E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6

By NARA, Date 5/27

Telecon
Mr. Kissinger
Jim Schlesinger
9/14/71; 8:45 p. m.

S: I am reluctantly forced to conclude that we prefer the later date.
If we try to do it in a six-day period, we only have 60-80% chance...

K: Would you have 100% chance with later date?

S: 95% - 100%.

K: Okay, we will use later one, starting the 29th.

S: Oh, not the 28th.

K: Tito is arriving on the 28th and I don't know if we want to welcome him with a shot in Alaska.

S: We are going to have to disassemble the device and word
will travel to the press. There will be a good deal of speculation that the
President has cancelled it.

K: But you prefer the later date. We can't give you more than six days.
At the best we can only give you six or seven days starting the 28th or
29th -- we prefer the 29th.

S: I think we prefer the 29th. Do I have to go final tonight?

K: Yes.

S: Done. Okay.

K: Okay.

DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 12950, Sect. 3.6

By CCO

NARA, Date 3/27

TELECON
Ambassador Bruce
9/14/71 a.m.

K: I have been meaning to get in touch with you. On this trip, they have vetoed a joint visit, but you and I may have separate ones.

B: I understand.

K: And we still have you in mind as the Vatican enjoy envoy.

B: Do I have to do anything meanwhile?

K: No, not until I've been there. But I would love to see you. Are you coming to Washington?

B: On Sunday night. I'll be there Monday and Tuesday.

K: How about lunching on Monday?

B: Sounds fine.

K: I saw Vangie at the opening of the Kennedy Center. Did she like the Mass?

B: Yes . . . . . .

K: Then it's one of the few occasions I disagree with a Bruce. You did say she did like it didn't you.

B: No, she did not.

K: Oh, then we agree. In addition to being sacreligious it wasn't good music.

B: Is Monday good for you?

K: Yes. 1:00 in my office, or someplace more civilized.

B: No, that will be fine.

K: Good. I'll see you, and bring you up to date on where we stand.
And I need to see you anyway, to get your advice on where we go from here.

DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6

By NARA, Date 5/27

TELECON
Governor Rockefeller
9/14/71 a.m.

R: How was your week?

K: Inconclusive. That's a tough bunch.

R: You were operating under unfavorable circumstances.

K: Yes. We were within a hair of it and then these guys shot themselves in the leg.

R: Will there be any more meetings?

K: Yes, but we've got to wait till the situation changes. I tried to reach you last night and was told you were in Puerto Rico.

R: No, I didn't go there.

K: That's what I thought. I wanted you to know your friends here admire what you are doing.

R: It was my Cambodia. We got it just in time.

K: You didn't have any choice.

R: As you said, when things get bad is when the revolution happens.

K: You would have had every radical in the world in front of Attica prison negotiating.

R: That's right.

K: So I don't think you had any choice, and I think even with the publicity, they respect someone who stands up.

R: We did our best. I leave them in on 28 out of 30 demands.

K: And you cannot give up on the legal process. I have left a letter here saying that if I ever get grabbed they should under no circumstances negotiate.

R: Well, that's because of your bravery. I talked to the citizens group. I told them that as far as I was concerned they made a mistake going in. I said I admired their courage but I could not be responsible for their lives if they were to be grabbed. We had to go in and I couldn't change my plans because they were in there. It was a maneuver. Some day I will tell you how as done.

J. E. B. L. H. M.
E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6

By NARA, Date 5/27

TELECON
Governor Rockefeller
9/14/71 a.m. p. 2

K: Well, the NSC office behind you. It may not help in Harlem this week, but it's true.

R: I appreciate your call.

K: You had no choice.

R: The only criticism will be that I didn't go up, but I couldn't delay it any longer, and that would have delayed it.

K: That spectacle of the commissioner (?) being ______ was bad enough.

