Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 460-027
Date: Friday, February 26, 1971 at 5:47 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/460-027

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] I have two islands, three islands, and one other thing.
[0:17] One is the end of tribes.
[0:24] Oh, yeah.
[0:25] Roger says Allende went on national television yesterday.
[0:29] It was coming and that he wanted to show the American sailors authentic democracy.
[0:35] Roger still feels that we ought to cancel it.
[0:40] And we'll take a little flat.
[0:46] Oh.
[0:47] He's already been on television.
[0:48] Authentic democracy.
[0:48] See, he feels that he's using it for the worst and probably other purposes.
[0:52] And he had, uh...
[0:53] Laird had already announced today that it would be operationally difficult.
[1:09] And Laird said he'll take the heat for it.
[1:15] We'll do it there.
[1:15] We have to delay it for a while.
[1:16] Why don't we put it that way?
[1:16] I wouldn't pretend so.
[1:17] No, we'll just say we'll do it some other time.
[1:18] Yeah, we will.
[1:18] We would be glad to do it.
[1:18] But we, from an operational standpoint, we've got various operations.
[1:20] It's a very good point that we can't do it this time.
[2:56] And he'd like to hold off with the farming authorization until next week.
[3:04] He's willing to do it, but he... Well, he now says he's willing to do it, but... Well, he repeats that.
[3:17] He says the political reason is serious.
[3:18] He just doesn't want to make it look that because we lost the hill, we now have to go and farm it.
[3:26] Fair enough.
[3:32] I think he's... as far as I'm concerned, I'm not too...
[3:39] I just thought the psych...
[3:40] I wasn't doing it because of the hospital.
[3:42] I just thought that psychologically it was a damn good thing that he's banned.
[3:47] 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.
[3:52] What is the...
[3:57] What's your evaluation?
[4:07] My evaluation is that...
[4:10] I think it's the minimum that they could do.
[4:15] They would have had a hell of a lot of experience.
[4:17] Well, I think they must have had some help from Hanoi.
[4:20] Why it is that they didn't make any statement of support.
[4:23] And China must have attacked them.
[4:25] And
[4:25] I think it's the minimum that they can do, but maybe it indicates that they're shifting to a tougher line, I said.
[4:46] I doubt it.
[4:46] You couldn't draw that conclusion.
[4:47] After Cambodia, they made an immediate statement.
[4:48] They held a press conference.
[4:49] They went into high gear.
[4:49] This time, they said nothing official.
[4:50] 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.
[4:53] I think that's one of the factors.
[4:54] That's what I was thinking.
[4:54] And I think that the public support is...
[4:56] They would always react to that.
[5:03] But as a matter of fact, it's interesting to notice they're setting the doves at one hell of a time.
[5:07] They're splitting them without slamming the knee and all these other things.
[11:11] What's your conversation supposed to be about at the end of the day?
[11:28] Till then.
[11:29] And I just want to see if you might have an answer from the letter.
[11:33] I compare the way it's going.
[11:33] It's not the same.
[11:34] It's not the same.
[11:35] I know Rodgers, I didn't have any confidence in Smith.
[11:52] I didn't want him to have any discussions with him if I had any.
[11:53] And I said, I was thinking greatly about this whole assault case.
[11:55] I might want to make a statement or I might want to write a letter or something.
[11:56] 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.
[11:58] Now, you see, I figured we'd do it.
[11:59] Now, if he doesn't come and get it,
[12:00] 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.
[12:10] I'm going to do this on my own.
[12:12] I think, Mr. President, if he doesn't come, you ought to make a public statement offering it publicly.
[12:15] That's what I was saying to you.
[12:17] I mean, because if we don't get an answer, then I would make a very forthcoming offer.
[12:34] So I told Bill, I said, I've got to get the record back to him for anything that happens in our school.
[12:39] And I said, it can't be said.
[12:39] I said, he's a small player and had no trust.
[12:40] I put it right to him.
[12:41] I said, therefore, I've got to make a statement.
[12:42] I didn't have to take a letter to whom, but he could.
[12:43] 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.
[13:05] Now the bonus, if you're recording, you can go over to the camera.
[13:06] I hope it's a letter.
[13:07] Oh, that would be spectacular.
[13:07] That would be great.
[13:08] That would shut up the doubts a bit.
[13:09] Well, how is your feeling about your state of the world?
[13:10] I think it's gotten very respectful attention, I don't know.
[13:11] I was, I thought that the Times and the Post and the Trials were promising access.
[13:27] They were really pretty small potatoes, weren't they?
[13:29] And so they pick it away at the Vietnam side, nothing new.
[13:33] Well, they have the problem.
[13:34] They cannot give you the reputation of being thoughtful and philosophic.
[13:37] 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.
[13:42] I met with a European correspondent at last today, and they are enthusiastic.
[13:58] Brands liked it.
[13:59] He liked it.
[13:59] Oh, they did.
