Office of the Historian

284. Letter From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the Ambassador to Vietnam (Bunker)1

Washington, January 1, 1972.

Dear Ellsworth:

In connection with his January troop withdrawal announcement tentatively planned for around January 15th,2 the President is considering making a public offer of the private negotiating proposal that General Haig outlined in September and President Thieu endorsed.3 The purpose would be to formalize the proposal publicly in order to seize the opportunity to take an initiative and defuse possible Congressional and public pressure which may develop when Congress reconvenes.

I have enclosed the proposal which would be the basis for the President’s statement.4 Before the November 20 private session was aborted5 we had passed to the other side the full proposal. We did this (1) to make sure that the offer would be transmitted to the other side in case a meeting did not actually take place (this turned out to be providential); [Page 1020] and (2) to make the initial meeting productive rather than merely a session at which they could only receive the package and refer to Hanoi for instructions, thus losing weeks of time.

Before proceeding further, I would like you to think over the idea of making the proposal public at this time and give me your personal judgment on it including your feel for its acceptability to President Thieu. You should not discuss this with Thieu, however, until you receive a go-ahead from here.

No one other than the President and I are aware that he is thinking of making this proposal public. I will appreciate your thoughts as soon as possible in our special channel.6

Warm regards,

Henry A. Kissinger 7

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 869, For the President’s Files, Lord, Vietnam Negotiations, Sensitive, Camp David Cables, 1–7/31/72. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only.↩
  2. On January 13, the President announced he was ordering the withdrawal of 70,000 U.S. troops from Vietnam over the next 3 months. (Public Papers: Nixon, 1972, p. 30)↩
  3. See Document 268.↩
  4. The attached proposal was the eight points given to the North Vietnamese on October 11 in Paris; see Document 269. Nixon outlined the proposal in his Address to the Nation, January 25; see Document 294.↩
  5. See Document 272.↩
  6. Bunker responded in backchannel message 6 from Saigon, January 3, that he believed Thieu would accept the proposal. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 854, For the President’s Files—Lord, Vietnam Negotiations, Sensitive, Camp David, Vol. XIII)↩
  7. Kissinger signed “Henry” above his typed signature.↩