# The Kissinger Role

By JAMES RESTON

WASHINGTON, March 2—Henry Kissinger is in the center of a bitter controversy here for three reasons: (1) despite White House denials, he is undoubtedly the principal adviser to President Nixon on foreign policy; (2) that policy, particularly in Indochina, is opposed by influential members of the House and particularly the Senate, who feel they have a constitutional duty to examine the logic of the President's decisions; but (3) they cannot question Mr. Kissinger about Laos, the Middle East or anything else.

They can, of course, summon Secretary of State Rogers to Capitol Hill and question him, but it is widely believed here, as Senator Symington asserted on the floor of the Senate today, that Mr. Kissinger has been given many of the advisory powers normally reserved for the Secretary of State, and that he exercises them in the "privileged sanctuary" of the White House, without Congressional review.

It should be made clear what is not at issue here. Even Chairman Fulbright of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Symington, and the other critics of the Indochina policy are not saying that Mr. Kissinger is responsible for that policy or that he is playing some devious Rasputin role.

The issue is simply that he defines the questions to be answered by the departments, formulates the options and the arguments for and against, consults privately with the President at the last stage before decision—and that he is not accountable, as the Secretary of State is, to the Congress, though his influence is undoubtedly greater than Mr. Rogers's.

Several events have envenomed this conflict between the right of the Senate to "advise and consent" on critical foreign policy questions, and the right of the President to take executive action, protected by "executive privilege."

Mr. Kissinger, recognizing the dilemma, agreed to meet privately with Chairman Fulbright and members of his committee at Senator Fulbright's house on Belmont Road. He did so twice, with the approval of the President, but the last time fell just before the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, and Mr. Kissinger said nothing about it. He felt he was not privileged to do so, but Chairman Fulbright felt that the committee was misled by his silence, and that this sort of informal meeting merely gave the impression of consultation but not the substance.

## WASHINGTON

Several weeks ago, a member of Mr. Kissinger's National Security Council staff, John Lehman Jr., was reported in the press to have attacked Senator Fulbright in a private meeting as "mischievous" and not to be trusted with secret information placed before his committee. Mr. Kissinger has since criticized Lehman for "poor judgment," but when Fulbright invited Lehman to explain his charges, the White House again invoked "executive privilege" and instructed both Lehman and Kissinger not to appear.

Last week, Mr. Kissinger added to the controversy over his role by going on a C.B.S. television program with Marvin and Bernie Kalb to discuss the President's State of the World message, which was largely written by Kissinger and his staff. Always before, he had refused to talk publicly about the substance of foreign policy, but

New York Times/Mike Lien

this time he thought he could merely talk about how the report was written.

Was he trapped into answering questions by reporters after refusing to answer questions by Senators? "No," he says, "I merely misjudged the situation, and I'll certainly never do it again."

There is, of course, nothing in the Constitution that says the Secretary of State has to be the principal adviser to the President on foreign policy. Roosevelt often used Harry Hopkins rather than Secretary Hull in this role. Kennedy drafted the Harvard faculty. Johnson often called in Justice Fortas, Clark Clifford and Dean Acheson at

the last minute before making his decisions.

What is new now is that President Nixon has institutionalized the advisory function under Kissinger in the White House, given it a much larger staff (now 42 professionals and 68 clerical and other aides) and larger responsibilities, and put these larger powers beyond Congressional review.

This does not mean that the departments are cut out of the decision-making process. In fact, the more formal Nixon system is designed to involve them closer to the point of decision. Kissinger chairs first a senior staff committee composed of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the head of the C.I.A., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and one staff member.

The job of this committee is not to make recommendations, but to define the choices open to the President. In fact, there is even one member of Kissinger's staff whose job it is to read all relevant public comments on the subject and suggest from these any additional course of action that may have been proposed.

This objective case study of the problem is then placed before the National Security Council composed of the President, the Vice President, and the principal security Cabinet members. Normally, Kissinger, as secretary of the council, defines the options in these meetings and the President asks each Cabinet member for his recommendations, but seldom Kissinger at this point. It is only later, after the President has studied the recommendations, that he usually calls in Kissinger before the final decision—but this, of course, is the critical moment and a major source of Kissinger's power.

