129. Notes of Telephone Conversation Between the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) and Secretary of State Rogers1 2
[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Seabeds]
K said what really got him on Jerry was the way he handled the Seabed Treaty. J told the P he would wait for 3 or 4 years on that, and then he came back to the P 3 weeks later and told him he was morally committed. K said he knew how that happened—we didn’t think the Soviets would respond. K said his own impression of Jerry is that he’s an honorable guy and that he plays the game. R said he will if we let him. R said that in the meeting, the P didn’t like what Jerry was saying so he cut him off. K said he had not been watching that. R said on the Soviet thing, if you are careless on your recollection, you might conclude as K did. What J said was that [Page 2] if we were in a position of doing something we don’t like, we can delay it. R said he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the Seabed Treaty. If we’re going to have an era of negotiation, it’s a good thing. K said he agreed, and that on every decision that came to the White House, we sided with Jerry. R said that when Jerry talked about delaying 3 or 4 years, he was talking about if it was unsatisfactory, but it didn’t happen. R said if he were President, he would say he was glad Smith worked that out. R said it will be some time before the treaty will be a treaty, another 3 or 4 years. K said he didn’t think there was any basic damage done, but he would do what he could to keep it quiet. R said on the Smith thing, tell the P the delay could have been invoked, but the Soviets moved in our direction—we thought they would move the other way. And also tell the P that it is going to 3 or 4 years till it is a treaty. K said he didn’t even think he would raise it with the P, it wasn’t that important.
[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Seabeds]