122. Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger1
K: Hello.
N: Hello Henry, what’s new?
K: We have got the thing pretty well orchestrated, Mr. President. The Security Council meeting is set for 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.
N: At our request.
K: Yes at our request.
N: I mean is anybody joining us?
K: In calling it? No but we don’t need anyone to join us. . . . I’ve got us well positioned. I think we should not, Mr. President, not to propose a resolution which will only be defeated, but develop our philosophy . . . how it should end.
N: Right. Resolutions don’t mean anything, they never have. What we need to do is talk about how to end the war. Who’s going to do it, are you going up there or is Scali going to?
K: No, Scali can do it.
N: If the UN is going to fail, let if fail without us.
[Page 363]K: By Thursday evening2 everyone will be pleading with us to introduce that resolution. I told the Russians we were not introducing a resolution . . . have consultations.
N: No message from Brezhnev?
K: Oh, yes we heard from him.
N: What did he say?
K: It was a friendly message,3 but it didn’t say anything. One thing it did say was that the Russians pulled out all their advisers against the wishes of the Arab governments and we have confirmed that through our sources. Also they have withdrawn their fleet in the Mediterranean.
N: Where’s our fleet?
K: Well actually our two fleets are very close together. Ours went East and theirs went West. They have moved back and we have moved up. . . . military situation sufficiently clear. Everybody wants a settlement. Also arrangement for Israelis to stick to. . . . if they go beyond the . . . side, if you appeal to them to return, they must return. I have checked this with Mrs. Meir and she agrees.
N: I see. With regard to the report I was reading coming up on the plane, possibly out of date by now, but the doggoned Syrians surprised me. They’re doing better than I ever thought.
K: The Israelis haven’t thrown in the reserves yet. They’re doing damned well. They’ve taken ______, penetrated two points and that mountain, you must have seen it when you were there.
N: Yes, I remember.
K: They have done pretty well. Implacement won’t be complete until tomorrow. Then Ismail sent me a message suggesting possible framework for negotiations.4 Not yet adequate. It’s where North Viet-Nam was 4 months before the breakthrough. The same message was sent through the Shah,5 but it’s not yet adequate and it’s not quite time to do. We have to get the war stopped first. Then . . . diplomacy.
N: The thing to do now is to get the war stopped. That would be great achievement. One of the greatest achievements of all. People in this country would think . . . really tough.
K: [4 lines not declassified]
N: I know. They are emotional, delightful, but completely unorganized. None of them have their heads screwed on right.
[Page 364]K: It’s a little premature. One usually smells a point when one can say they see it come together. Wednesday or Thursday perhaps. I’ve been calling a lot of Senators in your behalf, after you decided to go to the UN.
N: I will be in in the morning. Will you be at the White House tomorrow.
K: I’ll be in around 8, 8:30.
N: Good. Why don’t you come over and we’ll have a talk, publicize it.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Kissinger Telephone Conversations, Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File, Box 22. No classification marking. The blank underscore indicates an omission in the original.↩
- October 11.↩
- Document 120.↩
- Document 118.↩
- See Document 125.↩