In many ways it is the most orderly system of decision making in Washington since the last World War, but this does not remove the central issue of Congressional review with Kissinger or with John D. Ehrlichman, who exercises the same kind of unreviewed power on domestic policy.

The President, who is normally an advocate of decentralizing power, has actually centralized more power under the White House umbrella of executive privilege than any other Chief Executive in this century. And the diplomats are almost as puzzled by it as the Senators, for they want to get close to the power center and to Kissinger too, and actually they manage to do so more often than the Congress of the United States.

EXCLUSIF : LE « CERVEAU »
DE LA MAISON BLANCHE

par Danielle Hunebelle

10/4-1971
RECEIVED

Le petit professeur qui retourne à Pékin pour préparer le voyage de Nixon n'a qu'une ambition : agir sur les événements. Un des rares journalistes à bien connaître Henry Kissinger en trace pour « Jeune Afrique » le portrait.

Ce qui restera des quatre années de l'administration Nixon à la Maison-Blanche (que celle-ci soit ou non reconduite en 1972) c'est, sur le plan extérieur, la poursuite des négociations SALT sur la limitation des armements nucléaires, et l'ouverture vers la Chine. L'une et l'autre portent la marque d'un personnage tout à fait hors du commun, par les origines, le caractère, la réussite et la destinée, Henry Kissinger.

Ce n'est pas un Américain comme les autres. Né en Allemagne il y a quarante-huit ans, fils d'un instituteur juif bavarois, il fut naturalisé en s'engageant dans l'armée des Etats-Unis, au début de la dernière guerre. C'est donc un réfugié d'origine européenne qui préside aujourd'hui le Conseil de Sécurité de son pays d'adoption, et passe, avec raison, pour l'un des hommes les mieux informés et les plus puissants du monde.

## La première place

Quand Nixon se l'attacha, en 1968, il le connaissait à peine. Les deux hommes se découvrirent rapidement au moins quatre passions communes : la politique étrangère, le goût du pouvoir absolu, l'admiration pour de Gaulle, et le sens de la discipline.

Diplômé de Harvard, où il poursuivit brillamment des études d'histoire grâce à une bourse (ses parents n'avaient pas le sou, au début de l'exil sa mère servait chez les autres comme employée de maison), le professeur Henry Kissinger trouva en Nixon un élève avide de mieux comprendre les structures et la dislocation d'un monde compliqué, dont il n'avait jusqu'alors que des vues fragmentaires. De son côté Kissinger, avec le tempérament d'un grand commis, découvrit à la Maison-Blanche la place que son orgueil lui avait depuis longtemps assignée : la première.

HENRY KISSINGER.
Machiavélisme et innocence.

Kissinger est avant tout un cerveau, capable d'assimiler, d'analyser et de synthétiser avec une rapidité foudroyante. Lui qui souffrit et médita la tragédie hitlérienne, toutes les idéologies lui sont suspectes. C'est un réaliste, dont la pensée nourrie de philosophie de l'Histoire s'appuie généralement sur les cinq livres qu'il a publiés. Libéral mais épris d'ordre, modéré mais respectueux de l'autorité, audacieux mais prudent, obstiné mais souple, Kissinger, l'œil vissé davantage sur le futur que sur le présent, a pour idée fixe l'établissement d'une espèce d'ordre global, fondé non sur la paix, « concept illusoire », mais sur la moins mauvaise stabilité possible.

