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    "ocrText": "TELCON\nAmb. Margain (Mexico)/Kissinger\n11:05 am\n5/6/70\nM: I would like to extend to you an invitation in the name of the President of\nMexico. He knows of your interest in football and soccer and he would like to\ninvite you to the championship games whihhare going to be played in our\ncountry.\nK: I would like that very much and I have never visited Mexico, which I also\nwould like to do very much.\nM: Galo Plaza suggested he would like to go with you and they will accompany\nyou.\nK: I am delighted to do it and accept with great pleasure. I talked to Galo Plaza\nabout a tentitive date. He thought June 17-21.\nM: Any place and time you would like. The final contest would be interesting\nand if you took in the other games you could visit GuaHalajara and other cities.\nYou are thinking about the 17th?\nK: He mentioned that one in the city you named and that's a Wed. and stay\nthrough Sunday. This would be with great pleasure. Of course, I am not\ncompletely master of my life. Otherwise I would like to do it.\nM: We know that and we hope that you will be able to visit my country. I will\ninform my government. Thank you very much for calling back.\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.\nTELCON\nLaird/Kissinger\n6:08 pm\n5/6/70\nK: The whold academic community is descending on me.\nL: Are they talking with you?\nK: They are getting more aggressive.\nL: We won our vot but don't let it shock you - 121 - 144.\nthere\nK: You thought tax should be a wider margin?\nL: On the Findley thing I thought we would do a little better. Early today we got\nword that we should through public relations people -- meet with reporters\nand give them the decision making process.\nK: From whom?\nL: Klein. LOOK has met with Colson, Magruder and Chapin. They have the times\nof the meetings. They that tx have to that I recommended that earlier and\nand then it was shot off.\nK: That's disgraceful.\nL: I have told Hencken to talk to nobody. I told Freidheim that the President\ndesision making process was not going to be discussed. I said all he I was going\nto say today at the briefing. The planes were made and I supported them. But to get\ninto that -- they will whip saw.\nK: I don't know where Klein gets off. Let me check with him.\nL: I have told my people they cannot discuss meetings and times. I am sure that\nthe stories from these kind of briefs will divide instread of unite.\nK: In your judgment - The President thought at\nthe Congress was with\nhim. You think it doesn/t?\nL: Privately, I thought the vote -- 144 decided to use some other vehicle. They\ndidn't accept the Findley bill because it was so close.\nK: That's what happened?\nL: I don't think we should admit that.\nK: What do you think of the student things?\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.\nTELCON\nLaird/Kissinger\n6:08 pm 5/6/70\n-2-\nL: It's tough. There are people who are against the whole war. They are jumping\non this and using it. They are trying to misuse the students.\nK: We will be through with these in 3 weeks, won't we?\nL: 3-6 weeks. We are limiting them. I don't know where the President got\nthat mileage.\nK: To hell with that.\nL: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? On the riverine operation we have Americans\nin on that. It won't go up for a couple of days.\nK: He understands it too. We talked about it this morning.\nL: Maybe I am not getting the right dope.\nK: He was thinking of the NSDM.\nL: I thought he was going to give the riverine thing away.\nK: He almost did. How are the operations going?\nL: Fine. There will be press people saying therex things aren't going well but\nmost people recognize they are going okay. Kalb will say it's living up to Pentagon\nexpectations. We can't police that. We put out that it's better than our expectations.\nSo is Wheeler and Abrams.\nK: OK.\nL: One other thing. We have got to insist on one thing and you have to help. As\nwe have inserted these people over there they have to have a plan for the use of\nthese troops. Most of these Khmers have never been in a city and to let them\nwander around Penom Penh - they have no use for them. They don't have a hell\nof a lot to do.\nK: We will raise that tomorrow at the meeting.\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.\nTELCON\nLaird/Kissinger\n7:17 pm\n5/6/70\nL: How did it go?\nK: Tremendous. The President did a superlative job. Cooper and Aiken will\nbe cautious now. The President liked your briefing so well this morning he tried\nto get you but you were on your plane.\nL: I thought it was better if I left because Bill was giving me the business about\nbeing there.\nK: He understood. We got Johnny Vogt to do it.\nL: The President understood, didn't he? I will be back tomorrow.\nK: Yes. You know about those three other things.\nL: You might as well go all out.\nK: We will take the heat now and then we will be through. Those Senators didn't\nhave thigx the fighting spirit. Fulbright was nasty but not aggressive. The most\nobnoxious was Pell because XX he is a dope.\nL: I just wanted to know wow it went.\nK: I was afraid it would be a disaster but I have never seen the President SO\neffective.\nL: Fine.\nK: Thanks for calling. I will tell him you called.\nL: You can reach me here all night.\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.\nTELECON\nSecretary Shultz/Kissinger\n5-6-70\n8:07 p.m.\n(Missed first few moments of conversation)\nS:\nthat sounds like a wild combination.\nK: Where are you?\nS: Bob Finch and I are in a dining room near your office. Have been\ndiscussing the domestic thing and how to handle it. It involves under-\nstanding the foreign scene and what is going on. Would like to talk\nwith you about it.\nK: You want to make some suggestions?\nS: No, no suggestions. Procedure whereby we can know what is going\non which we don't know now. I talked with Ehrlichman\nseems to\nthink it would be OK with the President to have this set up\ninformation system for the Administration so we can sound half-way\nintelligent when we talk to people.\nK: Eine. I will be by in about five minutes.\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.\nTELECON\nStuart Loory/Mr. Kissinger\n9:45 p.m., May 6, 1970\nL:\nI have been working several days x trying to piece together\nthe story of what has been going on during the last few months.\nK:\nWhat conclusion did you draw?\nL:\nI think I know what happened.\nK:\nI thought you were going to tell me a story.\nL:\nI would like to ask you some questions.\nK:\nI will neither\nKUNYK\nconfirm nor deny. I don't want to give\nchecklists.\nL:\nThe story as I have reconstructed it is: The President during\nthe week before his April 20 speech had made up his mind to withdraw\n150, 000 troops over a year which is one of the options given to him on\none of several schedules in the plan for troop withdrawals which was\nfinished sometime after the Midway meeting. I am told there were 5\noptions that he could pick or choose at various times. I was told that\nGeneral Abrams was arguing for a 35, 000 withdrawal over 4 months\nwhich would be roughly 8, 000 men per month, as opposed to 11, 000-\n12, 000 in the 150, 000 figure. When the President went to Honolulu,\nAdmiral McCain got one last crack to represent General Abrams' view\nand bring the President's views in line with Abrams'. The President\nremained firm with 150, 000, but agreed to hear new arguments\npreviously rejected on cleaning out the sanctuaries. McCain came to\nSan Clemente on Monday and presented the same story to you that\nday. During the following week, the President was turned around\nnot to go into the sanctuaries and by Saturday night had all been\ndecided on a boatride on the Potomac.\nK:\nThe greater part of that is nonsense. McCain, at least in the\nbriefing to me (I wasn't present when he talked to the President) --\ndidn't even mention the sanctuaries. I am practically certain sanctuaries\nwere not mentioned in any context. I only saw him for 20 minutes.\nNo one could have told you that he and I were the only two present.\nI had never heard sanctuaries mentioned in connection with withdrawal.\nIt may kill a good story. Second, it is not true that any decisions were\nmade on the boatride -- it was purely social.\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.\nStuart Loory/Mr. Kissinger\n9:45 p. m., May 6, 1970\n- 2 -\nL:\nI meant the boatride and the Camp David meeting that\nSaturday.\nK:\nIt was laid on at the last minute -- it wasn't scheduled. The\nPresident called and asked me to fly up and show him what the choices\nwere. He did not make the decision until Monday n ight.\nL:\nThe choices were the use of ARVN only.\n?\nK:\nI don't want to into that. There has been enough in the papers\nabout the timing to show you this is simply not right.\nL:\nOn the basis of what is in the papers, on the Thursday before\n(the 23rd) cleaning out of the sanctuaries was not a live possibility\nas far as Rogers was concerned.\nK:\nI will not go into any other part ;of this because I can't do my\njob if people have to worry about what I reveal about decisions. I\nmerely want to keep you from going off the deep end. McCain never\ndiscussed the sanctuaries. He gave me a general briefing about the\nPacific and only because the President was impressed the day before\nand he was in San Diego, and I thought I had an afternoon free. But\nthe speech took more time than expected, so I had only 20 minutes\nfor him. No decision was made on that Saturday evening. There were\ntwo more meetings after that -- on Sunday and Monday morning.