Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XIII, Soviet Union, October 1970–October 1971

93. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rogers and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)¹

January 12, 1971, 8:15 a.m., PST.

R: Hello Henry. I understood that Dobrynin saw you before he left² and I was wondering what it was about.

K: Who saw me?

R: I understand Dobrynin saw you before he left Washington.

K: Who? Oh Dobrynin you mean. I only talked to him about these bombings and I have been talking to Irwin on that.³ It was about these goddamned bombings.

R: Bombings? You mean the Embassy bombings? He did not come in to see you?

K: No he did not come in to see me. I talked to him and gave him an apology for the bombings but he did not come in to see me.

R: OK.

K: A soon as I come back, I have talked to the President, and I have worked out a way to keep you fully informed.

R: When are you coming back? I want to talk to you again about the Ivanov case.

K: Thursday or Friday.⁴ I had no discussion with him about that. The last I talked to him was about the bombings.

R: Nothing about Cuba or Berlin? The paper said he stayed over an extra day to see you and I was wondering what it was all about.⁵ How is your vacation out there?

K: Very pleasant. I was back for the weekend for some parties for Ambassador Freeman.

R: I missed the Freeman parties. How were they?

K: The one Sunday night was a disaster. You couldn’t tell who was there because they had it in a restaurant which was partitioned into many rooms. No mood or anything.

R: He is a nice fellow.

K: A very nice human being.

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Henry Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts, Box 8, Chronological File. No classification marking. Rogers was in Washington; Kissinger was in San Clemente. A typewritten parenthetical note indicates that the transcript was “not verbatim.”
2. See Document 90.
3. See Document 89.
4. January 14 or 15.
5. The Washington Post reported on January 12 (p. A9) that Dobrynin had been recalled to Moscow for “consultations” but that his wife would remain in Washington: “While the embassy would give no details other than to say Mrs. Dobrynin is remaining in Washington, some State Department officials felt the trip was related to the current U.S.-Soviet tensions growing out of the Leningrad hijacking trial.” No newspaper account has been found of Kissinger’s meeting with Dobrynin on January 9.