Le rétablissement des relations avec la Chine doit se lire dans cette optique qui était d'ailleurs celle de de Gaulle. N'étant pas né Américain, Kissinger n'a jamais été convaincu de la supériorité absolue des Etats-Unis, et il trouva en Nixon un interlocuteur pragmatique, disposé à accepter l'idée d'un monde où la balance des forces serait plus équitable. Il n'est pas dou-

teux que les difficultés internes des Etats-Unis sont venues à diverses reprises contrecarrer la politique mondiale de Kissinger, qui n'est expert ni en économie ni en politique intérieure. Sur le plan humain, c'est un être fascinant, qui peut se définir par un mélange rarissime de machiavélisme et d'innocence. Pas très grand (surtout comparé à l'Américain moyen), pas très beau (le nez busqué chaussé de lunettes, le menton lourd, le front fuyant, il a l'air d'un oiseau de nuit mélancolique), Kissinger séduit par sa simplicité, sa chaleur humaine, sa vulnérabilité. Cet homme si puissant, au faîte du pouvoir et des honneurs, ceux qui l'approchent se sentent immédiatement attendris et enclins à le protéger — à moins qu'ils ne le haissent.

Rusé comme un cardinal du Moyen Age, robuste comme un sanglier, avec sa nuque rasée d'Allemand et sa tendance à l'embonpoint, il semble à moitié moine, à moitié soldat, totale-ment intègre, dévoué, loyal. Son esprit tyrannique et son arrogance lui créent beaucoup d'inimitiés. Et dans le même temps sa timidité, son humour, un je ne sais quoi de frileux et désarmant lui créent beaucoup d'amitiés.

## La notoriété

C'est un homme d'une complexité extraordinaire, centré sur lui-même, doué d'une énergie et d'une force de travail qui assomment son monde (il n'arrête littéralement pas dix-huit heures sur vingt-quatre), mais derrière cette façade apparemment inexorable se dissimulent une sensibilité d'écorché vif, et une grande insécurité.

La promotion à la Maison-Blanche, au poste de conseiller pour la politique étrangère (le bureau de Kissinger jouxte celui du Président, avec lequel il s'entretient chaque jour plus facilement, plus souvent et plus longtemps

30

« Lorsque
Kissinger sera là,
on pourra peut-être
savoir
ce qui se passe
à Washington. »

Dessin de Herblock
dans le « Washington
Post »/Washington
(Etats-Unis)

que n'importe quel autre membre de l'entourage), apporta à l'universitaire germanique la consécration et la revanche auxquelles toute sa carrière aspirait.

A Führt, en Bavière, petit Juif proscrit par la vindicte nazie, c'est un enfant rêveur, sans ambition. Sergent dans l'armée américaine, membre des services de renseignement, il développe le sens de la discipline et des responsabilités, et apprend à connaître ses nouveaux concitoyens. A Harvard, encouragé par l'estime de ses professeurs, il prend peu à peu conscience de ses possibilités intellectuelles, et se pique au jeu de la compétition. Mais ce qui l'intéresse dès lors, ce n'est pas la perspective d'une chaire universitaire, ni l'argent dont il se moque, c'est le monde, et l'action qu'il pourra exercer sur lui.

« J'ai besoin de sentir que ce que je fais apporte une différence », dit-il souvent. Tiré de la semi-obscurité par Nelson Rockefeller, qui flaire en

lui un système de pensée, une curiosité et une force de volonté exceptionnels, Kissinger atteindra la notoriété avec son premier ouvrage sur les armes nucléaires (Nuclear weapons and foreign policy), qui lui vaudra le nom de Dr Strangelove (Dr Fola-mour), et fera de lui un expert mondial de la pensée stratégique. Il élargira ses connaissances d'abord en voyageant, puis en dirigeant pendant plusieurs années des séminaires internationaux, qui le mettent au contact des hommes politiques, écrivains, journalistes, les plus fameux de notre temps. Le réseau des relations de Kissinger, homme solitaire et secret, couvre toute la planète, et lui apporte une aide formidable depuis son arrivée à la Maison-Blanche.