\nL:\nOf course, when it is told that the decision was made Saturday\nnight, it is not inconsistent with what you say -- the President by that\npoint had virtually made up his mind.\nK:\nIf he had, it was not obvious to me. As late as Tuesday morning,\nI was reviewing with some of my associations what I would say if he\nasked me for a firm recommendation. I tell you that only to indicate\nhow close the time period was.\nL:\nI am told also that Rogers and Laird were in opposition to use\nof American troops pretty much up to the end.\nK:\nI will not give a checklist of who recommended what. I really\ncan't do that.\nL:\nWas Mitchell at the final meetings?\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.\nStuart Loory/Mr. Kissinger\n9:45 p. m., May 6, 1970\n- 3 -\nK:\nAt some -- not at the Monday meeting; not at David.\nL:\nDid he sit in on the Washington Special Action Group meetings?\nK:\nNo.\nL:\nHe was in one meeting?\nK:\nThe NSC meeting on Wednesday.\nL:\nThat was the meeting we were told XXXX would not deal with\nCambodia -- Wednesday, April 22.\nK:\nStu, you are a great journalist.\nL:\nCan I get back to you maybe tomorrow?\nK:\nYou can try. You are on the wrong track. A lot of people you\nare talking to don't have any idea what went on.\nL:\nHow many people knew the story from beginning to end?\nK:\nFour.\nL:\nFour and not five? The President, you, Rogers and Laird.\nTo say five would add Mitchell.\nK:\nI would say 4-1/2.\nL:\nThen maybe we get into quarters, eighths and sixteenths.\nlds\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.\nTELECON\nMr. Kissinger/David Rockefeller\n10:56 p. m., May 6, 1970\nK:\nSorry to disturb you. I was talking to Nelson this morning.\nMcNamara gave me a list of people he thought were going to be\ndifficult on the war. It included Irwin Miller and Jock Whitney.\nNelson thought you might have a particular influence with Miller.\nR:\nI heardfrom Dick Dillworth this morning that Miller was\ngoing to call me. I'm expecting to see him at the Business Council\nmeeting tomorrow night.\nK:\nHe is another one.\nR:\nHe certainly didn't indicate it to me -- he's terribly concerned\nabout the situation in the country as we all are. I talked to him this\nmorning and at a meeting this afternoon he indicated he was prepared\nto make a stand against the war as such. I am going in any case to\nthe Business Council meeting tomorrow evening in Hot Springs. I\nXhxnk Irwin Miller certainly will be there. He did not call me today\nas Dick Dillworth told me this morning he might. I certainly will\ntalk to him about it.\nK:\nThere's nothing anyone could do because we will be out of\nthere before any action could be effective.\nR:\nI must say I think time is of the essence. I am terribly\ndisturbed by what one hears on every hand. It is distressing.\nK:\nWhat people have to ask themselves is what is the cause and\nwhat is the symptom and whether trying to take weapons away\nfrom them with which Americans are being killed, and to implement\na pblicy of withdrawal, justifies wrecking universities and the very\nfabric of our society.\nR:\nI met with 40 students from the Columbia International Center\nand had a chance to tell them some of the things you and Bill Rogers\nsaid -- but in a general way. I think it was useful. But on the other\nhand, there is no question that the more moderate ones are terribly\nupset. I think, myself, if you can succeed quickly, all can be\nretrieved.\nK:\nCertainly, when I was young, I often felt intensely about\nsomething for which I felt ashamed of a few months later. The question\nis: by yielding to them now, are we helping them?\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.\nMr. Kissinger/David Rockefeller\n10:56 p.m., May 6, 1970\n- 2 -\nR:\nIf it drags on for a couple of months, it can be very difficult\nto\nK:\nWe are almost certain to conclude it by June 15.\nR:\nThe sooner the better.\nK:\nParts of it will be earlier.\nR:\nHow is it going?\nK:\nMilitarily and diplomatically, it is a great success. We\nhave doubled the rice amount I told you about yesterday. The small\narms captured were 124, 000 rounds -- now it's 750, 000 rounds;\nalso 6, 000 rockets, 2,000 mortars, and 3, 700 rifles.\nR:\nDo you think this can prevent them from taking Phnom Penh\nand taking over the country?\nK:\nIt can certainly prevent their launching an offensive into South\nVietnam. At least if they take over Phnom Penh, they won't be\nable to fight with the weapons they have. It may delay it. Our big\nconcern was with South Vietnam. The Soviet reaction has been\nextremely mild. Hanoi's reaction is very mild. Considering the\nheavy bombing of NVN this weekend, they only cancelled one meeting\nin Paris -- they said they would be there next week.\nR:\nI will keep in touch with you and let you know what various\npeople's reactions are. Dick Dillworth indicated that Irwin might get\nin touch with me -- perhaps he is waiting to see me tomorrow night.\nK:\nThe cohesion of our society depends on the leaders sticking\ntogether no matter what their reservations are.\nR:\nIt's very serious indeed.\nK:\nThe time for telling the students is after this immediate\nsituation.\nR:\nDeal with this as quickly as possible. Once this particular\nepisode is closed.\nThe students are concerned that this is really\nthe beginning of a whole new phase of war. They haven't accepted\nit as part of what has gone on before.\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.\nMr. Kissinger/David Rockefeller\n10:56 p.m., May 6, 1970\n- 3 -\nK:\nThe students are not the problem. But some of their elders\nwho should know better are the problem. Will you call me?\nR:\nI'll be in Hot Springs tomorrow night and for the next two\ndays meeting with the Business Council. I will give you a call.\nK:\nIf any group of the Business Council wants to oppose this,\nat least give us a chance to talk to them.\nlds\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.\nTELECON\nMr. Kissinger/Otis Chandler (L.A.)\n11:10 p. m., May 6, 1970\nK:\nHow are you?\nC:\nAre you working late? What's going on in Indochina, may\nI\nask? We are confused.\nK:\nAll we want to do is clean the supplies out of these base areas.\nWe have no intention of staying. We will be out by July 1 and probably\nwell before then. We will be winding up some the end of next week.\nFrom the military and diplomatic points of view, it is going very well:\n3,800 of the enemy killed; 800 prisoners; 4, 000 rifles captured;\n1, 524 bunkers destroyed; 2 million pounds of rice captured; 800, 000\nrounds of small arms ammunition; 6, 000 rockets; 2, 500 mortars;\n24, 000 pounds of medical supplies. We have captured 8 times as\nmuch as the largest single month of any of the war in the Vietnam.\nWe have just begun to search some of these caches. This will go\nway up. The military objective is being achieved which is to disrupt\ntheir supply system. With the rainy season starting, it will take\n4 months for them to go in. It will take them another 4-6 months to\nrestock assuming they dare to do it. We gain 8-10 months. Our\ncasualties are extremely light -- 26 in the whole operation.\nC:\nParrot's Beak?\nK:\nAll the operations put together. There were only 3 at Parrot's\nBeak because that is mainly the South Vietnamese. Diplomatically,\nthe Soviet response was terribly restrained, so we may resume the\ndialogue by bringing hom to them the risk of confrontation. Hanoi's\nreaction was very tepid. They cancelled today's conference but\nannounced they would be there next week.\nC:\nDid the Russians move back from the SALT talks?\nK:\nNo. There was a brief reference to it today. We were worried\nthey might walk out, but today's meeting was very businesslike and\nvery matter of fact. The problem is with the kids at home. I have\nbeen seeing student delegations. The question is: is this issue of\nthe moral magnitude that universities are justified to wreck themselves\nand tear the fabric of our society? If we allow ourselves to be driven\noff because we are trying to save American lives -- this country\nwill become ungovernable.\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.\nMr. Kissinger/Otis Chandler\n11:10 p.m., May 6, 1970\n- 2 -\nC:\nThese kids are not sophisticated. On the surface, the\nPresident's San Clemente speech said things are going well,\n150, 000 are coming out, Vietnamization is working well -- and\nsince then, there has been such an abrupt change. We are bombing\nnorth of the DMZ, and then there's this Cambodian thing. The kids\ninterpret it as the President changing his whole policy. That is why\nthe campuses are on fire. They are not sophisticated.\nK:\nMy problem is not with the kids. When I talk to kids -- I had\n10 from Princeton yesterday -- they were all with us. They can't\ndo much when they return to Princeton. But those kids are reachable.\nOur problem is the faculties and administrators. I had Stanford\nstudents in today. The kids were fine -- they didn't like it, but they\nare understanding. The faculties are the problem.\nC:\nOnce the kids understand, I agree. How do you reach those\nkids is the problem with the faculties.\nK:\nWe have two problems. The immediate problem is to get\nthrough this crisis without being driven off by a student rebellion.