Office of the Historian

339. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Kissinger and President Nixon1

Washington, March 18, 1974, 12:55 p.m.

K: Mr. President.

N: Hi, Henry.

K: I just want you to know we’ve had a message from Sadat saying that he has advance information that they are going to lift the embargo with a review scheduled in June.2 That doesn’t mean a thing, Mr. President.

[Page 941]

N: That’s fine.

K: Because if it is just a review…

N: We will have—by that time we will have made some progress and that will also leave it open for me to make that trip before then.

K: Exactly.

N: I hope this is true. When will we know it.

K: We have had another report that we might know it by the end of the day today and that is also what Sadat indicated—by the end of the day in Europe and this might well be by 3:00 here.

N: O.K. You give me a ring. Good luck.

K: I will give you a ring immediately.3

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts, Box 25, Chronological Files. Unclassified.↩
  2. In telegram 1361 from Cairo, March 18, the Embassy reported that the OAPEC meeting in Vienna decided to lift the embargo on the United States, that this decision would be discussed again at the Arab Oil Ministers meeting on June 1, and that every Arab country would raise its production in order to meet the requirements created by lifting the embargo. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box CL 128, Geopolitical Files, Egypt, Chron Files, 17–31 Mar 1974)↩
  3. At 1:10 p.m., Kissinger called the President and told him that there was an unconfirmed “flash news ticker item” that the oil embargo was lifted without conditions. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Telephone Conversations, Box 25, Chronological Files)↩