En principe, son pouvoir ne procède que du Président auquel il présente en toute occasion toutes les alternatives possibles. Ce n'est pas lui qui tranche, mais c'est lui qui jauge, ayant recueilli l'avis des militaires et des ci-

vils aux plus hauts échelons. En fait, parce qu'il a su se construire une équipe de plusieurs dizaines de collaborateurs hautement qualifiés et spécialisés, parce que ses prérogatives ne sont pas bien délimitées et lui donnent accès à toutes les informations tissant de près ou de loin à la sécurité des Etats-Unis, parce que son cerveau travaille sans cesse plus vite que les autres, parce qu'il est divorcé, voit rarement ses deux enfants et peut se consacrer entièrement à ce qu'il considère comme une mission, et par-dessus tout parce qu'il a la pleine confiance du Président, l'activité de Kissinger couvre comme une toile le monde entier, et surprendra lorsque plus tard on en découvrira l'étendue.

## Sérieux ou frivole ?

Mais la faiblesse de Kissinger — qui est aussi sa force — c'est une confiance absolue en ses jugements et sa vision du monde : une espèce de rigidité sur les principes, une immense méfiance, l'habitude de se tenir sur la défensive, les réflexes du réfugié jalousé, ne lui ont pas permis de cultiver le sens psychologique. Son approche est plus intellectuelle qu'intuitive. Il ne s'intéresse pas aux êtres, seulement aux idées. D'où l'agrément qu'il trouve dans la compagnie des jolies femmes, reposantes, délassantes qui, elles au moins, ne constituent pas des rivaux potentiels.

Au poste si difficile de conseiller du Président des Etats-Unis, où jusqu'alors bien peu ont laissé un souvenir durable, il semble que la personnalité de Kissinger, acharné à vaincre en dépit des obstacles, excessivement sérieux sous un faux air frivole, imprimera un style, et créera un précédent.

« Il est rassurant de penser que c'est lui, et non tel autre, qui tient actuellement entre ses mains les destinées d'une grande partie du monde », ai-je souvent entendu dire par des adversaires de Nixon, pourtant exaspérés par les erreurs et les lenteurs de la liquidation de la guerre au Vietnam.

appointed nor is one likely to be.

"We have had discussions on two candidates," said Naji Chachak, secretary of the Jewish community organization for 20 years.

"One is 80 years old and not in very good health and the other does not have the right scholarly background. At present there is no concern with naming a new grand rabbi."

Chachak, a retired lawyer of 58, said this Arab country's dwindling Jewish population now numbers 1,100. There are reports the Iraqis have quietly been allowing Jews to leave the country by way of Iran, but Chachak said he had no knowledge of this.

In April the government arrested 16 Jews on charges of attempting to leave the country illegally with money and gold. They were released on bail pending a trial which apparently has not taken place.

Chachak said a number of Jews have returned from Israel within the past year, critical of life there and alleging discrimination against Oriental Jews. Some of them appeared on Iraqi television to make the charges.

Chachak praised the Baath party government headed by President Ahmed Hassan al Bakr.

"Frankly speaking, they have been very good to us," he said. "They have lift-

Concern about 1968-69 when the alleged spies, 14 rabbi spoke out after the meeting after the Jews were widely reported that he had no other role.

Once Iraqi Joldest and rich Diaspora, numerous Jews before World War II every level of American Jewish life.

Then came the An Iraqi Jewish government of selling arms to the Jews left the country.

The government could not hold port licenses. An American Jewish Council, which later became the trials.

Private nor believe police Jews' mail and activity have practice as la shops and workshops. Jewish schools the state.

## Johnny Cash Plans Own Holy Land Jesus Movie

SEA OF GALILEE, Israel (AP) — Johnny Cash is making a 90-minute feature film at Christian holy sites in Israel and occupied Jordan.

"I've never seen a movie about Jesus that I really liked," says the singer. "So I thought I'd make one myself."

Cash says he has spent $500,000 and five weeks in Israel to produce a portrayal of Christ "the man, as a real man, very human, and as a divinity — very divine."

"We show him as a boy, playing with kids, we show him laughing, throwing rocks at the water. A fly lands on his nose he brushes it away. A disciple helps him get a speck of dirt out of his eye. And so on," Cash added.

Jesus is played by a nonprofessional, blond, bearded Bob Elfstrom, Ridgefield, Conn. The other actors were recruited from among Americans, British and Scandinavian youths on hitchhike tours of Israel.

