Office of the Historian

363. Memorandum From the Military Assistant to the President (Scowcroft) to President Nixon, Washington, February 11, 1973.1 2

Washington, February 11, 1973

MEMORANDUM
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
INFORMATION

February 11, 1973

MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT
FROM: BRENT SCOWCROFT
SUBJECT: Dr. Kissinger’s Meetings in Bangkok and Vientiane

Dr. Kissinger has sent you the following report on his meetings in Bangkok and Vientiane:

“I apologize for the slowness of the first report. However, the combined stop of Bangkok and Vientiane turned into an 18-hour day. The first day in Hanoi involved communication problems. We will cable daily report from now on.

“Bangkok was in slightly jittery mood partly due to misleading reports out of Defense and CINCPAC that we were planning a rapid pull-out from the area and concern about Chinese and North Vietnamese pressures. I had a very good session with Thanom who spoke of you with very great warmth. I explained to him our general approach to foreign policy and the place your of Southeast Asia in it. We had a long talk about the roles of China and the USSR. The Thai’s were especially interested in the proposition that Peking’s and Hanoi’s objectives in Southeast Asia were not necessarily compatible and that we should use this fact to create a regional balance. I stressed the carrot and stick approach we were planning to use. They expressed admiration for your decisiveness and strength in Vietnam. I assured them that you had not fought down the doves for four years in order to adopt their program now. We will have to decide on the level of our forces in Thailand over an intermediate period soon. The Thais seem torn between the desire to maintain our presence and their fear of drawing lightning.

[Omitted is material unrelated to Thailand.]

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, HAK Office Files, Box 29, HAK Bangkok, Vientiane, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Peking, Tokyo Trip, February 7-20, 1973. Top Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information. A notation on the first page reads, “The President has seen.” The full memorandum of conversation from Kissinger’s meeting with Chartchai on February 9 is ibid., Box 1026, Presidential/HAK Memcons, January–March 1973, Folder 23.↩
  2. Scowcroft conveyed Kissinger’s report of his meeting in Bangkok.↩