President Nixon: Hello?
Operator: Dr. [Henry] Kissinger∇ calling you, Mr. President.
President Nixon: Yeah.
Operator: Mr. President.
President Nixon: Hello?
Henry Kissinger: Mr. President?
President Nixon: Yeah, Henry.
Kissinger: I just wanted to mention a number of relatively minor things to you.
President Nixon: Yeah.
Kissinger: One is that the South Vietnamese are launching another one of these raid-type operations tonight.
President Nixon: Good.
Kissinger: This time, it's a more sizeable one. There's a big sweep inside South Vietnam.
President Nixon: Good.
Kissinger: And then they're going to land some battalions in Base Area 611.
President Nixon: Mm-hmm.
Kissinger: And I think it's very useful to tie down the North Vietnamese.
President Nixon: Good.
Kissinger: And—
President Nixon: Is it well-programmed, well-supported, and well-planned?
Kissinger: Programmed and well-supported, Mr. President. And I've called [Admiral Thomas] Moorer∇ to say that we don't want any significant American losses in helicopters, and so forth. [^Admiral Thomas Moorer was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.]
President Nixon: Right. Right.
Kissinger: Secondly, I talked today to this fellow, [Yuli] Vorontsov, from the Soviet embassy.1
President Nixon: Right.
Kissinger: The reason was that there's a meeting between [David Kenneth] Rush and [Pyotr] Abrasimov.2
President Nixon: Yes.
Kissinger: On Berlin, and I just wanted to make sure that they didn't blow—that they understood which way the channels were going.
President Nixon: Yes.
Kissinger: And—
President Nixon: He understood that?
Kissinger: Oh, yeah. He understood it and he said that [Anatoly] Dobrynin∇ was coming back Sunday with new instructions and that we should take the [Leonid] Brezhnev speech very seriously.3 And he was slobbering all over me.
President Nixon: Good.
Kissinger: And—
President Nixon: We'll see Sunday what he tells you.
Kissinger: And then I did something which was a little unorthodox. I told him that Dobrynin had given me his phone number in Moscow.
President Nixon: Mm-hmm.
Kissinger: So he called me up—and I'd lost it. So he called me an hour later and said it might be a nice thing if I called Dobrynin and congratulated him on his Central Committee membership.
President Nixon: Good. Do it.
Kissinger: So I—in fact, I did it. And Dobrynin said “we'll have something on that exchange of letters when I come back.”
President Nixon: He said that?
Kissinger: Yeah.
President Nixon: Yeah?
Kissinger: But he didn't say what it was.
President Nixon: Yeah.
Kissinger: And he also said he was coming with new instructions.
President Nixon: But not indicating anything on the summit thing?
Kissinger: Well, he couldn't, Mr. President, on an open telephone.
President Nixon: Oh, it was open telephone. OK.
Kissinger: Yeah. We don't have a secure line. We have the hot line, but I didn't want to use that.
President Nixon: Right.
Kissinger: This was a commercial phone.
President Nixon: Good.
Kissinger: And—
President Nixon: But he probably—how'd he sound?
Kissinger: Oh, he sounded . . . they're going to do something, Mr. President. And then finally, one other thing, I called Mike Mansfield∇ on your behalf.[^Michael J. Mansfield was a Democratic senator from Montana.] [‘'Unclear.]
President Nixon: Just a second. Hold on.
President Nixon: Go ahead.
Kissinger: I called Mike Mansfield.
President Nixon: Yeah.
Kissinger: And told him that you had asked me to tell him about what you were announcing tomorrow in strictest confidence.
President Nixon: Right.
Kissinger: And I thought that he would have appreciated it. And he was all—he was beside himself. Very statesmanlike and—
President Nixon: Was he?
Kissinger: The President has his warm support and congratulations and . . . and he said now he sees what you were talking about in your—when you were hinting at China policy and . . .
President Nixon: Mm-hmm.
Kissinger: Of course, he raised again his going there.
President Nixon: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, we have it in mind.
Kissinger: And I thought, Mr. President, that tomorrow morning, if you agree, that perhaps [Clark] MacGregor∇ might call [Gerald] Ford∇ and [Carl] Albert.4 That gives MacGregor a little status and gives him something dovish to do.
President Nixon: Yeah.
Kissinger: And let State notify the Foreign Relations Committee.
President Nixon: Well, let MacGregor also call [George] Mahon.5
Kissinger: Yeah.
President Nixon: Mahon is a good man.
Kissinger: That's a good thing.
President Nixon:: And let him hit—because he's the best man on that side.
Kissinger:: Right.
President Nixon: And let's see, on our side, [Hugh] Scott.6
Kissinger: Scott he should call.
President Nixon: Yeah. He might as well.
Kissinger: Maybe Griffin.7
President Nixon: Yeah. Scott and Griffin. Yeah. And, let's see, anybody else that . . . I think that's enough. Let State inform the others. Well, MacGregor might call [George] Aiken.8
Kissinger: That—he's on the Foreign Relations Committee.
President Nixon: Oh, that's all right.
Kissinger: He'll probably [unclear].
President Nixon: That's right. Let him call Aiken and let State handle the others.
Kissinger: OK.
President Nixon: See?
Kissinger: Right.
President Nixon: Give Aiken a little . . .
Kissinger: Right.
President Nixon: A little brush. That's a good idea.
Kissinger: Good, Mr. President. I'll get that done [unclear].
President Nixon: Fine. OK, Henry.
Kissinger: Right.
President Nixon: Thank you.
1 Yuli M. Vorontsov was minister of Soviet embassy. (↑)
2 David Kenneth Rush was U.S. ambassador to West Germany. Pyotr Abrasimov was Soviet ambassador to East Germany. (↑)
3 Anatoliy F. Dobrynin was Soviet ambassador to the United States. Leonid I. Brezhnev was secretary general of Soviet Communist Party. (↑)
4 Clark MacGregor was congressional liaison. Representative Gerald R. Ford (R-MI) was House minority leader. Representative Carl B. Albert (D-OK) was Speaker of the House. (↑)
5 George H. Mahon was a Democratic representative from Texas. (↑)
6 Senator Hugh Scott (R-PA) was senate minority leader. (↑)
7 Senator Robert P. Griffin (R-MI) was senate minority whip. (↑)
8 Sen. George D. Aiken, R-Vermont. (↑)