Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 531-027
Date: Tuesday, June 29, 1971 at 4:21 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/531-027

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:06] Where are you?
[0:10] I made an appointment with the president.
[0:16] I have to be on graduation tomorrow morning.
[0:18] That's why I'm stuck down.
[0:19] See you at the NSC meeting at 3 o'clock, right?
[0:21] Got to have that.
[0:21] I think we may be able to draft the Mideast portion of it, Mr. President.
[0:23] They don't want that.
[0:25] I don't think they want to get Fossey over here anymore.
[0:29] And I don't know whether you want to have a fruitless debate.
[0:31] I think the best thing that can happen... All right, how about Thursday morning?
[0:35] Thursday morning is clear.
[0:37] How about Thursday night?
[0:39] What do you mean?
[0:43] About 10 o'clock Thursday night.
[0:44] All right.
[0:46] Would you rather do it Thursday?
[0:48] I think I ought to do it.
[0:50] Yeah.
[0:50] No, we ought to think about it.
[0:52] We ought to be on it.
[0:53] Well, any time, Mr. President.
[0:56] No, no, no.
[0:57] These are all cats and dogs.
[0:58] I can transfer everything.
[0:59] We could do it Thursday morning.
[1:01] If you'd like to do it tomorrow night, I'll cancel the preen and I'll do whatever you say.
[1:09] What is about George Sondheim?
[1:09] Well, I thought I'd review the whole situation.
[1:12] I just saw it for 15 minutes yesterday about the technical side.
[1:15] I thought I could review this whole situation with him tomorrow and trigger a final response on the summit by next Tuesday.
[1:22] If we don't get it by then, I'll just go ahead.
[1:26] And I thought I could do that best in a somewhat...
[1:29] They really wanted it.
[1:38] They'd let you know already.
[1:40] I think they wanted it.
[1:41] Every indication we have is that they wanted it.
[1:44] The fact that they told Charlie Bartlett, the fact that they hadn't published those papers, the fact that they
[1:57] But I can shift the brain into Thursday morning.
[2:05] I mean, there's no...
[2:11] Whichever you prefer.
[2:12] I can do it either time.
[2:14] Well, if you can do it either time, perhaps it would be best to go ahead with the brain and meet with you Thursday morning.
[2:22] At 11 o'clock I got something, but otherwise...
[2:26] So why don't we count on whenever you get in and spend as much time.
[2:30] By that time, I'll have my papers all together, and I'll go through them with you.
[2:37] You leave Thursday night.
[2:40] Right.
[2:40] And we can meet again late in the day.
[2:41] Oh, yeah, the rest.
[2:43] All right, we'll meet Thursday morning, say, at 9 o'clock.
[2:47] Right.
[2:47] Yeah.
[2:48] I'll have Hank sit in if you want.
[2:51] All right, and then we'll meet again in the afternoon.
[2:54] Yeah, I guess so.
[3:04] 10 or 9, I have to check.
[3:10] Well, anyway.
[3:32] At any rate, let's suppose it will be as late as 5 o'clock.
[3:39] Right, absolutely.
[3:39] If we need to.
[3:40] We may not need to.
[3:41] We may just want to trust you and I to do the same.
[3:44] Now, I want you to know, I have canceled, I have sent out instructions that there should be no background, there's no meetings with the press.
[3:52] Each of these ambassadors that you may run into may tell you that what they want for themselves is a play that we
[4:06] Boy, honestly, I just want to make that big play.
[4:22] July 15th, Mr. President, is the big play.
[4:25] Yeah.
[4:25] My current thinking is still, if you want to get the answer for Greene, you're going to tell him you've got to have an answer by then.
[4:31] But my thinking is that you'll be at the punch of our court.
[4:32] And he's got to form hate for that.
[4:33] You are leaving here for the West Coast, right?
[4:35] On the 6th.
[4:37] I'll be here.
[4:37] I'll get it until the evening of July 5th.
[4:40] All right.
