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Conversation 893-002

TapeTape 893StartWednesday, April 11, 1973 at 9:42 AMEndWednesday, April 11, 1973 at 9:50 AMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Kissinger, Henry A.Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to coordinate administrative and foreign policy matters, including scheduling a meeting with the Spanish representative to accept a letter from Francisco Franco. They discussed ambassadorial appointments in Thailand and Pakistan, emphasizing the need for absolute loyalty to the administration, and reviewed the domestic political situation in Cambodia. Finally, the two assessed upcoming diplomatic engagements, specifically focusing on Lee Kuan Yew’s perspectives on global leadership and the potential for leadership instability within the Soviet Union ahead of a planned summit.

Diplomatic AppointmentsUS-Spain RelationsCambodiaSoviet UnionLee Kuan YewForeign Policy
AudioNARA Description

On April 11, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:42 am to 9:50 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 893-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 893-2

Date: April 11, 1973
Time: 9:42 am - 9:50 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

     US-Spain relations
         -Base agreements
                -President’s meeting with Gregoria Lopez-Bravo de Castro
                      -Letter from Gen. Francisco Franco
                            -Contents
                            -Presentation to President
                                  -Photographs
                                  -Arrangements
                                  -Adm. Horacio Rivero, Jr.
                      -Scheduling
                            -President’s schedule
                      -Length of meeting
                            -Robert J. McCloskey
                                       -2-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              (rev. February-2011)

                                                        Conversation No. 893-2 (cont’d)

                       -Cyrpus
     -Lopez-Bravo
          -Robert C. Hill [?]
                -International Security Affairs [ISA]
          -Elliot L. Richardson

President’s State dinner for Lee Kuan Yew
      -Lee’s toast
      -Lee
            -Profundity
            -Remarkableness
            -Compared to US liberals
            -Understanding of Southeast Asia
      -Meeting Kissinger [?]
            -Thailand

Ambassadorships
    -Thailand
          -Role of Ambassador
          -Henry Kearns
                -Bank
                -Qualifications
    -William R. Kintner
          -Pakistan, Cambodia
                -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                -Strength of Cambodia
                -Qualifications for Ambassador to Pakistan
    -Hill
          Support for President
                -Lifestyle
                -State Department

Cambodia
    -Composition of possible government
         -Haig
         -State Department’s attempts
         -Lon Nol’s view
         -Cambodia domestic situation
    -Henry A. Kissinger’s consultation with People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                                               -3-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      (rev. February-2011)

                                                             Conversation No. 893-2 (cont’d)

      Lee Kuan Yew
           -1967 meeting with President
                -Dialogue

      President’s role in world
            -Lee’s view
            -Thais’ view
            -Senators’ view
            -President’s decision making
                  -Future President’s

      Kissinger’s schedule
            -Meeting with Lee

      Kissinger’s talks with Richardson
            -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
                  -Kissinger’s confidence in progress

      Forthcoming summit meeting
            -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
            -Leonid I. Brezhnev
            -Soviet leadership
                  -Crisis
                  -Potential changes in leadership
                  -Nuclear treaty
                        -Importance to Soviets
                  -Kissinger’s schedule
                        -Meeting with Dobrynin
                  -Haig’s meeting

Kissinger left at 9:50 am
                                             -4-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    (rev. February-2011)
Transcript (AI-Generated)

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.

from Franco, and they've made all sorts of appeals just to bring him in for the guaranteed five minutes, just a picture handing the letter over and out.
He wants no conversation, but that's been going for months with a personal appeal of Franco's to Rivera.
Now they've come back at us again and told to negotiate a new base agreement, and
He has a personal letter for you from Franco.
I want you to take it.
Everybody agrees.
This will just be handing over to him.
Well, he knows already that it's very tough if you go down three times.
Oh, he'll have accepted the ISA, the children have accepted them.
You know, he really is a
He asked around about nothing.
I know, but he said you'd say it's out these days, but he has it very clear.
He's coming in now.
He's got a 1040 plane to talk about Thailand a little bit.
Yeah, last night he was supposed to be in Singapore today.
It's a long day.
We've got to get a strong investment into Thailand.
I don't know him.
I mean, I don't know who he is.
Henry Curtis is my man.
I don't know if he goes there.
He's leaving the bank.
But he's known the guys for over 15 years.
You know him well.
He's totally ours, and they love him.
Well, Mr. President, I really...
I think having a friend there is it.
And then Kendra, in fact, when he was in Pakistan.
Kendra, I live in Pakistan.
I can't vote you.
I'd like to talk to... Hey.
Well, Kendra, you can't vote.
If Cambodia looks too fragile, then we ought to go there.
Where's Kitna from Pakistan?
I don't know.
I look for somebody else.
Kitna, oh, my.
Now, that isn't it, but we need a top guard.
We need an absolute loyalist in Pakistan.
Hill, incidentally, really has impressed me.
I mean, the pleasure of talking with somebody who's devoted to you.
He's for it.
That's no crime.
But on the other hand, he's totally the worst.
He's no use to the State Department at all.
And I think he did great upon himself.
Incidentally, I had told Hayden I'd given him a composition of a possible government for Cambodia, which the state has been trying to do for three months.
La Nol has accepted it.
And so we got the domestic situation there as good as we can get it.
Now we have to move it into a negotiation.
I'll talk to the Chinese.
Yes.
And, uh... You know, I have to think about it.
You see, when he sits up there last night, he says, President, you don't want this to revert to the time we saw it in 67.
It reverted.
How much more freely you could talk then?
Mr. President, with all this crap we read here, we forget that around the world, you are the only one who is holding it together right now, in a way.
We know, sir.
He has no question about it.
He knows.
And the Thais know it, and everyone else knows it.
It's our goddamn Senate that doesn't know it.
Well, I pity the next president, because when they try to run your system and see how many hundred
to keep it in balance like it's like everything that that looks effortless along the lines of our discussions
I think we can confidently say we're going to get something by the time of the summit.
And then all these little guys... Why don't you say that some of it is a reason for the time of the summit?
Some of it.
Yeah.
But you won't get any word of the summit.
I think it's time.
I think...
I agree with you.
I just...
I wonder how much... Do you think he thinks it's...
Does he seem to be worried about it in crisis?
No, I think he's worried about the president's decision.
Brezhnev is supposed to go to Germany in May.
Oh.
And they haven't been to Germany today either.
Oh.
So they might have the central committee meeting next week.
You mean they might change him before this summer?
They wouldn't.
What would they do if they changed him?
They wouldn't come, would they?
They wouldn't come.
They might change.
It's unlikely, but that's about to happen.
You just don't know it, do you?
No.
But there's something going on.
Because the breeder told me yesterday, the friend, he said, I want you to know, because I knew we agreed it, this is not just a minor matter anymore.
This is a very grave domestic matter for you.
Huh?
You're going to let him know about that tomorrow?
Tomorrow.
I just want to know.
You come in and tell me about what you're doing.
Right.
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