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    "ocrText": "Telecon\nJoseph Kraft\n11/24/69\n10:23\na.\nm.\nKraft had a couple of questions: one, the Xuan Thuy statement, is it a\ndiddle? K said, is terms of historical record, it is total nonsense, there's\nnothing to it. Whether it is a backhanded way of telling us something for\nthe future\nKraft said, telling us they are willing to represent\nthe Front? K said whether this is their way of saying they are more recep-\ntive to talks then previously, we'll have to see. K said we are looking at it\nfrom that point of view; as historical record, it is not worth talking about.\nKraft said, is it that bad? K said yes, it says we've been unwilling to dis-\ncuss the political future of Vietnam, and that's not true. We've been pre-\npared to discuss Vietnam's political x future. K said he said we were not\nwilling to discuss general political subjects; that's not true. We have been\nwilling to discuss the future of Saigon. K said we never said we wouldn't\ndiscuss their 10 points. They have discussed outs, and said everything\nthey think is wrong with them. K said we are willing to; it just didn't turn\nout that way.\nKraft asked when the 11 meetings took place. K said he couldn't go into\nthat. Kraft aaid at one point it looked like we were going along a formula\nline. Kraft asked if there had been any progress. K said not yet. Kraft\nsaid what emerges is a perfect symmetry; we could have this war going on\nforever. K said we are not beginning to understand where the real issues\nare. K said in September, nothing could happen--nobody in Paris. Then\nthe moratoriums--nothin could happen until they had seen that. K said\nlook at it in terms of time frames. They are dedicated communists--they\ncouldn't let down their allies by making moves in October and November\nthat might be inconsistent\nKraft said, they you see this as positive?\nK said he didn't see anything negative. Kraft said he sees the thing as a\nperfect symmetry. K said he didn't know, we may botch the whole thing.\nKraft said he never did see the purpose of releasing letters that didn't\nsay what they were purported to say. K said it was important to show\nthat we had made efforts and the road of peremptory demanding was not\nthe way to do it. K said there is also a line in the President's speech\nsaying that we are not mentioning things that still seem promising. K said\nKraft knew what that meant. Kraft said no he didn't. K said well, it wasn't\ndirected toward him.\nKraft said we need sombody gibber than Phil to handle the GVN. K agreed.\nKraft said he takes it that there's no thought of replacing Phill for quite awhile.\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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