006-021

White House Operator: The Attorney [General]—

President Nixon: Hello?

John Mitchell^∇: Yes, Mr. President.

President Nixon: John, the way I feel about this case is that . . . first, in terms of discipline, [J. Edgar] Hoover is right; in terms of his decision he was wrong. You know what I mean, about not questioning [Louis] Marx, because he—of personal considerations. But in terms of our overall situation, he just cannot—and I really feel that you have to tell him this—he cannot, with my going tomorrow to address the FBI^∇ graduation, and also with the [Daniel] Ellsberg^∇ case being the issue, he cannot take anything which causes dissension within the FBI ranks. It's just—it's just going to raise holy hell. They'll say, "This crotchety old man did it again," see. That's my feeling about it.

Mitchell: Well, I don't think there's any doubt about it, Mr. President. I think this might be the last straw as far as he's concerned.

President Nixon: Yeah.

Mitchell: They—and this, of course, as you point out, he does have a paper case.

President Nixon: Sure.

Mitchell: The only question that I had in my mind [was] whether he will take this from me or whether you have to talk to him about it.

President Nixon: Yeah.

Mitchell: That's the only question I have.

President Nixon: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, I'll tell you what I'd like to do. Why don't you just say that I—it came to my attention, that I've heard about it. That I feel very strongly—I'll be glad to talk to him about it, but I—I feel—I understand the disciplinary thing, but I think the primary consideration is, we must not have anything with regard to Ellsberg to reflect on Edgar Hoover, and I—and he just has got to find a way to handle it that does not do that.

Mitchell: All right, sir.

President Nixon: And just tell him that, and then if it's needed for me to call, I'll back it up. I'll back it up.

Mitchell: All right, sir. Let me .

President Nixon: You tell him, "I've talked to the President and Edgar, he doesn't want to embarrass you in a disciplinary matter where he has overruled the director, but he feels ''very'' strongly. He's coming over there to the FBI, you know, and after all, we—and he knows that discipline is important, but he feels very strongly that we must not have the Ellsberg thing be a reason for dissension in the Bureau. That could raise holy hell." Could that be all right?

Mitchell: Yes, sir.

President Nixon: Want to try it?

Mitchell: We'll try it that way and see how it flies.

President Nixon: Right. Yeah.

Mitchell: I would hope that he doesn't blow his stack and leave the fold. I don't believe he will.

President Nixon: Well, if he does now, I'll be ready. I'll be ready to talk to him.

Mitchell: All right, sir.

President Nixon: But—absolutely. But he just—he just—I just don't—just say that we've got to keep our eye on the main ball. The main ball is Ellsberg. We've got to get this son of a bitch. And you know, I was talking to somebody over here yesterday, I mean one of our . . . the PR [public relations] types, and they're saying, "well, maybe we ought to drop the case if the Supreme Court doesn't sustain and so forth." And I said, "Hell, no. I mean you can't do that. You can't be in a position of having," as I said this morning, "we can't be in a position of ever allowing, just because some guy is going to be martyr, of allowing the fellow to get away with this kind of wholesale thievery, or otherwise it's going to happen all over the government." Don't you agree?

Mitchell: Quite. I think that we're just going to have to do this.

President Nixon: That's right.

Mitchell: Otherwise we lose all credibility.

President Nixon: Well, and let me say, too, don't figure the PR is too bad either. It can turn around the other way. People don't like people that are thieves.

Mitchell: Now all that people have to do is look at this guy on television and—

President Nixon: Yeah.

Mitchell: —his name and so forth, and—

President Nixon: Right. Good.

Mitchell: You've got a hell of a lot going for you right off the bat.

President Nixon: Now if you will handle it—but I'll be here if I'm needed. I feel it's very important not to allow anything now. We've got to have a united front on Ellsberg. That's the main thing. Do you think that can work with him, or not? I don't know.

Mitchell: I think it will, particularly coming from you.

President Nixon: Yeah.

Mitchell: And—

President Nixon: Just say that I heard about it, and that I'm coming over to make this strong statement on the Bureau tomorrow. OK. All right. Bye.

Mitchell: Very good, sir. Will do.

006-040

Henry Kissinger^∇: Hello?

Anatonliy Dobrynin^∇: Hello?

White House Operator: Mr. Dobrynin.

Kissinger: Hello, Anatoliy.

Dobrynin: Yeah, hello Henry. How are you?

Kissinger: I'm sitting here with the President and he wanted me to express to you personally his sorrow at what happened with the Cosmonauts.1

Dobrynin: Well, thank you very much.

Kissinger: And we will send over a formal message to your president.

Dobrynin: Yes, send it on.

Kissinger: But he wanted me to --

Dobrynin: Thank you very much.

Kissinger: --make sure, in fact the President wants to say a word to you himself.

Dobrynin: Thank you very much.

President Nixon: Hello?

Dobrynin: Hello, Mr. President.

President Nixon: I wanted you to know that this message is not just the usual, and I dictated it myself. Interestingly enough my daughter Julie is in Athens, you know, and she called me on the phone -- got me up at 7:30 this morning -- to say that she had just heard it so we just want you to know that wherever brave men are in the world our deepest sympathy goes to them and we know that your program will continue as ours will. You remember we had three that were lost too one time.

Dobrynin: Yes, I remember.

President Nixon: So, we just want you to know that this is from the heart.

Dobrynin: Listen, I am really deeply touched and I will forward your message to my government.

President Nixon: The thing that you can point out to your goverment is that my daughter called and these little personal things we won't put out in our formal message but I wanted you to know that--

Dobrynin: And I really [unclear] thank you very much.

President Nixon: Fine, thank you

Dobrynin: Thank you.

• 1. The Soviet Union had announced that three of its astronauts were found dead in their space capsule upon their return to earth following a 24-day mission in an orbiting space laboratory. Bernard Gwertzman, "3 Soviet Astronauts Are Dead; Bodies Discovered in Capsule When It Lands After 24 Days," New York Times, 30 June 1971.