226. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
P: Anything new?
K: No.
P: Are you going to Camp David?
K: I thought I would keep in touch with the situation here. All the passengers are off the planes. It’s not clear if they are going to Amman. The first Caravelle of passengers are in Nicosia. 40 of the passengers are Americans.
P: Maybe I should have played that sooner. Dead or alive. We would have a terrible thing on our hands, I guess. We will not play a soft game in the future.
K: And every time we use the hard line, it works. We have a cable in from ICRC fellow saying that they seem confused and worried at the top. So they are not world baiters.
[Page 659]P: They are afraid they will move on other things. The trip thing is working.2
K: We have heard from the Italians but not the Yugoslavs.
P: Do you think that’s because he’s on a trip?
K: Saragat3 has invited you to stay at the Quirinale.
P: All right.
K: He has also offered you his Villa near Naples.
P: They are very generous. I just wish Saragat were their Prime Minister.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Kissinger Telephone Conversations, Box 30, Chronological Files. No classification marking. Although no exact time appears on the transcript, a notation indicates that the telephone call took place in the afternoon.↩
- President Nixon was scheduled to travel to Europe and the United Kingdom September 27–October 5.↩
- Giuseppe Saragat was the President of the Republic of Italy 1964–1971.↩