\nWe have to go through with it now. Would there be any negotiations\nwith the Soviets or the Chinese if our government was so weak and\nthe leadership group so feeble that they can be driven off by universities\non these issues. The second problem is how do we e-establish\ncommunications with these kids? I talked to the President tonight.\nWe will make this top priority as soon as the current operation is\nsuccessfully concluded -- that is June. I am going to set up a system\nby which groups like this come in regularly and systematically so we\ndon't always just see them when the town is burning. The immediate\nproblem is whether the leaders of our country can pull together in\nsuch a situation enough to separate the tactical problem from the moral\nissue. If you were in Washington, I would be delighted to sit down and\ntalk with you. We didn't want Sihanouk overthrown. We were faced\nwith a country that had asked for substantial military assistance\nbecause it was menaced by an army of 400, 000 on its flank. Say we\ndidn't give assistance; the country falls -- 600 miles of frontier\nwould be wide open to South Vietnam where they could fight a guerrilla\nwar. And we came to the view that we could have withdrawn 150, 000\nunder these conditions. How could we have faced the American people\nnext Spring -- we killed another 8, 000 for what? This is what drove\nus crazy. We knew something might happen. The last thing we want\nto do is escalate the war.\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.\nMr. Kissinger/Otis Chandler\n11:10 p.m., May 6, 1970\n- 3 -\nC:\nThat is good to hear. We have been for you and the President\nall along the line. I have been counselling our editorial writers not\nto go overboard.\nK:\nThat is, in fact, why I called you -- you have always been\nfriends to us. I would like to think we share a number of concerns.\nC:\nWe do. I suggest one thing. If the President could issue a\nstatement or go on national television to the kids -- because of his\nremark on April 20 about the militants burning which has been mis-\ninterpreted. It is becoming a catalyst to every campus.\nK:\nHe is having a press conference Friday night. He might open\nby saying something like that -- first of all, he had just received a\nletter from a Stanford professor whose 20 years of XXXXXX research\nnotes were burned up. That is what he had in mind. The listeners\ndidn't know that.\nC:\nI'm trying to be helpful. I know what that remark did.\nK:\nWhat is happening to my close friends in the academic\ncommunity? It's been a hectic week for everybody.\nC:\nIs there any way of slowing Kingman Brewster down? He\nis hot at the moment. I'm not trying to run him down because he\nis very bright.\nK:\nHe's a cheap grand-stander.\nC:\nHe's making a lot of calls around. He is convinced that\nthe middle students -- the silent majority who didn't participate --\nare now going to movex over to the extreme views of the militants.\nHe is trying to generate support.\nK:\nWhat these children want is somebody to stand for them.\nThey are not sure of themselves. I treat them compassionately\nwhen they come in -- we part friends. These things Kingman Brewster\nis doing are an abdication of his generation. They are looking for\nheros, not buddies.\nC:\nI thought maybe somebody could talk to him.\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.\nMr. Kissinger/Otis Chandler\n11:10 p.m., May 6, 1970\n- 4 -\nK:\nI tried to one night -- he is extremely emotional.\nC:\nHe called me today and asked me to join some group. I\nsaid I could not.\nK:\nI appreciate your telling me that.\nC:\nHe has intentions of trying to be helpful, but it won't help\nat all. It will be worse.\nK:\nI might call him tomorrow and say before he does anything,\nwould he come down\nC:\nI have talked to Cy Vance and people like that are XX\nall\nKingman Brewster fans. He has a lot of support. If you could slow\nhim down, it might help. I shouldn't be giving you advice. It was\nvery nice of you to take the time to call.\nK:\nI remember our meetings on the West Coast and remember\nyour courtesies and interests with great pleasure.\nC:\nIt was good to talk to you.\nlds\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.\nTELCON\nYoshida/Kissinger\n9:17 am\n5/7/70\nY: It was good to see you again even briefly. I met my friend today and gave him\nmy full report. He appreciates your message and expressed his preference for\nplan 2.\nK: With the fewer items?\nY: Fewer specific items and more tighter consultation conditions. Apparently\nhe found this plan more responsive and possible for us except the queston of the\nduration of the agreement. xRkex Perhaps we might agree to 3 years on conditions\non the clear understanding that this could be extended. My friend assured me he\nwill take steps forward based on your planes and he hopes to reach a solution\nquickly. Our Parliament will close May 15. After that things can be dealt\nwith easer from our internal point of view. If you will give us more time for\nthe solution. He expressed his\nfor the policy your friend announced\nlast week. (He is going to announce one himself.) He is sending Aichi to\nthe Djakarta Asian Conference.\nK: My friend will be delighted.\nY: He asked me to send his best wishes to you and your friend.\nK: I will pass this on and give him our warm regards. I will pass on these\nmessages immediately.\nY: This is exactly what my friend has told me this morning.\nK: I appreciate this very much. Nice to talk to you.\nY: We shall be in close touch.\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.\nTELCON\nMilton Katz/Kissinger\n9:35 am\n5/7/70\nMK: I hear you are meeting with Harvard today.\nK: I'm meeting with Stanford yesterday and afterwards they said I didn't understand\nthem.\nMK: Institute people?\nK: No, the Universaity. No one from Harvard yet.\nMK: Are they coming as a gang?\nK: They haven't requested an appointment yet. They are going to picket my house.\nMK: I heard they were going to meet with you and Elliot Richardson in your house.\nK: At 6:30 a. m.?\nMK There's a meeting with Neustadt.\nK: I have heard from them and I'm seeing them tomorrow.\nMK: And anouther group?\nK: I will meet with them in my house if they want but I haven't heard from them.\nZinberg tells me they are going to picket.\nMK: I doubt she's informed.\nK: The Harvard Business School is also asking. I'm trying to get them into one\ngroup. You and I are meeting Sunday. Or could it be Sat. dinner?\nMK: That will be fine.\nK: Come to the WH between 5:00 and 6:00. Shall I bring John Ehrlichman?\nMK: That might be a good idea. I want to go past this current I am interested\nin the Presidency and where it goes in a year or so.\nK: I do to.\nMK: Then bring John.\nK: I understand that Kingman Brewster is putting out a petition. The basic problem\nis that nothing these petitions can do is relevant to these operations which will be\nover in a few weeks. Tcannot be in anybody's interest for us to collapse in the\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.\nM. Katz/Kissinger\n9:35 am\n5/7/70\n-2-\nK (cont.): face of this. It's an exalting felling to be at one with your students but that\nwhat made Nazis in the '30's. A leader should put a brake on emotion. It least\nKingman should come and talk to me. I don't want to call him but I know he is a\nfriend of yours.\nMK: I can thank about this. My off-hand reaction is that on a thing of this kind that\nis the potential success of your mission you should call him and say you heard\nhe is doing something. You called me and asked me to slow yxxxx him down. Say\nyou don't have any intention of trying to do that but you would like to talk to him.\nPut it simply. He has an emotional problem and he has made a couple of remarks\nhe will regret. I have had several calls from people asking me to get him down.\nI kxxxxxx wrote him a different kind of note it was a tranquillzing=note as a friend\nstanding by him in a time of stress. He was warmly responsive and appreciated\nmy support. At a time like this he needed a friend who wouldn't knife him in the\nback. Just approach him simply.\nK: Good, ok.\nMK: I will be at the WH at 6:00 on Saturday.\nK: I may call you to change it earlier, but let's aim for that.\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.\nTelCon\nHAK\nSec'y Laird\n5/7/70\n9:45 a.m.\nLaird: Did anything ever develop on the little game plan I sent over\non Bunker or Habib.\nHAK: We are going to have a meeting next week.\nLaird: I think it is important because this opportunity that presents\nitself is one we don't want to miss from the standpoint of our overall\nprogram. I am going to be here next week except Monday when I\nam going to Detroit. I will be gone until about 3:30 Monday afternoon.\nAnother thing, there are two points\nHAK: I have turned down that story about the decision making. Your\nYou were unfortunately right.\nLaird: They came over here and they were giving people the impression\nthat this is a hard and tough decision for the President because he had\nto make it on his own without the support of his advisors. That does not\nhelp the President, it does not build him up, it tears him down.\nHAK: Some of these salesmen haven't any sense. That was terrible.\nLaird: It Mars tears the President down.\nHAK: I understand. I killed it.