Nixon, Haig & Kissinger on Watergate and Leonid Brezhnev

It's the next three years to put them on a permanent basis that we made the breakthrough this last year and we consolidated this year.
And then, do I want to raise such points to this meeting about the date of the Saul literature?
If I want to raise with them the date of the Europeans, of the MDFR, just likely.
And I say these are issues we'll talk about this frown later.
And if I want to mention him, then we'll be agreeing to central protection.
And that meeting should not be done.
I mean, if he raises his eyes, otherwise I'd save that for this afternoon.
Yeah.
That's what I was saying, because I just don't think that's going to be particularly helpful.
No, I talk about and be involved in the European security conference.
What I would hit very hard is it is essential that we make some real progress on salt in the next year, and that you have the impression that we haven't really been specific, that they haven't been specific.
Right.
Because he's the only one who can move it out then send it.
Right.
Secondly, I'm thinking carefully.
I'd say this just has to be ended and it's an intolerable situation that it gets violated.
It can't be.
That the agreement keeps getting violated because we need to take pressure on all of us.
Well, even on the ceasefire, that was stupid.
No, no, they're down again today.
They were up a little yesterday.
But on this east side, I took this out of him, and he can police that himself.
The major thing is to say that...
say we'll have talks about the Middle East.
I wouldn't get into it here in great detail.
And throw on a little paper and say you'll be glad to hear his views on China, on Japan.
But I'm not going to use it to put China on any front.
You have to say something about economic relations, Mr. President.
If you're willing to talk to him about long-term relationships, if you're looking forward to hearing his views the next day.
Because everything you say will be with the patient
He doesn't have a lunch today, I guess.
Yeah.
So we can run.
Because these pictures and everything, we won't get started at 11, 10, or 15.
We should go to about 1 o'clock, I'm sure.
Yeah.
Should I have somebody come in to give you a chance to break it up?
Let's break up.
Come in.
I would just have one of your sons or somebody say we have
All right, I'll bring it up in five to one.
Yeah, five to one.
You'll say we have lunch and so forth and so on.
And he takes off.
Right.
And I won't say it, but I'll drop him over and see him.
I'll take him and Mr. Freeman.
Yeah.
And I'll go over and see him about 4.30.
Right.
And we should bust that off at about 6 so that we can get back to him.
Great.
Exuberant.
He didn't say a hell of a lot of judgment over the schedules, which I don't have to bother you.
But he ran that great length into his admiration for you.
What he's looking forward on this visit.
How he talked about Watergate, actually.
He said it's an indecency to ask me such a question.
Fireman, he says, I don't care about water, I care about peace.
He'll come back next, he'll come to the Silver Union next year, then he wants to come here in 75, and then he thinks you might want to take a farewell call trip to the Silver Union.
So I would imagine.
We're going to do about Europe.
You know, we served France on the way back.
That's his reply.
We are going to Warsaw, let's say, just one day.
We're going to Europe.
Sold, I did not.
There's something about it that I'd express a readiness to discuss it with you without going into details.
I think very positively about economic relations.
We put it in here.
We sent him a letter from you about that agreement in order to avoid misinterpretations on that part.
Yeah.
One good thing about his trip to Paris is that the French cannot possibly piss on the treaty and receive it.
Good job here.
I don't mean to beat that heart of the speech writers here.
I mean, they do their best to... Well, they just don't have the feel for it.
Yes.
Frankly, somebody in your shop...
probably without a text, but since they'd like to print the whole text in Prata, it's very good.
Right.
If they want, we shall have it.
I'll ask you about televised intelligence, if they want.
Sure.
So not to worry me.
You might want to take a farewell call and trip to Philadelphia and then send it to Texas.
Through all reasons, Mr. General Secretary.
I don't get it when you do woos.
No, it's fine.
I know exactly what you mean.
Uh, you must not feel...
I don't get it when you do woos.
No, it's fine.
I know exactly what you mean.
So, I wrote a message to him to do about Europe.
You know, he showed your parents on the way back.
