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    "title": "November 11-17, 1969",
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    "ocrText": "Telecon\nWalt Rostow\n10:10 a. m\n11/17/69\nK said that he hand't heard from Johnson City in SO long, we were getting\nworried, and probably rightly so, that they were mad at us. Rostow said\nhe would be in Washington on Dec. 29. He had agreed to talk to the\nAmerican Historical Association on Asia and would be in again in January.\nK said he would like to get him here before that on a consultant basis and\nRostow should have his secretary work on some dates.\nK wanted to say one word about a part of the speech which K heard rumors\nthat they were unhappy about. K wanted R to know there was nothing in the\npre-inauguraà correspondence with Hanoi. It was a general expression that\nwe would negotiatie seriously and said nothing to them about waiting until\nNixon got in office before negotiating. Rostow said he couldn't speak for\nJohnson on this. Some observations were made that were untrue which made\nit painful. He was speaking about the passage in the beginning of the speech.\nR said only Nixon can made judgments as to what political requirements he\nhas. R said he would never second guess a President who bares this\nresponsibility. R would say that the speech wasn't wholely accurate. It did\nnot throw Johnson into XXX a state to make war but it had its costs. Rostow\nfelt it was unfortunate. R repeated that only a President can decide what to do.\nHe hated to see the relationships between the two President's strained. K\nagreed and said we have SO many enemies that we should do what we can for\nour friends. Leaving aside the passage, K thought that the speech would have\npleased Rostow. Rostow was pleased and said he has been around the country\nand deeply believes that the people will sweat it out under the new leadership.\nRostow said he didn't know enough about the situation in Vietnam to know whether\nthe President is doing right or wrong. The thing that worries him most is\nthe damage of political fragmentation. K said it was a religious article at\nFoggy Bottom that unless you have humilitated Thieu, the day hasn't been\nworthwhile. R thought they were losing politically in Vietnam and they will\nlose in the U.S. if the President holds steady. They only way they will survive\nis if they hang together. The political elite has to stand together. R said that\nhe has been talking around the country and despite the media, people of this\ncountry have enough sense and character that they don't want to walk away from\nit.\nRostow said that Valentine Zorine(sp) of the Soviet Academy of Sixne Science\nwill be visiting klxex President Johnson tomorrow and would like to know if there\nwas anything K wished to be passed on. K said anything the President could say\nto support Nixon and also that when the chips are donw, the people will support\ntheir President. This would be a great opportunity for the Soviet Union to get\nthe war wound up and move to our basic relationships. Rostow said that would\nhave been his instinct.\nK asked him again to make arrangements to come\ndown in early December.\nReproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library\nDECLASSIFIED\nThis document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified."
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