\nLaird: The next point is that you know the President has really come\nover here and given the military the greatest license they have ever had\nand I am going to step in on a few things because if we let this thing\nget out of hand, they will use all American troops. We have got to keep\nthe pressure on them to use South Vietnamese troops. The next thing\nthey will be doing is requesting more Americans in South Vietnam.\nMcCain would like to put the Marines back in. We can't do that.\nHAK: I agree.\nLaird: They have the idea that they have carte blanche authority and I\nhave got to be a son-of-a-bitch to keep some pressure on them.\nHAK: There is no argument here. There is no question on principle\nin putting new troops into Vietnam. There is no question about it at all.\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.\n- 2 -\nLaird: If we are to keep maintaining the President's credibility, we\nmust insure withdrawal.\nHAK: There is no thought of authorizing more troops.\nLaird: These people have the idea the President will probably allow\nthat if we really need them.\nHAK: Can you be specific; what do you want them not to do?\nLaird: What I want to do is keep the pressure on to use South Vietnamese\nforces and it is going in the obher direction now and I am going to try to\nturn it the other way.\nHAK: I don't think we should stop or pull out what we already are doing.\nIsn't x7xy0x 704 going to be all South Vietnamese?\nLaird: No, some Americans are in there. I have got to have a talk with\nMayo too because Mayo is sure that we are going to make our withdrawal\nschedule coincide with the budget. The budget is based on 10, 000 a\nmonth and by delaying as we will a few months, if you delay that 4th\nincrement two months, that is 300 million dollars and Mayo keeps\nsaying we are going to make that schedule. I am not sure we are going\nto make it.\nHAK: I know\nLaird: We know but Mayo doesn't seem to know it. On the Hill, Mayo\nwas saying the rate would be maintained. We can make some troop\nreductions but most of the troop reductions will come after the first\nof the year. I think we can get to 60, 000. I have a May 10 deadline\nfor the withdrawal plan. I would like to have until June 1.\nHAK: OK, I think that is fair.\nLaird: Good, now let me think, is there anything else. I hope you do\nbring up with WAXX WSAG a plan to use those troops? ? ?\nHAK: That is on the schedule today.\nLaird: That is of utmost importance. We have got to have a plan for the\nuse of people before we take action with them. ??? I think that is all.\nHAK: OK, goodbye.\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.\nThecon\nNathan Pusey\n5/7/70 12:57 p.m.\nK: Sorry to track you down. I just came from the President.\nWe talked about this proposal of your and we would like to do it by\nappointing a member of your group --the people that we have been meet-\ning with in your group. And in view of the urgency, welve we would ask\none of your people to be here through the summer. We'd like Hurd.\nP: That's fine. Did you get my message this morning?\nK: No.\nP: I made a different suggestion.\nK: What.\nP: Moose. Any of these would be excellent that we mentioned.\nThe only thing I feel is it shouldn't be someone from New England.\nK: Well, I now have the President's approval for Hurd.\nP: Either would be fine. I just wanted to get both names to you.\nK: He said it's fine with Hurd.\nP: Fine with me. What's next then?\nK: To get Hurd's agreement and then say this afternoon that\nthis was done.\nP: May I question him now?\nK: Do you think we could announce it tomorrow. We're not in\nan urgent hurry. But given the urgency you describe, I thought we should\nmove it.\nP: I think he has to consult with his own board. He hasx just can't\ndo it that quickly. But I'll get word back to you.\nK: Thank you. Incidentally, I thought you were very moving this\nmorning.\nP:: Well, I'd like to talk with you some time.\nK: I want to talk with you.\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.\nTelecon\nNathan Pusey\n5/7/70 *********. 2:15 p.m.\nP: I talked with Alex. He's inclined to do this. He raised\nseveral questions for me to come to you with. First, and I think\nmost important in his mind is wik whether the circumstances are such\nthat what we expect of him will be feasible? I think he should be in\nthe White House and have immediate access to the President.\nK: I don't know about the White House. He would have an of-\nfice\nin\nthe XX EOB. And I can gaarantee him access to me, and the two\nof us can get access to the President. I will do my best to make it work.\nP: We want to make sure the President intends to listen and that\nthis is not just a device to get irate students off his back.\nK: Well, on a decision like Cambodia, we cannot make our policy\ndecisions reviewed but if he comes to us and says there is deep concern\nin the academic community about certain Rk trends, that we must listen to.\nP: We just want that he will be heard and that his job is to convey\nthe academics feelings. Secondly, we feel he should continue in the pay\nof his university. So that is is clear that he is a member of the academic\ncommunity, and not on Nixon's payroll. But he'll need an office, a telephone\nand a secretary and so forth. He'll need a staff of some kind.\nK: I'm sure that can be worked out.\nP: He has to get the peemission of the executive committee of the\nBoard of Trusteed. He's talked only to the pⁿ esident so far. So we can't\nannounce his acceptance yet. But we'll work \"on it right away.\nK: Should it be announced before the weekend?\nP: I think so, but only Alex can authorize that and he can't do it before\nit's been considered by his executive committee.\nK: We'd like to announce it before the press conference tomorrow.\nP: He says he will try to get the approval by morning.\nK: By 11:00.\nP: Okay. He'd like the end of his term there to be July 1.\nK: All right. He couldn't make it through the summer?\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.\nTelecon\nNathan Pusey\npage 2\nP: He thinks no at the mement. But should leave it open. We feel it's a\ncritical situation, andwe do this only with that understanding. We feel the\nPresident of the United States has got a crisis on his hands with the academic\ncommunity.\nK: Believe me, I come from the academic community and I understand it.\nNot being from the academic world he doesn't see it exactly as we do, but he\nis coneerned. I can think of nothing more important that I can do. I'm\nspending more time on this this week than on thatx any problem\nin foreign policy. No society can alienate its bestgx and still function.\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.\nTELCON\nMakowitz&Braden/Kissinger\n3:20 pm\n5/7/70\nM&B: You get two for the price of one.\nK: I'm paying a great price these days.\nM&B: We have a Sunday half hour now. We will be much more serious this week.\nWe will have a tape on Cambodia and students. We are taping tomorrow morning.\nCan you tell us -- off the record and because this won't be aired until Sunday - is\nthere any sharp change we can put in or we should wait to put in?\nK: Nothing we are initiating.\nM&B: The U.S. or you?\nK: The U.S. I don't know if the students axcex will burn down the WH.\nM&B: Of course. I wondered if in the course of the press conference the\nPresident would make something that will difusse the students. Or say something\nabout Kent or South East Asia. I think the demonstrations will keep going.\nK: ????\nM&B: There's no bombshell then.\nK: Nothing tremendously different. We are going to try to avoid a confrontation.\nM&B: That's about what I figured you would do. We can kexawex live with that.\nK: Of the operation, we will complete it as soon as we can.\nM&B: Before the fiscal year.\nK: That's an outside figure in order to have some latitude in case something happens.\nM&B: You think it might be before? Not for quotation.\nK: The major part, yes.\nM&B: Let me pass this on to you. I have passed it to Ehrlichman's and Saffire.\nI am sure the New Mobe people would accept the Elipse as a site afsa compromise\nbetween the Monument & Dupont? Square\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.\nMankowitz & Braden/Kissinger\n3:20 pm\n5/7/70\n-2- -\nK: I will see it gets highest attention. I would like to talk to you OXXXXIX after the\nweekend is over. About communicating again.\nM&B: You know the fellow you met at Dinner? He said \"I live in a different world.\nHennry Kissinger's like me and a very nice guy and reasonable. 11 You know,\nThe (president or dean) of Dartmouth. But he says it's a completely different\nworld.\nK: In the next phase we have to try to have more ? ? ? ?\nM&B: It's so thin now.\nK: I have that message. We have to realize that it's not just one sided.\nM&B: That's right. When I hear people who are reasonable people say that\nthose kids at Kent \"probably had it coming,\" it indicates a gulf on the other\nside. It's not just the intellectuals. Let's talk about it and see if we can do\nsomething.\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.\nTELCON\nEhrlichman/Kissinger\n3:30 pm\n5/7/70\nE: How do you feel about outlawing SST's all over the world? The environmental\npeople say no country should have an SST.\nK: it'sbaloney because the Soviets won't agree.\nE: They would be enviornmental xixxxx criminals.\nK: They don't bother anybody. I'm glad you are addressing important issues.\nThese academicians are threatening me.\nE: Your life?\nK: That have stopped short of that.\nE: Everyone is nice to me.\nK: OK. I don't think much of this idea.