Office of the Historian

104. Message From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig)1

Washington, November 13, 1972, 0720Z.

Tohaig 42/WH 29704. Ref: Haigto 13.2

I am still unclear as to precisely what you would propose we do at this juncture. We have made it absolutely clear to Thieu in the President’s letter and to Hanoi, Moscow and Peking that we would finish this negotiation in one more session. I would not mind if we did not make it because the other side refused to accept a reasonable position which we put forward. But the position must be a reasonable one on which I would stand firm.

The positions which you took to Saigon were those we honestly believe we have a reasonable chance of getting. If you are proposing additional different changes of those positions, within the original framework, we could attempt to work them in. The only concern on that score, as you appreciate, is that we could get too precise in language which could cause interminable haggling without basic substance and place us in a situation of working against a check list.

I would certainly be agreeable to a daily briefing if this would help satisfy Thieu and ease his concerns.3

To further clarify please send me as soon as possible and as precisely as you can just what you believe we should be trying to incorporate in our position. Also please send me a draft of how you believe we [Page 390] should answer Thieu’s letter. We will of course be discussing this in detail when you return. But in view of time pressure we will be under this would be most helpful in giving me needed further time to reflect.

Warm regards.

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 857, For the President’s Files (Winston Lord)—China Trip/Vietnam, Sensitive Camp David, Vol. XXI (1). Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only.↩
  2. Document 103.↩
  3. Reference is to Thieu’s proposal that Kissinger or his representative give a daily briefing to South Vietnamese Ambassadors/officials, probably three in number, when the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho talks resumed in Paris on November 20. See Document 99.↩