That's his kind of perspective of you.
He showed you his relations.
He replied, you're going to want some of them sailing.
I wrote one day to him to do about Europe.
You know, he showed her.
Sold, I did not.
I'd like to think very positively about the economic relations that you're going to want on that thing.
And one day, I'd like to read about the nuclear war.
I could do it without it.
But it's a very significant war about Europe.
That's a significant agreement.
It's safe and objective.
I'd say that right away.
We put it in here.
We sent him a letter from you about that agreement in order to avoid misinterpretations on that part.
Good job.
I don't think he beats that hard with Steve Kravitz.
I mean, they do the best they can.
They just don't have to feel it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I may ask you about televising the television station.
Sure.
I'll read it for you.
Okay, thank you for that, Mr. Benson.
Now that's done a great job.
You're appreciated, Mr. Benson.
Okay, thank you for that.
Don't you let that man water you.
Uh, if you'd first see your letter.
Thank you for reading it, Mr. Benson.
It doesn't bother me.
I'm out of religion, and yes, I could pay that son, so not to worry me.
I got a letter from you about that agreement in order to avoid misinterpretation.
Good job here.
I don't mean to beat that heart of the speechwriters here.
I mean, they do their best to... Well, they just don't have the feel for it.
Yes.
Frankly, somebody in your shop...
without a text, but... You could do it superbly without a text, but since they...
They want it.
They'd like to print the whole text and craft it.
Right.
But they want it.
They want it.
I'll ask you about televising the code.
Sure.
So not to worry me.
We had a lot of questions last night on the schedule last week.
They don't want to go out to help still.
So we'll have a signing ceremony Wednesday morning to get news and that's Tuesday morning.
What is it?
Well, we got all of the state stuff and we're trying to get that all packaged today.
cultural and scientific and all, but the tax and agriculture, which we'll do on Wednesday in the department.
But they don't want Gromyko separated from Brezhnev at Camp Davis.
So they want to go up Wednesday together.
All right.
All right.
And Wednesday morning we'll have Rogers and Gromyko work out the
They're walking back.
Henry said you might want to walk him back to the firehouse this morning.
It would be a better time to do that so we get the news this morning.
Well, we could do it this afternoon.
All right.
And they'll have a spontaneous drop-by meeting this afternoon at 4.30, where I have a formal head-to-head this morning.
And he'll come over and
I just walk over to Larry Helms' home.
In other words, we meet and just walk over there.
I think that's a little better.
I'm seriously enjoying it.
I want to, uh, would like for this morning, of course, to be a tour to Verizon.
It's a discussion 15 months after you and Brezhnev are alone in here.
Uh, Gurmeet Dhillon and Andrea Rogers would kind of... Yeah.
We're kind of stuck in the Rogers problem here, but I don't...
So much has been worked on in advance, Al, but we've just got to take it and not worry about it eventually.
They would like very much to film your toast tonight.
If you could do it with two cameras, it would be...
The other thing they would like to do, he's not going to take until Friday, so they want to leave a little later Friday for San Clemente, leave at 4 o'clock.
After the Sunday ceremony over at Blair House.
That means he wouldn't have any dinner out there.
On Friday night, yeah.
We could do it on the plane and just go to bed.
The problem is it doesn't leave us any time to... Oh, well, we could have dinner after the reception.
Sorry.
We've got to have some Neil Brown over there.
Yes.
And the other thing he would like to do is to have you escort, you know, the presumptuous bastards.
I'd like to have you
Escort him, even though he had a farewell ceremony at El Toro, I mean, the compound on Sunday morning.
Which I recognize that he flew in a helicopter from El Toro.
And we'll set up a little signing ceremony that morning out of doors for the communique, which will release on Monday.
They'd like that.
The other thing that they raised was in the house.
They feel it would be better to have Reginald fit in the house with you and give him those two rooms.
That's what we're going to do.
Don't bring him in the other house.
It's not the people of the Soviet Union who would feel sure or better if he were in the house with you.
We'll give you one.
They're going to release a lot of Jews on Wednesday.