Dogged by tourists thronging the holy places, Cash frequently improvised. A Garden of Gethsemane scene was done in a copse near the Sea of Galilee.

He filmed Jerusalem scenes in a deserted Palestini- an refugee camp, where the aboe huts and narrow alleys have a Biblical atmosphere.

But so far, he says, "We've had a goodly share of miracles."

Cash got a storm on the Sea of Galilee the day he needed it, and a calm sea the next days. Jesus' Ascension was filmed with Elfstrom walking toward a clouded sky. As he walked, a hole opened in the clouds. "The telescopic lens turned him out of focus, and he was gone. It was beautiful."

Cash narrates and sings in the movie, and reads passages from Matthew in his rich, growling voice. He is not in the visible cast.

## SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP

4860 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood

Sunday 9:30 and 11:00 a.m.

HOW TO HEAR GOD'S ANSWER TO PRAYER

"Our greatest need is to under-

2

Boston Evening Globe

Monday, October 18, 1971

Ask the
Globe

Kissinger 2d most
powerful man in US

Newsweek

WASHINGTON — Like many other immigrant youngsters, Henry Kissinger worked to put himself through school.

"I worked in a shaving-brush factory during the days," he recalls, "so that I could go to schools at nights to prepare for what was then the height of my ambition — becoming an accountant."

Though some of Kissinger's critics in town might wish that he had realized that ambition, at least one man is glad he changed fields: the President of the United States. When Kissinger decided last January to stay on in government rather than return to his professorship at Harvard, Richard Nixon wrote him, "Frankly, I cannot imagine what the government would be like without you."

Nominally, Kissinger is just one of

Nixon's assistants, his adviser for national security affairs. In fact, he is probably the most influential man in Washington, next to the President. He has been labeled — by friends and enemies alike — as "the Secretary of State in everything but title," the second most powerful man in the country and even, by one respected columnist, the second most powerful man in the world.

The immense confidence the President has in him was illustrated dramatically last summer by Kissinger's top-secret mission to China to arrange for Nixon's forthcoming trip to Peking.

And in case any doubts about his clout still linger, when it was time to send a second mission to China to lay the groundwork for the Presidential visit, the chief of mission was once again the bespectacled, 48-year-old, German-born foreign-policy expert.

At least one reason the President sent Kissinger to China instead of Secretary of State William Rogers is that he can travel without all the panoply that must surround a high-ranking visiting diplomat.

But an even more compelling reason that Kissinger is known in Washington as being totally discreet, has a passion for secrecy, which sometimes irks aides who feel he doesn't tell them as much as they should know in their work. But it serves the President well.

He also knows the President's mind better than any other man in the government and — by training, fiat and temperament — he never tries to insert his own opinions into his job, unlike some advisors to previous Presidents.

"There is no 'Kissinger policy' on any substantive questions," he has said. "If there were, the whole new mechanism we have set up in the National Security Council — not to speak of the relations between the governmental agencies — would be in a shambles."

So when his second trip to China was announced, Kissinger took pains to explain that he would not be usurping any Presidential prerogative by making any statements to the media.

But an even more compelling reason is that Kissinger is known in Washington as being totally discreet. He has a passion for secrecy, which sometimes irks aides who feel he doesn't tell them as much as they should know in their work. But it serves the President well.

So when his second trip to China was announced, Kissinger took pains to explain that he would not be usurping any Presidential prerogative by discussing matters of substance with the Chinese. He was going, he said, "to make concrete, technical arrangements and to begin a preliminary outline of the sort of schedule that might be followed."

Kissinger's prized discretion carried over equally well into his private life. He can divorce himself completely from his work.

He has lightly described himself as a "secret swinger" and has squired some of Washington's liveliest ladies. He is the No. 1 "catch" for the capital's ambitious hostesses — a genial, brilliant man who is constantly surrounded by an air of mystery.

Kissinger has two children by a marriage that ended in divorce in 1964 and he sees them whenever he can. But recently, most of his free time has been taken up by studying China.