\nE: Trane will get this at a hearing. He will propose an international converence\non these things.\nK: Why is it bad?\nE: It adds moisture to the dry atmosphere of the ionisphere and eliminates\nultraviolet rays.\nK: I didn't XIX know that. I think then that we have to study it on it's merits.\nE: Then I think Heshould sit down with the British and Soviets. I will have\nhim talk with you if he gets into it. Catch any pajamas todya?\nK: It's devastating. Hold on and I will get you some figures. The biggest operation\nbefore this is Cedar Falls.\nE: In Vietnam?\nK: Yes. That produced 720 enemy killed. We have 3500. In that they had 213\nPOW's. We already have 613. they had 555 individual weapons. We have\nOver a million five-hundred thousand pounds of small arms ammunition. And this\ndoesn't count caches today. And they are tremendous.\nE: Why don't they defend those?\nK: Abrams threw in more artillery since WWII. He has attacked also from\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.\nEhrlichman/Kissinger\n3:30 pm\n5/7/70\n-2-\nK: (cont.) Cambodia. The Washington Post in attacking this operation had an\narticle saying that Cedar Falls set the enemy back 4-6 months. We already have\n3 times as much.\nE: At a time they are trying to expand their operations.\nK: And they can't live off the land as much as before. If it weren't for the\nstudents, we would be great.\nE: That's what I told the students.\nK: On diplomatic grounds we have Moscow and others under control. But with\nthem Moscow and Hanoi will act up again. It's unbelievable.\nE: We will have a postal strike to divert them.\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.\nTelcon\nLaird\n5/7/70; 4:45 p.m.\nK: The President went to Camp David. He wondered whether I\ncould help you.\nL: You can help me, but I probably ought to talk to him about this. He\nevidently gave instructions over here to relieve Maj Gen Roberts by\nGen Casey. Casey has been Assistant Division Commander of the First\nCavalry Division.\nK: He did this one morning. You don't.\nL: How long does he want that held up?\nK: You want this done.\nL: Casey has been there for a year. Abrams comes in and says Casey\nis pure gold.\nK: If you want to do it, you do it. If you and Abrams want it.\nL: OK. Now, the next point. I have been up with some of my\ncolleagues to the Congress. Spent a lot of time briefing members.\nI think we have things coming pretty good. I took on about 35 this morning.\nAnd I have it set up so Gerry Ford and another group in the Senate\nwere briefing every day. My problem is that I am hung up a little bit\non the President's all-out public commitments now on 30 kilometers.\nI would like to approve the riverine operation.\nK: Yes. I discussed that with the President and somebody told me that\nif we give you 21 nautical miles you can do it.\nL: It's probably a little more than that. But if we could let them go\non the assault craft up there and the support craft will keep it to 30\nkilometers and kind of close my eyes a little. But I don't want to go\nup there and brief that we have changed this rule because they all have\nit fixed in their minds. I don't think we should change that right now.\nHugh Scott said, Mel, you got to get that operation over with. You have\nto start showing some declining troops. If there aren't any troop\nwithdrawals soon they will start raising hell that this has been a complete\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.\n-2-\nfailure. The first withdrawal we can have is a few the in June or\nJuly, but we have got to get the operation make a success out of this\noperation and let people know it's a success. The only way we will be\nable to make it a success is when it's over. I think I will send a\nlittle note over on that because there are some things we can do to\nbuild up the success of it. We are in for a tough time. These\nCongressmen waxx xx won't stay with us for more than 5 or 6 weeks.\nK: That is all we need them for.\nL: I am afraid this student thing is cutting back on our negotiation\nposture.\nK: I will talk to you about that some time soon. We are not in such\nbad shape on that. We are pushing it.\nL: I am sure we can last for another 4 or 5 weeks at a minimum.\nToday we brought in a lot of people to be briefed.\nK: We will be all right, Mel. We will make it. We will make it\ninto a conciliatory face.\nL: Don't get your diaper down about how these things are going just\nbecause we get some bad newspaper reports.\nK: I think it's going terrifically. You have just been a great soldier.\nThe President and I have discussed it and you are doing a terrific job.\nMel, do you want to hear some bleeding hearts? Some of my Harvard\ncolleagues are coming down.\nL: Are you going to see them? I don't think I should if you are. We\nshould not let them play one against the other. I am seeing a lot of\npeople and I don't think I should take on another group tomorrow. Maybe\nnext week.\nK: OK, Mel.\nms\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.\nTelcon\nNorman Cousins\n5/7/70; 6:10 pm\nC: How are you?\nK: It is not the most exhilirating period.\nC: I have been here in Washington going to various meetings and\nchurches where these sutdents are meeting. They are congregating\nand they are buying piles of guns and lots of ammunition. We could\nhave a wave of bloodshed and the tide could sweep from here in\nWashington right across the country. What matters is the not the\neffects now - the important thing is to soften it. The only one man\nwho can do it is the President. What he has to do immediately is\nto make a very comprehensive statement - an approach to peace in\ndynamic direct way, step by step beyond Vietnamization. He must\nsay man doesn't have to kill or be killed. Specific recommendations about\nhow to break the deadlock of Paris, about his mission.\nThat is your only chance. What has appeared the middle ground is now\nbeing destroyed. What has happened is that the misquotation about the\nbombing - the Kent State - has destroyed a large part of the middle\nground. The rest are arming - the middle ground has melted away.\nBetween now and Saturday the President has to show the end of\nCambodia, to pull this country together. If that doesn't happen this\ncould be terrible. The kids will be walking through the city with\nguns, shooting at government buildings, then we are in for it.\nK: Norman, I understand you. I will see what can be done. Let's\nyou and me stay in contact whatever may happen because this thing\nisn't going to have any victors.\nC: There is a small chance the crisis - the right words may be able to\npull it off. But they will have to be beautiful words, deep beautiful\nand poetic, and that is what makes great Presidents in history.\nK: If you want to put down some of the thoughts of what you think\nneeds to be done I will appreciate having it.\nC: Do you want me to give you a draft?\nK: I hold down little prospect that this is the time it will be done.\nms\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.\nTELCON\nMike Harris (S.F. Chronicle)\n6:12 pm\n5/7/70\nH: One of the Stanford students said yesterday that \"Henry Kissinger kept saying\nwe might have made a mistake.\"\nK: He missed the point completely.\nH: I thought he probably had.\nK: I **** don/t want the thing reported particularly because I consider this a private\nmeeting. I was trying to make the distinction between XENX mistakes one should\ndiscuss and those that justify tearing apart the society.\nH: I understand that. We were obviously suspicious of it.\nK: That would be grave --\nH: That will be said in the Stanford Daily. I said anytime -- it shows how WXEX severa\npeople could listen to a meeting and come up with different interpretations. Another\nperson said no one had sain anything that strong.\nK: I wasn't applying that to Cambodia at all. That was a general discussion of\nwhere dialogue is useful. It's a period of great emothon and it's not always possible\nto be understood. I understand that too. It was goof of you to call.\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.\nTELCON\nSecy. Finch/Kissinger\n6:15 pm\n5/7/70\nF: Could youhave the General who did such a good job of briefing the Congress --\nwe have a meeting of under secretaries in our chart room at 8:00 tomorrow\nmorning. Could we get him to do a briefing?\nK: I will do what I can and if I can't I will get someone equally good.\n(Gen. Haig helped with the briefing)\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.\nTELCON\nRogers/Kissinger\n6:40 pm\n5/7/70\nK: The doves are the most vicious birds.\nR: They aure are. On these reconnaisance flights -- Phil Habib - - over NVN - -\nThey are flying a lot which looks like we are looking for a fight. He thinks if we\nare bombing in the north to fly as few as we have to. If we appear to be escalating\nany more, there will be hell of a problem.\nK: In contrast to what we have now.\nR: If the kids think we are deliberately escalating there will be hell to pay. Some\nsay that some of the colleges will not be able to open in the fall. First, I think we\nshould cut down on those and have the President tell the military not to fly\nreconnaissance without Presidential approval.\nK: No matter whyy what you have been told, every bombing of the north had\nPresidential approval and went through Mel. On the other it's very important\nand I will get it communicated immediately.\nR: All bombing has Presidential approval? ??????