They're going to release 30 of the 42 controversial Jewish leaders on Wednesday.
I'm going to leak it out to the Jewish leaders and you'll get the credit for it as soon as I'm at Wednesday's meeting.
It should be a hell of a good thing to hear.
I think we're in good shape now on the schedule, sir.
Good.
Then you wouldn't have to necessarily
Yeah, we had an unbelievably vicious story in the Post this morning.
You were shifting your strategy away from support of Bob and John.
It's just blatant political warfare right now.
So I called Fred and told him to get in touch with Wilson immediately.
Unbelievable.
Tell him that this is absolutely untrue.
And we have something that's just nothing to support it in any way.
Complicators, anybody?
No, we all had a meeting on it this morning.
I just don't know who the hell could have done it because there wouldn't even be a Fred that they could draw from.
who said that he was drawn to tie ropes around a hole in his neck.
Well, I don't know that, I mean, that's, that could have made that up, but, uh... A higher end, White House source.
Are we sure, or are we supporting anybody?
I called one of the persons, and I said, are you, he said he hasn't seen these guys for over three weeks, and then he told us about them.
At the time, do you remember him, you and I?
The only other person could be, and I'm checking in on Gergan.
He's close to losing.
And if it's going to be like this, fire it back.
He's in very good shape.
He's not much anyway.
He's on suspicion of having a possible bizarre deterioration.
Yeah, oh, I know bizarre.
Right.
Gergan is not going to be talking to people.
Or at least, just say they're, we understand, that's where they claim it from you, that they're at least, if you've got the story, we don't know what it is.
How do you, is that what happened?
Yeah, I thought I'd call them in this morning.
Yeah.
Yeah, and just sit them down and say, okay, I've seen indications you've been in touch with women and social media and stories.
Did you even discuss Watergate?
What the hell does a speechwriter have to talk to anybody about Watergate?
I'll fire Dennis.
I, I don't think he's worth a damn any of it.
No.
It's, it's a story that is, uh, suggests some real self-consciousness on the strength of their case.
They're trying to break Bob and John away from us this critical week, he said.
Uh, they know exactly what's gonna happen, so they're doing a little strategy.
sure don't pursue a strategy of thinking they'd deceive you and mislead you.
Well, that's all bullshit.
And there's never even been a discussion of that.
Oh, gosh, I don't know.
It's just so discouraging.
Well, it isn't in a way.
It's encouraging because we wouldn't be doing that if they weren't moving.
My, uh, it gets gathered, gathered a few things up, too, as I look over the thing here.
So the typewriters are a checker and that may be a...
And, uh, it is out.
And, uh, it says that apparently this is the same story.
The other thing is, of course, Martha's on the Rampage again.
For any contact we can have with John, we can call that Rampage.
She'll be based in the detention period.
But Martha Jennifer, for that whole time period, crazy woman stuff.
They say the last time that anybody would play me, and they made me, and they,
I'll be with you
The flow of the editorial is in precisely the other direction.
Rustin's came out.
Big shit as he is, very strong.
Said he would never do that.
Well, you and I have already made all the deals anyway for Crown, I thought, before Watergate.
No, that Jackson got hurt on that.
He took a hill.
the name of God
will overshadow the summit.
Is that going to happen?
Not in any sense.
Maybe they will.
Maybe they're open, aren't they?
That's their strategy.
I wonder, though, I just wondered this.
I wondered if...
There's a little bit of Thompson under it, right?
There's a little bit of Thompson under it, yeah.
This thing is crazy.
That one, I heard about the Nugget.
We'll overshadow the sun.
We're not going to have none of these.
Maybe they will.
Maybe they're going to open our head.
That's their strategy.
I just wondered this.
I wondered if...
I did what this was already saying.
Well, he interpreted it the same way that the story was a case of, you know, realizing this is the crunch week and they're not going to make anything in time.
to get some break between Bob and John, and they're going to kill him.
They're trying to kill Tom Harkin.
Of course, that's a side issue.
No, that's a side issue.
