98. Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
K: I wanted to give the word to Dobrynin. He said it’s the most cheerful news he had all day. I didn’t even say you had agreed, just you were considering it. He said he will pass it to Moscow right away.
P: I feel you ought to go, not only to discuss this but the Summit. Was he happy?
K: He was slobbering. Brezhnev saw the Hanoi Ambassador today and made a statement of support. I showed this to my Europe man [Sonnenfeldt] who doesn’t know what the hell is going on and said what do you think. He said if we made a statement like that about an ally he would conclude we were getting ready to screw him, and he knows nothing.
P: That’s why we must keep the Russian thing in in Canada.2 Don’t you think?
K: Yes.
P: Okay, you go up to New York.3 Is the weather improving any?
K: Yes.
P: You will be back from New York by … I won’t get a chance to see Haig. I’m staying up there until noon. You want Haig to see me there or you and I see him together? Or maybe he doesn’t need to, good God, I guess he knows.
K: He knows your thinking.
P: How about my taking him with me up to Camp David, seeing him there for an hour and then sending him back? Tell him to go with me at 4:30 and come back about 7:30.4
- Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 371, Telephone Conversations, Chronological File. No classification marking. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Kissinger placed the call at Nixon’s request. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Central Files)↩
- Reference is to the President’s address before a joint session of the Canadian Parliament on April 14; see Document 100.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 97.↩
- See footnote 3, Document 97.↩