100. Backchannel Message From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
Haigto 10/265. 1. Attached is Thieu reply delivered after this afternoon’s session.2 As you will see, Thieu has taken the moderate tone reflected in meeting with Bunker and me.3 The only part of the letter which is somewhat stiffer than our oral discussion deals with the timing of the withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops. In the letter, Thieu states that the withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops should be within the same period of time and under the same conditions as other foreign troops. He was not this explicit in the discussion with me and I feel sure that he would display a greater degree of flexibility on timing.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1019, Alexander M. Haig Special File, Haig’s Vietnam Trip, November 9–13, 1972 [2 of 2]. Top Secret; Flash; Sensitive; Eyes Only.↩
- The letter from Thieu to Nixon, November 11, is attached but not printed.↩
- See Document 99.↩