No, they're trying to break Bob and John away from you so they won't clobber Dean.
That's what this story was about.
I think it was very, very much fabricated unless we had a real son of a bitch in the White House.
We've never even discussed anything.
It's not even... Well, I don't love him.
I don't want to love him to break away from me.
That's right.
There's been no need to.
In fact, the whole statement we put out in the meetings really designed to protect him, which it did.
I'm John Bolden, second president of the Superior Senate, and some of the other directors of the Unified, who are getting fired.
But we've got to be calm.
I don't think it is time.
Now, the other thing, which I think we should talk about today, because you see, I'll be busy tomorrow, is what, if anything, we do with regard to
I mean, the fact that I ordered your break-in on Kroger's hearsay and all that sort of thing, the significant thing, was that I had ordered, or that I had attracted or approved of raising $1 million for independence and so forth.
What was the bizarre thing we had to do to handle that thing?
You know, it was a never done.
Well, that's where he thinks the detailed cross-examination matters.
which fell out very clearly that this is a farce.
A, you asked him, did you get the money?
Was there any money raised?
What did the president say?
Did he not tell you this?
Did he not tell you that?
Did he not tell you it was wrong?
Did he not tell you that, well, it wouldn't work?
In fact, not only wouldn't work, but it was wrong.
Was there anything done?
Was anything done?
Was there anything?
What was the next sequence?
Yeah, and did the president tell you what the conclusion was?
and got this whole story out.
That's the main thing.
That was the follow-up.
What happened at the end?
I said, we cannot do it.
I remember she said, clearly, I said, we can't go down this road.
We've got to stop this.
This is blackmail.
It's wrong.
We've got to get this whole story out.
And I ordered them to get together.
That was the purpose to do it.
Now, the question is whether, I mean,
whether or not we have to have or should have.
This, in a way, is encouraging because we're going to be doing that thing we're doing.
My, uh, it gets gathered, gathering a few things up, because I don't know what the thing here is.
So the typewriters are a checker, and that may be it.
And, uh, it is out.
And, uh, it says that apparently this is the same story.
It's an addiction.
It's not
The other thing is, of course, Martha's on the Rampage again.
For any contact we can have with John, any one of them on the Rampage.
So we're based in the detention period.
But Martha Jennifer, for that very long time, she carried a crazy woman's son.
They say it lasted, if anybody would blame me.
A few things about the curfew.
Everybody wanted to be left in awe of that.
But if you just discuss that or you want to talk about it, that's what we need here.
Yeah, Fred has talked to Wilson about the statement by Bob in the event being.
They believe it's so much they've got to use it.
We've got to use it.
Bob, there hasn't been, he hasn't confirmed it.
Yes, he said they're going to do it.
It's for Bob's protection, too.
After all, he was there.
He's got to take that one.
Yeah.
See, Dean was there.
Dean reached first with me, and my brother Bob and I didn't come in here the whole time.
But Bob was there.
Bob in immediately after Dean.
It's a better way to do it with me on television, right?
You know, but they won't, they won't.
They're too smart.
They want to let that hang out there.
It's a quality of wrestling.
Now, Bizarro and Du Bois and Wright have got to figure out a strategy as to how that can be blasted down.
I don't know how it can.
Have they talked about it a little?
Yes, they know that's their key.
That's the key charge that we're going to be facing with that one meeting.
Of course, he's got a whole scenario of questions that build up to that to discredit Dean.
And then a whole series.
But that's all in the context of cross-examination and questioning.
Now, the second thing we were told to do is to get Bob to have a cursive short denial statement and have it come right out after Dean makes the charge.
I'll have to see whether or not they...
And he may want to do it when he gets himself down under.
They haven't asked him about this yet, see.
When he was up there, they haven't asked him about it.
So you see, they don't want to ask.
No, they don't want to.
Just as well they haven't.
Because they don't have to give Dean protection.
I get into all the, I guess, bizarres and, uh, karma and the secret of crime and the things with what to do with regard to that.