[4:40] So that Haig can get it to me.
[4:46] Sure.
[4:51] Oh, I just say we've got to go tonight.
[4:55] All right.
[4:55] Evening of July 5th.
[4:56] Good.
[4:57] And in the meantime, if he doesn't make a move, then we go.
[5:00] Then we go this year.
[5:00] On the whole, Mr. President, I have to... My candid judgment is that the impact on Asia...
[5:04] of immediately announcing a summit would really be a price we shouldn't pay lightly in terms of impression.
[5:14] I think it would help if we can afford it.
[5:17] It would help your path to pass through 72 if you can be seen to have moved deliberately but decisively.
[5:25] We've been talking about a summit so long that we forget how big it will even appear to send a special emissary to Peking.
[5:33] But if we don't get a Russian summit, we may decide.
[5:37] If you feel you need it, nothing is more important.
[5:50] I agree, Mr. President.
[5:51] And I'm just putting...
[5:51] I know the impact is going to be enormous.
[5:52] Ideally, if we could get the Russian summit, we could string the Chinese one into April.
[5:58] With a Bruce visit before, and Bruce will play it so low-key that he won't skim the cream off.
[6:04] In the meantime, though, you realize that others are going to skin the cream off.
[6:13] They won't wait that long.
[6:16] I'm just thinking of what we've got to think about, if possible.
[6:19] But you see, I think if we announce that we've had high-level conversations with the...
[6:23] I should be the first.
[6:24] I should be the first.
[6:25] Unless it's Bruce.
[6:26] Well, you'll have been the one that opened it.
[6:27] Yeah, I know.
[6:28] That's the same thing.
[6:28] It's the same thing.
[6:29] The first time an American politician goes there, that's going to be it.
[6:33] Everything else will be on course.
[6:34] First of all, we'll have to see what they really have in mind.
[7:02] If they're very tough, and if it looks as if they're going to play this into humiliation, then it's not in our interest to do it.
[7:14] I know.
[7:15] I know.
[7:15] But we got a message again from Pakistan today.
[7:19] They've sent a navigator down, and they're going to start flying this weekend to handle it.
[7:32] Uh, well, I will, uh, well, we can, if we get a Russian summit, then we're in good shape, as I understand it.
[7:54] I suppose.
[7:54] Yeah.
[7:54] Get a Russian summit for September, basically.
[7:56] Right.
[7:56] That's what we're talking about.
[7:56] And then, then we can play the Bruce thing on.
[8:00] Then we play the Bruce thing.
[8:03] And we can still say you've accepted the summit in principle.
[8:19] Yeah.
[8:20] To discuss the... To prepare the ground and so forth.
[8:22] And we'll have that phrase about peace in the Pacific and peace in Asia.
[8:27] And...
[8:28] We're in that curious, curious time.
[8:47] We didn't have an election coming up next year.
[8:48] We have two years.
[8:48] It wouldn't make any difference.
[8:49] But we're in a curious time now, and what we do is far, say, is far more important than what we do.
[8:51] We have to play in the galleries.
[8:52] It's too bad.
[8:52] It's the way it is.
[8:53] We just don't want to get it completely unraveled.
[8:54] No.
[8:54] That's because playing without...
[8:55] Playing the Russian and Chinese thing simultaneously is going to be tricky as hell.
[9:03] I understand the Vietnamese too.
[9:08] We need a strong announcement on July 15th to suck the Vietnamese between the eyes.
[9:13] That will really choke them.
[9:16] Yes, whatever it is, it will choke them.
[9:22] You won't tell them, of course, when you see them in the moment.
[9:39] Not a word.
[9:40] Not a word.
[9:40] All right.
[9:40] I'll see you tomorrow.
[9:41] Good night, sir.
[9:41] Good night, sir.
[9:41] Good night, sir.
[9:42] You don't think you're going to appear too anxious today, do you?
[9:43] I'm holding bruise.
[9:43] I'm holding bruise.