325. Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rogers and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
R: That played very well here, the Rush thing there.2
K: I haven’t seen it. I wasn’t there. I was at the meeting on Japan.3
R: How did that go?
K: There is a terrible babble of voices to tell you the truth, but it went okay. So I was present when the President and Rush talked, but not at … The President asked him to do a little backgrounder. I don’t know how it played; I haven’t seen the transcript.4
R: I haven’t either, but the coverage was good. I thought it worked out well.
K: I think it did.
R: And the fact that we made our position clear was good too.
K: They didn’t accept it, but at least it didn’t hurt.
R: It helped us.
K: The only thing that bothered me was admitting that they might have a point in their interpretation.
R: The thing that bothers me [omission in the source text] are you aware of that?
K: Rush mentioned that on the issue of [omission in the source text] versus relations.
[Page 911]R: The Russians are trying to make it appear henceforth so-and-so will happen. Our position is that it continues to be happening.
K: We have got to hang tough.
R: Yes. Apparently it’s not a dispute between the translators—it’s a question of whether they can change words.
K: I would be adamant.
R: We have got to be. The English feel very strongly about this; the French don’t seem to care.
K: My recommendation would be to tell Rush he should go to the brink on that. They won’t blow up the agreement.
R: No, they can’t.
K: You going to be in your office in another half hour?
R: Yes.
K: I want to talk to you about another matter which I can’t do at this moment.
R: Okay.
K: I will call you back within half an hour.5
- Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 369, Telephone Conversations, Chronological File. No classification marking. Rogers was in Washington; Kissinger was in San Clemente. According to his Appointment Book, Rogers placed the call to Kissinger at 5:05 p.m., EDT. (Personal Papers of William P. Rogers)↩
- Rogers also called Haldeman at 11:53 a.m., EDT, on August 27 to discuss Nixon’s upcoming meeting with Rush. (Ibid.) Haldeman wrote the following account in his diary: “Rogers called me first thing this morning, said they’ve having problems on the Berlin agreement with the Russians, because they’re reneging on the translation. The agreement was made in English and German. He thinks regarding the Rush meeting scheduled for today, the P might want to say a few words afterwards on TV, making the point that he’s pleased about the agreement so far, and thank those who worked on it, especially those at State. So the P should not say he accepts it, but he should just say he feels it’s a good move, and he [Rogers] suggested this is a good way to get credit for the P.” (The Haldeman Diaries: Multimedia Edition) Haldeman’s handwritten notes of the conversation are in National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files, H.R. Haldeman.↩
- Kissinger attended a Senior Review Group meeting on Japan from 10:55 a.m. to noon. (Record of Schedule; Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 438, Miscellany, 1968–76)↩
- See footnote 4, Document 324.↩
- Kissinger called Rogers back at 5:45 p.m., EDT. (Appointment Book; Personal Papers of William P. Rogers) No other record of the conversation has been found.↩