What I was going to say is that I'd like to have a, make the advice by 2.30 this afternoon or 3, 3 o'clock this afternoon.
So, uh,
I mean, because I'm going to be able to do it tomorrow.
I don't want to do it.
I think we've got to have the strategies.
If he comes out with that darn thing, if he comes out with that, it's got to be...
I don't know.
He's saved.
His heart doesn't have it prepared yet.
Well, he has saved it prepared.
It's not saved.
You've got to knock that one right out of the park.
Well, it sounds so.
It's not believable.
In that context of discussion, we should raise a million dollars.
I said, but, you know, but, you know, that was just a discussion in a nutshell.
That I know we can handle.
In fact, as I say, the czar is now convinced there are no documents
Yes.
And you see, that's, you know, all he's got is a very late-in-the-game discussion, which he'll try to blow up, and he can't do that.
Well, I don't think he's going to be done with anything like this.
He's going to make a big play with a carefully written statement.
Yeah.
You don't agree with that, then?
Why are games kind of overshadowed, son?
Not in any way.
Because of the end game.
That's the post line.
That's fine.
It's the ballpark, son.
You think so?
No, I...
There's mixed emotions.
They're vicious.
Traditionally, anti-group are doing that.
The large majority is not.
The large majority is talking about this being a historic meeting.
They've taken on Scoop Jackson.
No, I think we've got a good spread on the press.
I'm not concerned about that.
I was worried that it might be a sour one, but it's not.
Geez, I've never seen so much news, radio, TV, radio.
There's no way to deem it.
There's no way to knock that down.
I suppose we can get...
I just hope it's ours, God's statement, that the White House can make even.
You know, I...
It must be that Bob won't do it.
We've got to know.
We're modular.
If he's not doing it directly, I think it has to be done.
It has to be done from here.
That is a bold statement.
and then just say that I have my difficulties with my doing it, though I don't like to say what I said in the conversation.
No, you can't.
I don't want to say it.
As a matter of fact, I didn't say that I told them that it was wrong.
And again, I ordered it.
That is as a result of that conversation.
You see, basically, what bizarre little boys don't realize it.
When I learned what were the consequences of being a donor, I said, that's when I started my own investigation.
I didn't get a mental last.
I didn't think about this thing.
It was just out of my mind.
But I guess they aren't going to be that much easier to hurt.
He's in a spot.
He's already said he knows about himself.
He's not going to say it over and over again.
Yeah, I'll get Sam up and help him finish a couple things.
Be right.
I'll be with you.
I also know that Mr. Johnson said that Nixon will make a bad deal here because of why he's just been irresponsible.
Yeah, but most of the flow of the editorial is in precisely the other direction.
Rustles came out.
Big shit as he is.
Very strong.
Said he'd never do that.
Well, you and I have already made all the deals anyway for crying out loud before Watergate.
You know, that Jackson got hurt on that.
He took a helmet.
That's what triggered it.
That's what they've got to get across.
The purpose of that whole thing was to find out not to talk about a building, but to see where this world was leading, to see what was happening here, and what these madmen were up to.
I think this is going to be a
Because this is it.
And it's not good.
What's wrong with it?
They'll try to build it up and keep it hanging there.
And that's actually the second one.
It might be bigger.
Even bigger.
She ought to come before the committee.
Now you've got Lazar to go home with you.
I guess you've got to go save her on that.
See, Lazar was quoted in this story, too.
It was damned good.
This is a statement he made to us three weeks ago.
It's quoted.
It's like an association with any of the facts.
It's very strong.
Yeah.
We're the best guys.
I know.
I know it's tough for the boys because we need to turn everybody around here.
We're going.
Matt was on board.
He's going to start making all the candles.
Yeah.
Over at their place.
Yeah.
Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Rogers, and they go.
And, you know, and all the others.
She'll host that plan, and I'll take him on our plan.
That's the best way to do it.
And I'll call you on our plan, too.
All right.
That's my move up to him there.
I'm going to tell you, buddy.
I'm very angry because I think everything will see much of it.
