273. Editorial Note
On July 29, 1971, Assistant to the President Kissinger met Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin in the White House office of Military Assistant to the President Brigadier General Hughes to discuss Vietnam and other issues, including the Berlin negotiations. The meeting, which was arranged at Kissinger’s request, lasted from 6:38 to 8:10 p.m. (Record of Schedule; Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 438, Miscellany, 1968–76) According to the memorandum of conversation, Dobrynin said that, with respect to Berlin, “he thought that we were on a good course and that things were working out exactly as I [Kissinger] had predicted. He said it had made a good impression in Moscow.” After an exchange regarding the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam, Dobrynin raised the Berlin negotiations in the context of a proposed summit meeting:
“He [Dobrynin] said it was a pity that the Peking trip had intervened, because he was certain that within five days of the preliminary agreement on Berlin an invitation to a summit in Moscow would have been issued. I said that this was an example of the difficulties in our relationships. The President had given his word that he would work constructively for a Berlin solution. After some initial fumbling about setting up the right channels, we had carried out exactly what we had told him. Yet the Soviet leaders had continually started bringing little [Page 791] pressures on us. I said the President would be as willing to make a big move with Moscow as he was with Peking; in fact, given the nature of our relationships, he would probably attach higher priority to Moscow than to Peking. However, it was important to put relationships on a level that was worthy of the President instead of this constant nitpicking argument.”
Although Dobrynin insisted that the Americans did not understand the Soviet position on the summit, he suggested that both sides look to the future “to see whether we could work out a more constructive relationship.” Kissinger agreed, and the two men “departed after some exchange of amenities.” (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 492, President’s Trip Files, Dobrynin/Kissinger, 1971, Vol. 7 [Part 2]) Kissinger forwarded the memorandum of conversation to the President on August 9. (Memorandum from Kissinger to the President; ibid.) The text is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XIII.