[13:59] The point is, as I said, don't be disappointed in the times you posted.
[14:02] It was part of what you expected.
[14:06] Oh, no, last year the post was worse.
[14:07] Was it?
[14:07] I've had Max Franks on this one, too.
[14:08] I didn't read that.
[14:08] It wasn't bad.
[14:09] I just, I read it deliberately just to see what, because I knew it was good, and I knew it deserved to be retrieved.
[14:29] But as it turned out, it got, it got a lot of coverage.
[14:32] Well, it got a lot of coverage.
[14:32] I mean, arm's coverage.
[14:33] Yeah, that was all that was my health center, but I didn't have to do it.
[14:34] The average person didn't care.
[14:35] I thought more than well this morning.
[14:36] He did that.
[14:36] He did the, you know, laid it out there in a calm way.
[14:37] He's pretty good.
[14:37] Yeah.
[14:38] I notice now that they're cutting out polls.
[14:51] Yes, I saw it on Harry Reid's magazine.
[14:53] Well, I think that the liberals are doing a slow burn.
[14:56] Rexon called me up.
[15:00] I was on calc this morning for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, to give background on the report.
[15:03] Of course, I should have known that I pleaded with all the members' clients.
[15:07] You were online.
[15:25] Yeah, but I wasn't going to talk about substance, but I should have known this couldn't work.
[15:29] So, of course, they immediately sent in a substantive question, and I said, that's the only one I'm going to answer.
[15:32] But I don't want to give the impression that I'm ducking it.
[15:33] Sure.
[15:33] Go ahead.
[15:33] So, of course, immediately Respa called me up and said, you've now become the public spokesman.
[15:35] He said, this is the most sickening administration for you.
[15:37] news management he's ever seen.
[15:50] He said, the way you're handling laws, he said, you're invading a sovereign country.
[15:54] 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
[16:05] Did I point out that the North Vietnamese were there five years before?
[16:15] Eight years.
[16:17] Over eight years before.
[16:21] What did he say?
[16:21] Well, he said, oh, yes, I understand that this whole thing is sickening.
[16:23] And here's the thing.
[16:24] I'll bet they'll have a war.
[16:26] What's that mean?
[16:27] 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.
[16:33] And the fact that the war is not ending.
[16:39] And they have no alternatives to ending it.
[16:44] The point is, it is ending.
[16:49] This is the end.
[16:50] Anybody, if they're all they want about this, they don't want to see the end.
[16:54] Of course.
[16:55] And those four North Vietnamese divisions, I'm glad they're pulling out these South Vietnamese ones.
[16:59] That's what made me so cruisy.
[17:00] I didn't believe this airborne unit was any good.
[17:03] I think they're going to leave those North Vietnamese there, and they must have raised them, because that makes sense.
[17:20] I've got the freedom of religion.
[17:22] But, you know what, Preston, I really wondered what it was that he managed to call like that.
[17:25] Well, I had been buttering him up a bit, and I had been buttering him up, and I was very tough with him.
[17:35] So this is a seconding against him?
[17:36] A seconding for news management.
[17:38] But he was incoherent because he accused us of the embargo.
[17:43] He accused us then of the press conference.
[17:47] What did he accuse you of?
[17:48] that Laird held this week.
[17:50] I said, you can't be sure about Laird.
[17:53] He says, how does Ehrlichman have the right to brief Republican senators and not testify before Congressional committees?
[18:05] And he said, Ehrlichman is briefing Republican senators but refuses to testify before Congressional committees.
[18:12] He briefed, why didn't you tell him Ehrlichman briefed all the Democrats at breakfast?
[18:16] Yeah.
[18:16] And I didn't tell him I'd call him back.
[18:24] He briefed all the Democrats and practiced exactly the same briefing.
[18:32] And he has offered to brief all of the Democrats.
[18:36] He can't testify before the committees.
[18:36] That's the job of the head coach.
[18:37] But he also has offered to brief the Democratic caucus.
[18:38] They're going to try to... Of course, if we should pull off this...
[18:42] Yeah, good luck.
[18:53] It's, uh, so... Don't worry about it.
[18:56] Well, I'll tell you, don't... As far as your report is concerned, don't worry about it.
[19:01] Well, I'm not worried about the report.
[19:03] I don't think it's got any good coverage.
[19:05] But as I said in the interview, it's really, really goddamn stupid.
[19:07] Those people have to get some credit.
[19:08] Because of their report.
[19:08] Because of Dan and their report.
[19:11] Kid Bob didn't expect it.
[19:11] You know, I...
[19:13] I don't think you're getting...
[19:31] I'm not doing you any good in the Middle East, and I don't want to be a... No, no, no.
[19:37] You come and sit in the Middle East like everybody else.
[19:38] Nobody has an answer.
[19:38] I don't have an answer.
[19:39] But I just think you've got to listen to everybody else.
[19:43] Kill that fellow.