\nK: Let me check on that. Can they fire back while they are attacking.\nR: If they did just cut down the number-- they don't need 11 a day. That's just\nprovocation. I'm cancelling my appointment in Hot Springs. I think I should\nstay here.\nK: I think that's good.\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.\nTELCON\nN. Rockefeller/Kissinger\n6:45 pm\n5/7/70\nR: I'm glad to talk to you.\nK: Before they burn the WH down.\nR: They won't. I have all the candidates outside my office in a huge rally.\nThe Democrats. They want me to call a special session for the Mass. deal.\nThe police say it's a political rally so they have to go down to 6th Ave. How\nare things with you?\n11\nK: We have to hold tight. kfx As I told you yesterday, we keep piling up the\nequipment. They got a gix big cache again today. When this operation started\nthe Washington Post had an article waying Cedar Falls was the biggest and it\nonly gained us 6 months. The President is calling.\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.\nTELCON\nPresident/Kissinger\n6:50 pm\n5/7/70\nMissed first couple of sentences\nP: I was going to say that the main purpose is to get him busy so he doesn't\nget with these other groups.\nK: I agree completely.\nP: Send him to Rome. Get it xlowxx. done. Did you xxx notice how he has aged\nsince he stopped doing anything. He looks tired.\nK: That seems to happen.\nP: Going to Rome will help him and keep him out of trouble here.\nK: That was also the point of your remark on negotiations.\nThat\nP: They will give him courage and make him think something is going on. He\nis suggesting silly things but this will keep him out of trouble. He is not a\nstrong man. The professor today across the table from me was weak.\nK: This generation has no moral\nleft.\nP: The only hope for this country is the blue collar guys.\nlabor\nK: The liberalmovement - they know there are some things for which you\nhave to fight. The labor people know that reason alone is not enough. They\nhave suffered enough to know that.\nP: I want no crap from State on it. Tell Lodge to go to Rome and Flanigan to\nstay here and work on the economy. Everybody wants to go to Rome but we have\nother things for Pete. The main ball is to keep the operations going. I would\nthink the military would be elated on this.\nK: You could say on these operations that in Parrot's Beak the 12, 000 troops\nare now down to 780. And one of our operations will be donenext week.\nRocekfeller called to say he is with you. The people are with you. Rockegeller\nsays the Democrats are trying to get a bill paseed like Mass. He got the meeting\nmoved from in front of his office to 6th Ave. He XX says stay with it.\nR: Isn't that something.\nK: He has been a good soldier on this.\nP: We have a few that sticke with us.\nK: three months from now there will be a hell of a lot more.\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.\nPresident/Kissinger\n6:50 pm\n5/7/70\n-2-\nP: We will remember those of now. Laird was OK when the chips were down.\nK: Some stuff is leaking now on hawx who recommended what.\nP: On your backgrounder tomorrow you should say that we have given the\nenemy a body blow. Use that phrase. This is the most significant divelopment\nsince the war began. We need to use rhetoric now. Johnson used it before but\nwith no reason.\nwouldn't say\nK: decisive blow but we will work it out.\nP: We will say here ixxx it is and you work it out. They do think now it's the\ncontrol center.\nK: I will try to find one of those statements. Here is one but it isn't what I\nwas looking for. Reuters dispatch - - - another one \"? ? ? ? ? ? \". \"This\nis the headquarters and we are in the heart of it'. There's a better one but\nI can't find it.\nP: That's good enough.\nK: The other one goes into great detail. Frank Reynolds spoke of a huge cache of\nammunition he saw.\nP: He is a peacenik.\nK: That was good that he did.\nP: On NBC they are against us but a little has to get through if the others are\nfor us. You put that out for news magazines and TV people. Let the columnists\nbe there but don't spend much time with them. A minute in TV is worth 100, 000\nwords in pring. And release ? ? ? ? ? ? on Sunday am.\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.\nTELECON\nJerry Weisner/Mr. Kissinger\n7:15 p.m., May 7, 1970\nW:\nI have two things: we are every college administrator --\nis struggling like hell to keep the great bulk of the campuses from\nbeing taken over by a very small, very violent group.\nK:\nI know.\nW:\nThis weekend will be tough -- mighty bad. Is there any kind\nof word coming out of the President in the Press Conference tomorrow?\nK:\nUnfortunately, the press conference is after your meeting\nit's at 10:00 p.m.\nW:\nWill there be some kind of statement that he is hearing these\nstudents?\nK:\nJust for your information, and we are not going to announce\nthis until tomorrow, so don't leak it -- we are appointing Heard from\nVanderbilt as a special advisor to the President and contact with the\ncampuses -- he will, in turn, appoint a small group, including students.\nW:\nIf the President could say he realizes this is half of the\nAmerican youth and that he is hearing them. I know the problem.\nK:\nI will have some influence over the statement; I will do my\ndamndest = we all have to try to keep this together. We can argue\nlater about how we got here.\nW:\nI think it started in 1946.\nK:\nWe have been through too many things together to argue about\nthat now.\nW:\nI talked with Len Garment concerning the thing about which I\nwrote you.\nK:\nI didn't know you talked to Len.\nW:\nI mentioned Jerry Lester - he was SO upset about the drug\nthing. I called you and found you were away, so I called Len. There\nhas been a lot of talk back and forth. I didn't expect the trouble to\nbe starting this soon.\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.\nJerry Weisner/Mr. Kissinger\n7:15 p.m., May 7, 1970\nK:\nIt was triggered, but not caused, by the events of last week.\nW:\nIt was ready to happen. When I was down for the Science\nMedal ceremony, the President asked me what I thought about the\nenvironmental thing. I said I was troubled -- that it was a temporary\ndiversion, the kids were reflecting frustration and it would become\nworse. This is what is happening.\nK:\nAnytime you think I can do something here to make it easier\nfor you in what I know you are trying to do, call me. You are probably\ngoing through a rougher period than I.\nW:\nYou are going to see some of your colleagues tomorrow.\nThey, I think, feel for you, but W also feel for the country. They\nthink you have the power.\nK:\nI understand. I am spending two-thirds of my time seeing\npeople from the academic community who then leave and beat my\nbrains out. I understand; there won't be any hard feelings. Don't\nmention this Heard thing.\nlds\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.\nTELCON\nSisco/Kissinger\n7:15 pm\n5/7/70\nS: How are you holding up?\nK: It's a rough period.\nS: I feel terribly helpless.\nK: We just have to see it through.\nS: let's have you succeed on the ground and then get out. I will be seeing you\ntomorrow at 2:30. I need to get the approval of the Secretary's memo on Jordanian\narms approved by Monday.\nK: I'll get that for you.\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.\nTELECON\nMr. Kissinger/Secretary Rogers\n9:03 p.m., May 7, 1970\nK:\nI have told the Defense Department that reconnaissance\nflight should be put to the minimum average levels and not be\nat.\nI don't know what the right level is.\nR:\nEleven seemed like a lot.\nK:\nI have passed that word. I don't want to disturb the President.\nR:\nHe has enough problems.\nK:\nHe is at David -- and he has that press conference. I also\nconfirmed they are not going to take any military actions in the\nnorth without coming here first.\nR:\nThese student protests are greater than any of us anticipated.\n136 universities are now closed. If one could talk individually with\nthem, we could change their minds.\nK:\nI have been talking to student groups, but when the faculties\nare present, it is impossible.\nR:\nI had some students and faculty members from Grinnell\nin. The faculty have all the credentials of erudition and thoughtfulness,\nbut they are more emotional than the youngsters. Most of it is\npsychological it's all mixed up with what Agnew said, the President's\nunfortunate statement about bums, their worry that they will be drafted,\netc.\nK:\nJerry Weisner, the Provost of MIT, called me. He said he\nwishes he could find it in his heart to say we caused it, but we gave\nthe pretext. MIT was ready to blow anyway.\nR:\nIt was really just a spark it was present there anyway.\nOne word of caution I would like to make on what we find in Cambodia,\nI hope we don't get so eager that we don't overstate what we have\naccomplished. I realize it is a tough line to draw. When it's over,\nwe can make a reputable showing.\nK:\nI would prefer not to say anything until it's over.\nR:\nLet it be said out there. Didn't the White House put out a\nstatement today that we found COSVN?\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.\nMr. Kissinger/Secretary Rogers\n- 2 -\n9:03 p.m., May 7, 1970\nK:\nNo.\nR:\nIt was on the ticker.\nK:\nI saw it on the ticker. If the White House put it out, it was\nunauthorized. We haven't found it.\nR:\nThey apparently found a good cache today -- it looked as if\nit was a major find. If we are claiming credit too soon, it won't pan\nout.