And I'm very happy to see the most of that.
I heard about the nuthead thing.
I heard about Mark for the first time.
I just bought him in the name of God.
I don't know whether, you see, now the problem I have is I don't know whether the guard may have been
I don't think so.
Bazaar is a pretty shrewd fella.
I'm sure he is.
He is.
And I, and according to what Bazaar says, he said, he said as of his conversation last night, Thompson said that Dean was not particularly affected the first day.
That's how he was rambling, and that there were absolutely no surprises of any kind, that he now
Thomson was very confident that he could handle this thing in very good shape.
With the questions he's had,
I just wondered this.
I wondered if, uh,
Yeah, they're on their way over the top of this here when that goes off as well.
Yeah?
Uh, just two quick things, Mr. President.
There is a
This is nothing that we should do.
Then this morning on the pictures, which we'll do in the office, because of the size of the groups, we'll have to do it in three ways.
I just wanted you to know that.
And you may want to mention a bridge over the side.
You know, it's in these little photo sessions where little comments are picked up and so forth, which could be, you know, a lead in the story that might interest you.
Uh, did you raise the toast, either with the rest of the family?
Yeah, what do they want?
What do they want?
Who wants it done?
Well, the Stoneman's raised that.
It's, uh, something they would like, and also the Marston.
We don't understand the Marston.
We've had so much already, but, uh... Well, no, I think it'd be very good, particularly for the morning news.
But then they want me to read something that doesn't work.
Well, no one reads the reading.
It's simply recording what you say.
Now, I don't mind recording, but they want it read.
No one said that they want it read.
The Soviets want a copy if they can.
Well, the Soviets would like to have, because of translation, they would like to have an advance of remarks that you're going to make for the time lost, if we're interested.
Right.
And I'll try to see if I can get him to get her a dog if I can.
I mean, I'll just probably have to add a little bit.
Well, they had, as Al Henry has pointed out here, I think they, they had requested bad sex to be covered up.
Yes, they did.
I know that, but I just don't have one that's good enough for the kind of girl I'm going to see with her.
Is there as much as they have that I could ever be possibly
that I can use.
I mean, that's totally the attitude.
Uh, thanks a lot.
I just love this.
Uh, I mean, if I'll have to, they're talking about me reading some children's night with Henry there.
They got me about 15, 12 to 15 minutes of German or something like that.
Right, right, right.
It's a good time.
I'm just going to say something.
I'm just going to make a brief toast.
It's so you won't mind.
Well, I just thought it would be, they don't have to have any bad shoes.
Well, they prefer it in advance.
We can, if I can let my people try to draft something, I can have it for you in the afternoon.
All right, Bob, 300 words.
Because we now have the Soviet toast, and you should see that.
Get that to me.
I have to read it to you today.
Right.
I want it to be 300 words.
Right.
Absolutely.
300 words is about five minutes.
Right.
That's what it should be.
It should be about three pages.
I want to read it to you.
I made him take out the last page because it was an attack on China.
That's all that's right there.
Mine will not be translated.
So if I don't want to write more than five minutes, that means 300 words.
I don't mind, but I can't use this.
It would take me a lot of time.
I wouldn't have to dictate my notes.
All right.
No problem.
He was flying high yesterday.
He has a letter for you just so that you are ready.
He has a letter from his two children to you two children, and he wants to talk about it with you.
He wants to talk as a father to you about his two children, and they were going to campus, and his grandson is going to get a degree, so they felt they couldn't, but he's
What he'd like is an invitation to his two children from you.
Yeah.
Okay.
We'll work it out.
And, uh, I told him that you'd probably walk back with him to Flair's.
My father said, you know, I didn't, I hated the chance to mention to you, but rather than having him just come over here, I'd walk over to Flair's house and see him later.
Work harder.
Why not?
Gives a little different touch.
So nice little thought.
Good.
And then we'll improv 4.30, and then I'll say 5.30.
Yeah, and we'll improvise it.
I'll just walk over at 4.30.
Yeah, we'll tell him.
