm glad they're pulling out these South Vietnamese ones.

That's what made me so cruisy.

I didn't believe this airborne unit was any good.

I think they're going to leave those North Vietnamese there, and they must have raised them, because that makes sense.

I've got the freedom of religion.

But, you know what, Preston, I really wondered what it was that he managed to call like that.

Well, I had been buttering him up a bit, and I had been buttering him up, and I was very tough with him.

So this is a seconding against him?

A seconding for news management.

But he was incoherent because he accused us of the embargo.

He accused us then of the press conference.

What did he accuse you of?

that Laird held this week.

I said, you can't be sure about Laird.

He says, how does Ehrlichman have the right to brief Republican senators and not testify before Congressional committees?

And he said, Ehrlichman is briefing Republican senators but refuses to testify before Congressional committees.

He briefed, why didn't you tell him Ehrlichman briefed all the Democrats at breakfast?

Yeah.

And I didn't tell him I'd call him back.

He briefed all the Democrats and practiced exactly the same briefing.

And he has offered to brief all of the Democrats.

He can't testify before the committees.

That's the job of the head coach.

But he also has offered to brief the Democratic caucus.

They're going to try to... Of course, if we should pull off this...

Yeah, good luck.

It's, uh, so... Don't worry about it.

Well, I'll tell you, don't... As far as your report is concerned, don't worry about it.

Well, I'm not worried about the report.

I don't think it's got any good coverage.

But as I said in the interview, it's really, really goddamn stupid.

Those people have to get some credit.

Because of their report.

Because of Dan and their report.

Kid Bob didn't expect it.

You know, I...

I don't think you're getting...

I'm not doing you any good in the Middle East, and I don't want to be a... No, no, no.

You come and sit in the Middle East like everybody else.

Nobody has an answer.

I don't have an answer.

But I just think you've got to listen to everybody else.

Kill that fellow.

Nixon & Kissinger on Foreign Policy and Vietnam War

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on February 26, 1971

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