\nK:\nI'm sure it didn't come out from any recognized spokesman\nfrom the White House. It's conceivable that one of these salesmen\nput it out.\nR:\nWe surely have a lot of salesmen - -- putting out memoranda,\ntelling people what to say. This is not a complaint.\nK:\nIt is a correct caution. I haven't read Ziegler's briefing,\nsince I have been spending so much time with academicians, but I\ndon't think Ron did this.\nR:\nOn the whole, Ron does a pretty good job. This is the fourth\ntime in a short period that the President has had to make a major\ntelevision appearance.\nK:\nThis will not end so quickly.\nR:\nWe all have to stick behind him.\nK:\nAfter another week or two and the troops come out, it will\nbe better. That bastard Brewster at Yale is one of the most despicable\npeople. It's a pity Agnew saved his neck. He was going the way of\nPerkins. This guy is a cheap grandstander. If we need no instruction\non anything, it is the desirability of ending the war.\nR:\nAnd his calling for a major strike.\nK:\nHe should do exactly the opposite.\nlds\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.\nTELECON\nMr. Kissinger/Dorothy Zinburg\n11:00 p. m., May 7, 1970\nK:\nI'm going to see a delegation tomorrow afternoon.\nZ:\nOne group is calling at 4:30 a different group. When I left\nyou, everybody was locked up in a faculty meeting. I called the students\nI knew and tried to call off the picketing. I realized there was nothing\nto be accomplished there. I tried to make it clear you were trying to\ntrade with them. If they could call off the picketing, you would see them.\nI said why don't you think about it and call\nhim.\nK:\nThis they did; however, they have not been given a time on\nFriday yet. I wonder whether they think they are being given the run-\naround. Secondly, the Secret Service insists that I stay at the White\nHouse tonight.\nZ:\nThey don't expect you to be at home.\nK:\nThey have to call back in and give us the names of the students\nso we can clear them thr ough the gate. You are welcome to sit in\non any of these student group meetings.\nZ:\nI would like to the business students and the other students.\nK:\nThe business students are on Saturday morning. I don't know.\nthey are having a mass rally there. You have no time in the afternoon.\nK:\nI am seeing the Harvard people. Then I am seeing the Columbia,\nBryn Mawr, Johns Hopkins, etc. en masse. I am going to see them\nat 4:00 and move the business school students to some other time.\nZ:\nIf you meet with any other student group, let me know. I plan\nto go to the Harvard caucus tomorrow at 9:00, but will be free from\n10:30 on.\nK:\nDo you think they will think I am betraying them if I am not\nin my apartment.\nZ:\nI don't know. The young lady said, 'you mean he is going to\nbe there? It was almost as if they thought you wouldn't be there. I\ndon't think they will feel betrayed because of the fact that they know\nyou are willing to see them. I have made dozens of calls.\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.\nMr. Kissinger/Dorothy Zinburg\n11:00 p. m., May 7, 1970\n= 2 =\nK:\nI will see 20 of them.\nZ:\nWhat time should I show up.\nK:\nAt 4:00, but call me in the morning after you are through at\nthe other place. Then you can see whether I am seeing a group in\nthe morning. I may have the business group in the morning.\nZ:\nI will call you about 10:00. I hope it goes well.\nK:\nI owe it to them. I don't dare to call our mutual friend, Shirley.\nWhen you see her, tell here she was there when it all started, though\nshe didn't know it. I am giving a press briefing at 3:00, but that\nwould upset you. Come at 4:00.\nZ:\nI will speak to you in the morning.\nSubsequent call: 11:42 p.m.\nK:\nIt will be at 4:00. I am afraid they will be at my house and\nfeel I betrayed them.\nZ:\nI will get to the caucus at 9:00 and make sure they understand\nthe Secret Service said you couldn't stay at home, and I will have\nsomeone call with the names. You can see up to 20?\nK:\n25 would be all right, too. You think they understand that I\ncouldn't give them a time?\nZ:\nI heard one of the kids say, 'will hecome and meet in the\nCaucus Room?' But I know you can't.\nK:\nI never speak for quotation. That is a rule.\nlds\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.\nTELCON\nLaird/Kissinger\n9:16 am 5/8/70\nL: On this public relations thing, did you see the memo I sent to the President?\nOn the kxx operation on Cambodia. The one I sent over last night?\nK: I haven't seen it yet.\nL: I hope you read it before it goes to the President. The problem we are\ngoing to run into here - I know the WH wants to handle it in a creditable fashion\nbut we shouldn't confirm statements until we confirm it in the field.\nK: Did someone?\nL: Someone in the WH. We think it's significant but we don't want to put COSVN\non it. We are pushing into the thing but Gen. Shoemaker denies he said that.\nWe are playing it up more than it might be. I think we have to handle public\nrelations our creditibility is not based on day-to-day but the stragegic\non this move ?????? as far as Paris is concerned. Our credibility\nis tied up Scott called me last night and said \"you know that 3-6 weeks the\nPresident talked about but that will be tyhe success or failure of this timetable. \"\nThe day-to-day tactical thing can get us into trouble if we don't coordinate\nbetter. We are getting information over there as rapidly as we can and I am - -\nbecause of my press conference and because of statements the President has\nmade people think we want to move into every sanctuary area. That's not true --\nwe only want the big ones. The VN can go into those others. How far has\nWSAG gone on engagement? ??????\nK: No because we don't have them in writing. We reviewed them in general.\nL: They should be letter staffed out than that. I was shocked that WSAG didn't\nknow how Khmer forces are paid.\nK: Your people are on the task force. All they had to do was say it was done.\nL: The task force weren't in it then but they are now. They are working on\namphibious landings. I am not sure howfar we want to go on the px pmphibious\nlanding. We should staff these things ? ??????\nK: ????????\nL: That was after the recommendation was made. Our point is that we have to be\nsure of what we are going. If we get them all going at the same time we should\nfinish one and then the other.\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.\nLaird/Kissinger\n9:16 am\n5/8/70\n-2-\nK: We should make specific recommendations and let the President þass on it.\nL: I assumed he had authority to go on that riverine operation and we did. I have\nthat one on Xax Campote.\nK: I haven't seen a plan on that. Send it over and let the President decide on what\nhe wants.\nL: The plan is there.\nK: I will surface it to the President.\nL: We sent a copy of the message over. The situation is such that I think I should\nget together with the President xxxxxx soon and discuss each of these operations.\nI'm going to brief on each of them because he wants to.\nK: You can do that but the Pressident is fully briefed on these.\nI\nK: Before we go on these I think bxex should meet with him.\nK: We should have the proposals here.\nL: They are over there. Probably lmit the operations to 9 at a time. That way\nyou have insentive to cinch (?) some of them up. If we are going to meet the\ntimetable\nK: We are committed to that timetable.\nL: I know but I have to meet that timetable. But the problem in meeting the\ncommitment on the basis of the overall planning here but when we get a commit\nment for 7-10 days it will take twice that long. Abrams said the first two\nreports you can be sure are wrong and the 3rd is 25% wrong. He knows what's\ngoing on out there. I just don't want a problem on tactical information. It's\ngoing to be a success.\nK: If anyone confirmed it, that's wrong. On new operations the way to surface\nit is to get them out. If we are recommending them we should get a crack at\nthem. I haven't seen them.\nL: It's in the message I sent over. We understood it was discussed.\nK: Market time was discussed but not landing.\nL: I will check and make sure you have that. It came up here yesterday. The\nindication to me was that it was approved for implementation.\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.\nLaird/Kissinger\n9:16 am\n5/8/70\n- -3-\nK: Market time but not landings. We haven't seen the other.\nL: I'm glad. It makes a difference to me. I didn't know the President\nor\nWSAG hadn't seen it. I'm getting over the material -- will you have a\nbackgrounder before the press conference.\nK: That's what the President wants me to do. If you want to call him and\nturn it off I will be grateful. Maybe I can turn it off. The last **** *****\nthing I need is press exposure.\nL: I'm concerned that all the questions will be confirmed or denied things in\nthe back grounder.\nK: It's not my suggestion, it's a direct order from the President.\nL: OK. Someone sure talked a lot about the Max Frankel aritcle. Did you see\nthe Washington Post article this morning.\nK: Here it is. As I understand it I am the villain.\nL: You are the good guy. You got the information released.\nK: When this is over I will be the villain.\nL: I just want this to be a strategic sucess. Read that memo before it goes to\nthe President.\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.