Okay.
In that case, you don't have to do...
He would like you...
If you go there, then there's no problem, because then we can just say you improvised it.
Yeah, that's my point.
Otherwise, he would have asked you to give her answers and give me an assignment for this afternoon.
Okay.
What's he want?
An assignment for Archis and Gromyko this afternoon to talk about the European Security Conference.
Well, but we can save that now for Wednesday morning because you... Yeah, you just... On your way to the Rises.
You just improvise it.
I guess I'll go over to call him and see if he's comfortable.
Right.
But probably I will.
Then I will not walk back with him after the ceremony today.
That's better.
We'll have enough pictures here anyway.
And then it doesn't make it, and Gromyko and Tupi and Kepi over there.
Should I come along with you then?
Yeah.
I've been rocked.
Me neither.
No.
But we can just say that all is well.
Yeah.
Otherwise, everything, oh, they are going to, we gave them a list of 42 Jews.
and 500 of the others.
I've been talking to Len Kahn, and we can get the Jewish leaders in here, and you can tell them.
Well, I can tell them.
You don't.
I'm not a Jewish leader, so I run out on this.
I will not see them again.
I think you're right.
I really am.
No, you're not.
I just wanted to give you the...
I've sucked around them and everything, and now they're gone.
You go.
You take a little credit for it.
I don't want to.
Uh, I think I should do it simply to bring it into you, uh, into... Sure, very good.
Maybe it goes...
I think I was very good at doing it, but I think you ought to know.
But I won't go if I'm not told.
So should we do that, sir?
Say that?
Sure.
Sure.
But I don't want to tie it if I'm not told.
Don't put me on the list for that.
Now, then I'll push, push harder.
Like I know, I've been really hard back with them for just an hour.
I'm just not going to do it.
I did it over again.
I've met with them harder than the forest.
And they're fine people, but I've done it this evening.
No, they have hands in the neck.
And I know all these guys.
The one you're going to see will be all right, but it's just those bunch of jacks.
The bunch of them came and deceived me.
And it's about the days that we should call the president.
We are fully behind the president.
What exactly are you fully behind?
It turns out that we're fully behind the imagination of
Now, the one thing with depression which I wanted to give my people is that it's terribly important that they get the impression that you're as strong and as tough as you've ever been.
Right.
And that, while being friendly, you do it from a somewhat reserved position.
Because they're going to make that judgment about whether to jump China on the basis of
of your strength in the domestic situation.
Now, the domestic situation is going to drive them the other way.
It's going to drive them towards those policies.
Because if these fellows, if they come home, the reason you did so well with them is because you were so tough, because you stood, you took this abuse for three hours and just held through and prevailed.
Right.
And no matter how friendly and warm he is, their overall strategy is to drive us out of Europe and to jump China.
And I have no specific proposal except, publicly we have to be careful not to go too far in the, in something that would drive the Chinese crazy.
I'm drafting a letter to Zhou Enlai.
Which I'll submit to you this afternoon.
Why?
Now, he agrees to go on the boat.
Why?
He agrees to go on the boat.
Why?
And he expects you to ask him to dinner tonight.
Why?
I told the preacher you were playing with the idea of driving around the Lincoln Memorial with him after dinner tonight, and he thought that was a splendid idea.
Yeah.
So, that's...
up to you to improve.
I didn't get a nice touch.
I think these are my, these are... We don't worry about today, I'll just go over and see.
At Camp David, we can give them two assignments for Wednesday morning.
One is to talk about the European Security Conference and report to you with President in the afternoon.
And the second is to reconcile the Middle East paragraphs in the communique.
It's the only part we do.
So we do what you have, then breakfast, and I'll meet in the morning.
Well, we don't get up there.
You have about two hours in the morning.
I'll meet in the afternoon.
And then in the afternoon, he likes to sleep anyway after lunch, so you don't have to reassemble him until 3.30, 4 o'clock.
We'll have Rogers then.
Now, he'll invite you publicly on the national television to come to the Soviet Union next year.
