Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Airstrikes

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Hi, Harry.

Just, uh, see, uh, our, our, our taxes last night, they still seem to be running.

Oh, I see, but they didn't go well.

Good, good.

I didn't mind being on it.

I just wanted to be here to see.

Literally, how did they catch the, uh, 10 of the 9, 48 hours, or 24?

Well, we want to have them increased, though.

I mean, I know that doesn't give me any satisfaction.

Why haven't they increased?

Because they can't get the planes out there or what?

Yeah.

I know it's very different there, yeah.

Well, they'll be there by the time we get back.

And also, the very fact they're on the way means something.

Well, they're here.

I can say it before you put it.

Listen, I'm having a meeting at 11 that I can't break out of.

If you'll note, 10 o'clock or so.

Fine.

Well, I can't break out of that because I've got a dysfunction with the press center.

Good, good, good.

Well, I was going to say that if you're between 10 and 11, I'd like to be interrupted.

I have a meeting that may come soon.

I've got a call here.

But if it's between 11 and 12, I'll have to wait until after 12.

OK.

Well, I don't want to do that.

I'm concerned about the PR on this thing.

I think it's true that it's all being played in where these are the strikes in South Vietnam.

Is the camera started?

Yeah.

Well, let me say this.

They think this is a tough way to let me be game.

Because we just have to let them have their, you know, just kind of let them come and get screwed around here.

I mean, we're just getting up to that, you know, pretty uncomfortable.

I know the one interesting thing here in the summer is that the French press were kind of getting

Some, they aren't supporting us as much as our January 25th thing.

That's right.

Yeah.

Actually, I think this kind of thing, they believe so intensely in propaganda that this may shape them more than we think, too.

Do you have a lot of first-time comments?

You know, that's more important.

We cannot have any people in the government saying, well, we're flexible.

We must continue to say that goddammit.

We can prove that to them, maybe to our own people, we say we're flexible.

The point that I made is this was a North Vietnamese.

I think that some of our people suggest they're flexible because they think that'll get them to talk.

They are not flexible.

And I think indicating flexibility doesn't do anything.

On some of these Chinese things, I'm inclined to think that I'm going to top some of those up.

i don't want to i don't want to i mean i'm going to be someone absolutely every point every point they get nothing and of course they force us to get something well that's what we know

Well, the press will pay attention to them, in my opinion.

Well, what I'm getting at is that they're Congress Hill.

If you read their whole history, these people are very good, you know, at handing out cosmetics, but they're just tough as they can be.

And what I have in mind, I think the work is just excellent.

But I think what we have to have in mind is that it's dealing with the North Vietnamese.

comments generally.

Flexibility is not an asset.

You must not talk about flexibility.

You must never talk.

If you don't talk later, you don't talk about flexibility.

You know, we run into that every time we come in here.

Every time we leave, every time we leave.

We've been strong with people.

We do reasonably well when we start flapping around and trying to do really what we're doing too much.

You see, the Bill's thing was that it appears that we're apologetic that, you know, we made an offer, but gee, gee, we aren't insisting on the kids.

Come on and wait for us to come on and play.

Goddamn it, we made an offer before, but that just shouldn't be said.

See my point?

I don't know why the purpose of it was to do it with the American public, and I don't think it means a goddamn thing.

It will be our critics and the American public, Henry, are going to criticize us until we give the country to the communists.

So therefore, don't tell them you're going to be flexible.

Let's only lose your friends.

That's right.

Well, let's see what happens.

We'll see about that.

But on the airstrikes, then we would start right after death and continue until when?

Well, after all, if they're in South Vietnam, we'll do them as necessary.

Yeah.

You know, in this instance now, because here's what we are interested in,

and they'll know what's happening from where.

So we said, you might say, look, we're just concentrating more.

And maybe you should get that out.

We want to try to .

Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Airstrikes

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on February 14, 1972

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