of philosophers, kings

has enjoyed a reputation (at least among
some government employees and observ-
ers) for personal duplicity.

He has often been regarded as a man
who would say and do whatever was re-
quired in order to consolidate or expand
his personal power.

Is this criticism justified?

Those observers who think it is point to
exchanges like the following (it was
recorded on Dr. Kissinger's own personal
telephone taping system; the press later
obtained a transcript) between Dr. Kiss-
inger and former President Nixon—and
then between Dr. Kissinger and then Vice
President Nelson A. Rockefeller.

The two conversations took place on
the same day, in 1976.

In the first, the former president talks
about a recently completed visit to China
and about the report he wrote on his talks
there.

Kissinger: Mr. President, I wanted you
to know I have read the report and I find it
very fascinating.

Nixon: As I said, there is a lot of things
that are repetitive.

Kissinger: But that too is interesting.
The fact there is repetition is interesting.

Nixon: I'm not sure that maybe some of
your other people saw it, but you could see
the subtlety of the analysis I was making.

Kissinger: I thought you were very,
very clever.

(At this point, Mr. Nixon describes
some comments he made to the Chinese
about Taiwan.)

Kissinger: I thought you were very,
very good on this.

(Next, Mr. Nixon describes some com-
ments he'd made on the strategic arms
limitation treaty.)

Kissinger: I thought that was very
clever.

(From these comments, of course, it
sounds as though Dr. Kissinger was highly
impressed with the former president's re-
port.)

(Later in the day, however, in a conver-
sation with Nelson Rockefeller, he sounds
different.)

Kissinger: ... I have read the Nixon re-
port on his trip now. He is such an ego-
maniac. All he wrote was—

Rockefeller: —his memoirs.

Kissinger: Just what he said. Nothing
what the Chinese said. Practically noth-
ing. A fascinating account of himself.

Rockefeller: I love it.

Duplicity?

No, say Dr. Kissinger's supporters;
after all, don't most of us tend to shade the
things we say, with an eye to pleasing the
other parties in our conversations?

Dr. Kissinger's fans, as a matter of
fact, say they've always found him to be
remarkably candid—both in his opinions
of other people and in his measurements
of himself. They point, for example, to one
of the more interesting passages in the
new Kissinger autobiography ("White
House Years")—a passage in which the
former secretary of state admits to hav-
ing committed a bad blunder, and to feel-
ing bad about it:

"This was not our only exposure to the
complexities of the Middle East. On
December 17, the president-elect met with
the Amir of Kuwait at the insistent re-
quest of President Johnson, who, correct-
ly, made it a point of personal privilege
that his last State visitor also be received
by Nixon. The occasion was notable
mainly for giving me my first opportunity
to prepare the President-elect for a high-
level meeting—a test which I flunked in-
gloriously. I assumed that the Arab-Israeli
conflict would be at the forefront of the
Amir's concern and prepared an erudite
memorandum on the subject.

"Unfortunately, the Amir wanted, above
all, to learn what plans the new Adminis-
tration had for the Persian Gulf after the
United Kingdom vacated the area, as it
had announced it would do in 1971. What
were America's intentions if, for example,
Iraq attacked Kuwait? Nixon gave me the
glassy look he reserved for occasions
when in his view the inadequacy of his as-
sociates had placed him into an untenable
position. Manfully he replied that he
would have to study the matter, but that,
of course, we were interested in the terri-
torial integrity of all states in the area;
what tactical measures we would adopt
would of course depend on circumstances.
The Amir seemed content with this Del-
phic utterance."

-0-

After the press conference, it was time
for the Loyola College "World Perspec-
tives" speech.

The speech was frightening in the ex-
treme.

Court rejects bid for Kissinger transcripts

MAR 3 1980

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court today thwarted efforts by news reporters and historians to obtain transcripts of telephone conversations Henry A. Kissinger had while he was secretary of state and White House national security adviser.

By a 5-2 vote, the justices ruled
that the Freedom of Information
Act does not authorize federal

courts to order transfer of the notes
from the Library of Congress,
where they are stored, to the State
Department for release.

The ruling, however, leaves the
State Department free to seek re-
turn of the documents. It is likely
the 'department will come under
some pressure to do so.

Today's decision reversed lower

court rulings that had cleared the
way for public access to at least a
portion of the transcripts of con-
versations Kissinger had while sec-
retary of state.

Those rulings had barred public
release of transcripts made for Kis-
singer in his job as national security
adviser for Presidents Richard M.
Nixon and Gerald R. Ford.

the heart had persisted despite extensive treatment.

Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev sent messages over the weekend to Tito and the man who will succeed him as head of the rotating Yugoslav presidency, Lazar Kolisevski.

The messages relayed wishes for Tito's recovery and contained Brezhnev's views "regarding current international issues," the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said.

Tito's letter was believed to have focused on growing East-West tension and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, which had been condemned by Yugoslavia.

that Americans won't tolerate indefinitely a crisis atmosphere which has been "artificially heated up" by the Carter administration.

Georgy Arbatov, director of the Soviet Institute of the U.S.A. and Canada, offered the political prognosis in a lengthy article in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda.

The academician chided U.S. politicians for trying to exploit the current situation by "leaning to the right, to-

For some stand is regardless of one, although actually such a statement is the greatest of Arbatov said.

He noted Carter's recency toward Soviet intervention in capitalist-coalition Japan don't want to get involved in a war.

The elephant who finally ventured out into the