He has been consulting with Sinologists all around the country, trying to correct what one State Department official describes as his "absysmal ignorance of Asia." Typically, he has been a quick and thorough learner.

"By temperament he is a man who asks probing questions," says one of those whom he consulted, "and my impression is that by now he is a

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1971

Notes on People

A Chinese Recipe for the

Henry A. Kissinger, the President's national security adviser, may not think of everything his employer needs, but he seems to try hard. Mrs. Richard M. Nixon disclosed that Mr. Kissinger, returning from a trip to China, where he made preparations for the President's visit, brought her a recipe for chicken and walnuts. Mrs. Nixon, who said the dish would be prepared for the President next week, said she didn't know whether she would go to China, but if she didn't, "I certainly will be disappointed."

The New York Times

Henry A. Kissinger

monstrous frustrations as well. He
is a man who either bites or picks
his fingernails down deep under his
fingertips. He does not have a vol-
canic temper that erupts and gets it
over with; he broods and worries and
wrestles with guilts. He will have
small nasty tantrums, sometimes so
close together that they seem like
one big one, as he tries to get exactly
what he wants from his staff and
from the bureaucracy. Men who can't
put up with that kind of character
quit him and describe him as a petty
tyrant; men who think he is a natural
historical phenomenon—and there are
a good many of those—learn to live
with his ways. One of his former
staff members adds: "Dr. Kissinger
drives you to the point where you
get things out of yourself that you
absolutely knew were impossible."

All of this, of course, merely gives
us a few clues about whether Kissin-
ger is, as he sometimes gets called
in the headlines, "the second most
powerful man in the world." Most
theories about Dr. Kissinger's great
power derive from the widely held
conviction that the last man to talk
to the boss gets things his way.
Whether or not that is really the case
with Henry Kissinger and his boss
we will not soon know. That is for
those unborn historians to ferret out.

If Henry has personally gained any-
thing from his White House position,
besides his $42,000 annual salary, it
is in his confidence. His old friends
remark about it.

He is no longer the rather nervous,
slightly damp-handed professor who
is made forlorn by being left out of
some staff meeting. He does not
carry a wounded look when his par-
ticular interest is not given top pri-
ority. When Dr. Kissinger worked as
the foreign-policy adviser for Gov.
Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor
would say to some of his staff be-
fore meetings in which Kissinger was
not really needed: "Let's ask Henry
in on this one so his feelings won't
be hurt." Now Henry has too much
to do and more than enough confi-
dence in the seriousness and secure-
ness of his position to worry overly
long about being shunned.

George Franklin, the retired editor
of Foreign Affairs, the magazine of
an enormously influential private
group called the Council on Foreign
Relations, tells how Henry Kis-
singer, a young professor at Harvard,
was the most independent applicant
for a project with the Council he has

(Continued on Page 104)

Kissinger and China's Premier
Chou En-lai. Twice now they've
met to arrange President
Nixon's forthcoming visit.

Design by RALPH BRESWITZ

NOVEMBER 14, 1971

Tension between the nation's two top officeholders is not unknown in American history (above, the incumbents meet in Mr. Nixon's office),

# Will Agnew Dump Himself?

By KEVIN PHILLIPS

WASHINGTON.

DUMP Spiro Agnew? It seems unlikely—at least in the sense of forcible removal. By next summer, if the Vice President is a political liability, he will opt out of a re-election bid long before anyone has to “dump” him.

Thus, for the moment at least, it may be more useful to rephrase the question as follows: "Are circum-

stances such that the Vice President is likely to stand aside next year?"

Here, there is already meat for real speculation: For instance, Agnew's recent statement that he wanted the President to weigh his renomination in a "cold, hard, practical political way." This is a highly unusual suggestion for a Vice President to make, and it is probably suggestive more of Agnew's own cynicism and disenchantment: he is taking cold, hard, practical stock of his circumstances.

Meanwhile, the Vice President has reconfirmed this capsule of his 1972 thought processes:

"First, of course, I have to make a decision as to what I want to do, and then, of course, the final decision is that of the President."