R: And he was a liberal reformer; this was a real eye-opener to him. I was delighted with one of their demands, for free passage to a non-imperialist country. That tipped their hand. You are very thoughtful to call Henry, and tell the President how much I appreciated his call. I passed it along to the national guard, the wardens, the sherriffs. . . they were all very touched.

By NARA, Date 5/27

TELECON
Secretary Laird
9/15/71 8:40 a.m.

L: We've just been having a little meeting on this matter of Abrams' interview and God dammit Henry, last night you got in touch with Tom Moorer and didn't wait till the McGovern thing was in. If you're going to get screwed up about what McGovern says goes on then I'm going to see the President. God dammit, I resent it.

K: It wasn't just the Abrams thing . . .

L: Well, then I think I better talk to the President today.

K: That's up to you. What we said to Moorer was that no one should talk about troop withdrawals.

L: No one does, but to jump Abrams on this thing . . .

K: No one was jumping Abrams; we just said that there should be no statements by anyone.

L: I'll handle that. There will be no statements; we've shut them off over here. I just don't want Abrams jumped on something McGovern says. I want to know when these things are going on.

K: I assume that Moorer is in touch with you.

L: Well he is. But I'll defend Abrams any day in the week.

K: It's just that every time a troop withdrawal announcement is imminent, there are stories close enough to the truth to indicate that someone is leaking.

L: Well, Abe has had to put up with more than any field commander ever has.

K: That is true.

By NARA, Dale

5/27

TelCon:11:45-9/15/71

Mr. Kissinger/
Secretary Rogers

R: Hello Henry. I just talked to Walter Stoessell(?) Has the President approved his appointment yet?

K: Not yet because some people here - political people are pushing Tex Thornton.

R: Oh. I think I will call the President.

K: Yes. You do want him don't you.

R: Yes very much so. I have heard only good things about him.

K: Yes. I like him. He was a student of mine at Harvard.

R: Christ, that is the only negative thing I have heard about him. (laughing)

K: (laughed). Goodbye Bill.

E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6

By NARA, Dalo 5/27

TelCon: 6:00-9/15/71

Mr. Kissinger/
Joe Sisco

S: Hello Henry. How are you. Is it possible to get a copy of the MemCon of your discussion with the General on that freeze out on the pipeline.

K: Sure. I just told them what was the truth and if they needed two weeks that was OK with us. I told my people to tell you.

S: We of course set no deadline. I have the information, but I would like to see what they said because Sam said he was going to send this MemCon over to us. He gave me the info just like you said though. What we had in mind it is relevant to a lot of these announcements which are floating on the Hill. You have no difficulty with proceeding as expeditiously as possible.

K: Except I didn't want to embarrass you completely. It was not authorized by the President . . . and since these guys are so anxious(?) I gave them a two-week extension.

S: I am not making the point

K: No I have no objection to proceeding expeditiously as long as they don't think they are being pressured.

S: Lets assume this takes another four or six weeks. Apparently this is very complicated. You understand this will tend to lose its relevance/

K: You know basically the President doesn't mind taking the heat on this from the Democrats. Are you planning anything for the General Assembly. What are you going to spring on us?

S: The Egyptians have taken the position to delay any recourse . . . this gives the U.S. a few more months.

K: Are you going to talk to Gromyko to get a joint deal.

S: God no. These discussions should be most general because if he gets into any details it will . . . the only middle man they want is the United States.

K: And in any event the President is doing some of his own dealings with the Soviets (?)

UNCLASSIFIED
E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6

By NARA, Date 5/27

You should mention this to the Secretary and I agree with you and
this is the advice I am going to give him. It could be actually
detrimental to the approach we are playing. . . In fact Sadat wants
us in the picture not the Russians. I wish it was possible to sit
down and have a quite lunch with you some day.

I don't see why we can't do that.

I said the paper was going to come over but I never sent it over.
He said the President was very preoccupied this week with the
economic paper so he decided not to send it over. This is what he
told me but I am not sure. I would like to have lunch with you some-
time though.

We will do it in the next two weeks.