Office of the Historian

41. Notes of Telephone Conversation Between the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) and President Nixon1 2

Washington, November 19, 1969, 3:30 p.m.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to the NPT.]

K said he was not sure we should make a big production of the NPT, because the Soviets aren’t. K said they plan simply to make a press announcement. The P said failing to have a signing isn’t going to be noticed there, but it sure is going to be noticed here. The P said we could just have a small one, not bother with Johnson. K said we don’t want to give them the impression that we were begging for an agreement. The P said he guessed K was right—let’s not have a ceremony. The P said he would just sign it and announce it. The P said Aiken, Mansfield, and Fulbright know it’s going to be done. The P said K might call them, say we found that the Soviets prefer just a press announcement, so we’re just going to sign it. Then we can make more of the meeting the next morning. The P said on that bacteriological thing, we have an awfully good case. The P said K should make him a talking paper on that for Tuesday morning. And K should call Fulbright, Aiken and Mansfield about breakfast Tuesday morning. The P said maybe we don’t have to tell them what the breakfast is going to be about. K said we could just say, a review of disarmament. The P said call it a consideration of a review of disarmament. The P said he would just sign the darn thing, and then announce it. We would get the credit for it anyway

  1. Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 361, Telephone Records, 1969–76, Telephone Conversations, Chronological File, 18–28 April 1969. No classification marking.↩
  2. Nixon and Kissinger tentatively decided not to have an NPT signing ceremony.↩