No one doubts that President Nixon's decision will be a hard-boiled, calculating one, but the Vice President's open hesitation is a recent development. Hitherto, he had been more private in his unhappiness. Recently, he has been discussing the possibility of stepping down with such friends and supporters as Gov. Ronald Reagan of California.

Everybody who knows Agnew, beginning with Richard Nixon, has

commented on the Vice President's pride; as a proud man, he does not care for many aspects of his job. Moreover, he is realistic enough to doubt his chances of ever becoming President, which makes the idea of another four years in his present position stand on its own merits or—quite conceivably—fall on its own demerits.

Hubert Humphrey has told of the problems he experienced as Lyndon Johnson's Vice President. Friction between the nation's two top officeholders is inevitable, but in this White House, the Vice President has had an especially unpleasant function and status. This could be the key to what Agnew does, and one cannot under-

KEVIN PHILLIPS wrote "The Emerging Republican Majority," a book that is said to have influenced the party's national political strategy. He served on the Nixon campaign staff in 1968 and later was an aide to Attorney General Mitchell. He is now a syndicated columnist.

36

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

'Fischer-Fear'

ing of revenge. "I was determined to
come back and put those people who
were putting me down in their place.
The Russians and their sympathizers
and all the rest."

Anyway, after the Petrosian vic-
tory Bobby played in the Zagreb
tournament, in May, 1970, and took
first place. Last December he ran
amok at the Interzonal at Palma de
Mallorca, ending with a spurt of
seven winning games against the best
the world had to show. Winning the
Interzonal started him on his series
of individual matches toward the
world's championship. He pulverized
Mark Taimanov of Russia, 6 to 0. He
then shut out Bent Larsen of Den-
mark, 6 to 0, and Larsen was thought
to be the strongest player in the West

aside from Bobby. He came into the
semifinal match for the world's cham-
pionship with the Soviet Union's
Tigran Petrosian last month, there-
fore, with 19 consecutive victories in
grandmaster play. No chess player in
history could show anything like it.

BOBBY won his first game against
Petrosian. Then the Armenian snapped
the string. Three draws followed.
Bobby's admirers began to worry. Re-
ports began to come out of Buenos
Aires, where the match was being
held. Bobby was not feeling well.
Bobby had a cold. Bobby was off
form. It later was learned that Bobby
actually did have a cold and was
taking drugs for it. He was very quiet
for the first week. Then he started

to complain. He complained about his
hotel room, about the food, about
playing conditions. At that point the
Americans in his small entourage
knew that the old Bobby was back
in action. He was healthy again. He
was his usual self. Watch out, Petro-
sian! Sure enough, Bobby won the
next four games in a row (there was
a brief hiatus when Petrosian took a
couple of days off on the advice of
his physician, pleading nervous ex-
haustion). The final score was 6½ to
2½. Next spring Bobby will play
Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union
for the championship.

But the match will not be held in
Russia. Neutral territory will have to
be found, and the International Fed-
eration of Chess agrees. Bobby has a

thing about the Russians. In 1962 he
accused them of collusion, claiming
that they were prearranging drawn
games, thus giving Russian tourna-
ment leaders easy half points. (A
win is a full point, a draw a half
point.) He also darkly hinted that
some Russians in tournaments would
conveniently lose to others; that they
controlled the Fédération Internation-
ale des Echecs (commonly called
FIDE); that the Russians wanted to
get rid of all threats to their domina-
tion of international chess. Bobby
said all this once, he said it twice, he
said it thrice, and he is still saying it.
What's more, he says, if he played
in Russia "they" would annoy and
harass him and prevent him from

(Continued on Page 124)

AWESOME—Right, Bobby Fisch-
er, who lives for chess and chess
only, waits at the board for the
start of his recent match in Buenos
Aires with Tigran Petrosian. Left,
an impression by the Argentine
cartoonist Hermenigildo Sábat of
the two locked in combat. Fisch-
er's victory won him the right to
play Russia's Boris Spassky for the
world championship next spring.