\nTELCON\"\nHaldeman/Kissinger\n9:40 am\n5/8/70\nH: You had a lovely riot at your apartment and you weren't there. They were\ncarrying signs saying \"f--- Henry Kissinger\". And the other people in the neighbor-\nhood were with signs saying \"Gox home, Henry Kissinger.\"\nK: Do you have Zeigler and Klein up there?\nH: Yes.\nK: Let me come up and talk about the Andferson story.\nFurther conversation: Haldeman & Ehrlichman -- 10:35 am\nH: The thing of it is he dowsn't want to go with Heard.\nK: The thing of it is he doesn. He changed his mind back.\nH: After I talked to him ? OK, it;s your program, go withit.\nK: It was decided to do it. Would it be any better Monday than Friday?\nH: It was done with only your knowledge. After he told me very patiently --\nI didn't know what he was talking about -- he then decided to cancel it.\nK: The\nwas the group wanted a memberhere for two months. He indicated he\nwas favorable. They thought it wouldgive them a foothold during the weekend.\nH: Henry, (to Ehrlichamn) Henry is arguing strongly to briag Heard in.\nK: I will go along with you.\nH: We can't gain from this. He will not get in to THE see the President and he\nwill go out saying worse things then that guy that quit.\nK: We are not paying him.\nH: We aren't worried about the money.\nK: It's his status.\nH: You have a commission (?) on campus tentions.\nK: You are fighting the problem -- he has already been asked, he is telling his\nBoard, and he is here.\nH: Then it's your show. Why don't we have him here without announcing him and see\nwhat happens over the weekend. No, his Board will announce it. The President is\ncalling. Talk to John.\nE: I'm afraid he will be disillusioned.\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.\nHaldeman/Kissinger\n9:40 am\n5/8/70\n-2-\nK: He will go fromplace to place.\nE: Are you programming him?\nK: These people made an urgent appeal to the President and the President said yes.\nThe President said call him immediately so they will knew before their press conference\nUsually, I don't move that fast.\nE: If you can program him and keep him happy, but Bob and I can't. I have enough\nproblems without having to worry about him.\nK: And I'm underumployed.\nE: It;s a\nofthe\n.\nIsn;t that Hickel's concept?\nK: I think the disadvantage now of making a\nwaiting until Monday --\nE: Have him come and work through the weekend and then we will see.\nK: He will have an office through EOB.\nE: You had better have David arrange that -- I haven't heard about that.\nK: On the announcement, you will have to go with that because the Board will.\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.\nTelecon\nMax Frankel\n5/8/70 9:55 a.m.\nK: I don't know whether you saw the Jack Anderson column today,\nF: have not.\nK: Well, I wanted you to know before everyone blows his stack that\nI was the victim of inexperience and\n(X)\n8\nI got sucked into something\nthat I hope won't embarrass anyone. He said he had been told by you and\nReston that I tried to kill a story.\nF: But that's not true.\nK: Well, partly Haig and partly I tole him information on a background\nbases. I was trying not to get into a detailed numbers game. But he's prec-\ntically reported the verbatim conversations between me and him.\nF: You talked with me and said can I have a personal word. You\nmade points to me thatx about which I had a judgment and I didn't want to\nbe alone in handling it. I didn't. I didn't know if you saw that one line\nin Scotty's piece which I sk found deeply embarrassing.\nK: But I told him I had talked to Laird to get him to tell you as\nmuch as possible.\nF: But briefing Scotty and then with that line in print, I felt embarrassed.\nThen this joker Hume or somebody called and asked about it. I said I didn't\nwant to talk about it.\nK: He said Reston was furious with me. X\nF: I said he wasn't; from what I heard it was jesting.\nK: That's what I told him. I read from the conversation. I was just\na dope. But I don't want this to keep escalating. While I wasn't enchanged\nwith some of the remarks of Scotty's\nF: XXXX I couldn't care less what someone prinst. Our converdation\nremains private. I can survive this and So can you.\nK: If I don't survive the next two weeks, this will not be the cause\nof my death.\nF: Are we going to get a good show tonight?\nK: He usually rises to the situation/ Knyone who is fair mus t realize\nthat Cambodia was the match; it was not the fuel. Some of the national\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.\nTelecon\nMax Frankel\n5/8/70 9:55 a. m.\npage 2\nleaders ought to ask themselves what could be achieved by breaking the\nback of a Presidency, which They won't do. It's clear these campuses\nwere ready to blow -Cambodia is just a pretext. It's much more serious\nthan Cambodia. I think Cambodia will not look bad historically and mil-\nitarily.\nF: No, it's very easy to follow the logic behind it. It all addes up\nto a horror of apparent irrationality. I had kids in the office yesterday\nand they cannot make the connection.\nK: I've spent my last week with kids. There's no public relations\nvalue in it, expept for the long run.\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.\nTELCON\"\nChancellor Heard (Vanderbilt)\n10:45 am\n5/8/70\nH: I enjoyed seeing you yesterday. I'm calling pursuant to the conversations you\nand Pusey had. Let me outline tihe instuructrions. He said I should call before\n11:00 today. Let me give you a report and see where KM it puts us. I have in the\nmeantime conferred withthe necessary trustees here. Here's where we come out.\nMy people are agreeable to letting me undertake an assignement of this kind. The\nthought is that it would be much better to remain on the Vanderbilt payroll rather\nthan going on the federal payroll. Part of the thought being that I would haxex\nbe most valuable to you and the President às a representative of the educational\ncommunity working with you and NEX serving as a channel of communications to you\nrather then pictured in the public mind as an agent of the government.\nK: Nat mentioned that and I think there was no problem here.\nH: If we are going to serve the purpose it's important that the educational\ncommunity have the idea that I will represent them. The question of title is not\none I care about. The substantive point I have just made should be kept in mind.\nK: How about Special Advisor to the President.\nH: That's fine. As this thing is announced this idea of a friend at conrt should\nbe emphasized. The last thing is that we are very mindful of the national emergency\nbut they are reluctant to think of anything beyond June 30. The concept of 6 weeks\nfor Cambodia sets --\nK: Nat made that point and it is agreeable.\nH: Also there are certain ceremonial things that I need to attend to here. One\nis commencement. I have one other address which I have not yet decided whether\nI can refuse.\nK: We would not hold you to a fixed scheduling.\nH: I would clean the slate as much as possible. Now I maise theee other things.\nI understand from Nat I would have good access to you and on occasion to the\nPresident. But I couldn't do any good if the world thinsk I cannot see anyone.\nK: It ** may take a few hours but you will be able to see me within 24 hours of\nrequesting an appointment. This is a responsibility I undertake.\nH: I assume everyone will want a 4 hour interview with you and the President and\nwe have to cope with that. The concept of yesterday envisions hooking students,\nfaculty, and so forth into the program. What about travel funds and staffing?\n\"\nK: I whould think you would want to consult with people. That can be handled.\nH: I may need an assistant for 6 weeks.\nK: An assistant and secretary help.\nH: All right. Do you know how and when and under what conditions your people want\ndo this?\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.\nChancellor Heard\n10:45 am\n5/8/70\n-2-\nK: There are two choices -- We can announce it today but the President can't be\nthere or announce it Monday and the President could be there. The advantage\ntoday would be to try to avoid a bloody riot this weekend. Otherwise the advantage\nwould be Monday.\nH: Would the President do it on the press conference?\nK: We thought we could do it at 12:00 or 4:00 at the briefing if we do it today.\nH: I think there are some advantages to doing it today.\nK: You will not be here today?\nH: I can't be. I'm speaking to my campus today.\nK: Let me see if I can get it announced at 12:00.\nH: Do it at 4:00 and I will mention it when I speak here at 4:00 your time.\nK: We will check it with you. One thing in fairness. No one can make a treaty\nwith the President that can then be enforced so it means good will on your side.\nWe wouldn't feel we were advised to check decisions with you for approval but we\ndo want the\non the campuses and what we can do to help you. At any rate\nit's intangible.\nH: I understand this and I have worked around Washington and the WH to know. If\nit dowsn't work out we will have had a good try and if it does we would have\nhelped a little.\nK: We were very impressed by what your group said yesterday.\nH: I will try to be there Monday to get things going. You will draft a press\nreleased and let me know.\nK: I have drafted one but it isn't checked with my people. Than I will get someone\nto let you know.\nH: I will announce it at 3:00 here.\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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