Oh, he's really euphoric.
And his remarks here are gracious.
And his toast is even as warm.
Get that toast for me.
Yeah, I'm coming.
No, I don't.
I mean...
But you have it right after the meeting.
No, I mean, at the drill today, we talked for 10 minutes for each other.
That's right.
Family and things like that.
And then... What do we talk about?
I talk about a family and how glad you are to have him here.
How this is an important breakthrough.
You shouldn't just think of the short term.
create a fundamental thing.
Of course, he told me, he thinks you're the greatest American president that the Soviet Union has in its whole history.
be no equal.
It is a national disgrace.
I am ashamed this week to be an American for this stuff.
I don't think it will overshadow the country.
I think from a PR point of view, it's the best week that it could have happened to us because you are in the major league in that crawling insect.
But the disgrace is
That if these Russians do conclude what these bastards want them to conclude, that we are weak, we're going to have a war.
We're going to have a succession of crises.
They're playing with the national interest in a way that is absolutely unforgettable.
That's what I object to.
I don't think Dean can overshadow this.
There's no way.
The news magazines this week, the newspapers, everyone has been forced to write it out to try to sit on it for weeks.
It's the final report.
Well, Newsweek has, I think, six to eight pages.
I mean, about the summit.
About the summit.
Time has eight pages.
And while they're trying to piss on it a little bit, they cannot really do it.
A lot of respect comes from them.
Well, they're going to have a little problem with that final agreement.
They'll try to piss on everything else.
But those are the, you know, even the nickname.
The fact is, Mr. President, somebody pulled it together.
A hundred and one agreements have been signed with the Soviet Union since recognition, since 1932, of those 42 that have been signed in your administration.
By the end of this week, it will be 50 bucks.
So, this whole thing, we've got well-postured that it will come out just the way we predicted.
They're writing it now in that kind of area, so they can't later say it was a disappointment.
Yeah, but we aren't going to have an agreement.
No, there isn't.
What we said was that we try to go for principles, and we try to see whether MERS could be included in these principles, and we know there are.
So we can claim that as a success, that you're interested on MERS, that it's...
Last year we had the secondary thing that's all done, and this year we have everything done.
Well, can that include the community?
Including the community.
And in the cave last year, part of the cave, a man who got his impractical retreat done.
And thank God, he was able to get up and go to his seat.
What did it all say about his support?
And the principles.
Stop!
Stop!
They won't.
It's like last year.
We forget last year they started very slowly.
They were pitting on it in Moscow too.
But they will not be able to change the fact that we have moved from total hostility to an entirely new relationship and that you started contrary to everything that they predicted.
I don't know if you can have your people write something that would be complementary to that, but make it the very most, four words, the very, very, how to write it out, just like that, how to force them to think in different ways.
and as you know, and they do the best they can, but it's, they aren't ready this time.
Oh, one other thing that you might consider asking Brezhnev when you're alone with him, not like Gromyko is around, is to keep Gromyko here another year.
Gromyko wants to take him back to Russia.
Gromyko told me that if you ask Brezhnev, they'll keep him here, and he's really been essential to the war.
Well, they're foolish if they don't keep it.
And the Sabrina tells me that all Brennan and Pete said a word from you that you consider him important, but you shouldn't do it in front of, for me.
No.
I'm glad they're having some, same problem.
Okay, but, uh, this is a fucking border.
Yeah, it is.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
You go ahead, I'll tell you how to do it.
Now what do I do in here on this
uh, you know, broad tour of the world, uh, we talked here that would take me about two and a half hours.
Right.
Now, what do you really want to get across?
I mean, I've got a whole life study to do.
I've got it in my head.
He's got, uh, well, he's the first of your speakers.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, you'll have to call on him.
But, yeah, I told him you'd call on him, too.
Yeah.
You'd say he's the guest.
Right.
Uh...
But I would talk first on how you see Soviet-American relations.
And how we now have an opportunity.

Nixon, Haig & Kissinger on Watergate and Leonid Brezhnev

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on June 18, 1973

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