176. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Chile.]

[P:] Anything new on Chile?

K: We have put out directives on Friday.2 Their propaganda is stepping up against us but nothing overt.

P: After making the statement he did3 [omission is in the original] it’s as cold as that. Helms has to get to these people. Get out of it now.

K: We have made that clear.

P: Re-scheduling of debts comes up when?

K: Early next year. We have put in the instructions at the NSC meeting into the directive. I am holding a meeting on Chile in the Sr. Review Group every 3 weeks.

P: I feel strongly this line is important regarding its effect on the people of the world. If he can prove he can set up a Marxist anti-American policy, others will do the same thing.

K: It will haveeffect even in Europe. Not only Latin America.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Chile.]

  1. Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 365, Telephone Conversations, Chronological File. No classification marking. All blank underscores are omissions in the original.
  2. Document 175.
  3. President Nixon may be referring to Allende’s inaugural address, which was featured in a November 8 New York Times article. (Juan De Onis, “Chile: Allende Begins the March Toward Socialism,” New York Times, November 8, 1970, p. E5)