A richly detailed collection of transcripts of Henry Kissinger's secretly recorded phone conversations from his time in the Nixon administration that touch on every important issue of Kissinger's day and provide a sweeping view of his era.
Henry Kissinger is unquestionably one of the most consequential foreign policy makers in American history. A remarkably influential academic during his long tenure at Harvard, Kissinger became Richard Nixon's National Security Advisor in 1969 and Secretary of State in 1973.
Like Nixon, Kissinger left a trail of secretly recorded evidence in his wake. Kissinger began taping in 1969, two years before Nixon did in 1971, and he continued taping for over three years after Nixon's recording system was dismantled in 1973. In The Kissinger Tapes, Tom Wells draws on his expertise in the Nixon era to provide carefully selected, edited, and annotated transcripts of Kissinger's phone conversations, which chronologically highlight the most momentous crises and controversies of the era. They not only provide context and many revelations on Kissinger's role in numerous events but also throw his personality, character, and checkered record into sharp relief.
The conversations cover a wide range of issues, including the Vietnam War, the India-Pakistan conflict, the opening to China, the Middle East, the Greek coup in Cyprus, the Nixon administration's illegal wiretapping, and the Watergate scandal. The transcripts reveal Kissinger's opinions and attitudes on important policy matters and his complex relationship with President Nixon, as well as the many battles he fought with other administration officials and his subtle manipulations of well-known journalists.
A richly detailed collection of Kissinger's transcripts and commentary, this book provides a novel window into the Nixon administration and offers a genuinely unique perspective on one of the most important figures in modern American history.
In The Kissinger Tapes, Tom Wells has carefully selected, edited, and annotated transcripts of tapes, which chronologically highlight the most momentous crises and controversies of the era. They not only provide many revelations on Kissinger's role in numerous events but also throw his personality and character into sharp relief. The conversations cover a wide range of issues, including the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, the opening to China, the 1973 coup in Chile, the Nixon administration's illegal wiretapping, and the Watergate scandal. They further offer a genuinely unique perspective on one of the most important figures in modern American history.
Arvustused
From the fog of history Tom Wells offers a gift that keeps giving by masterfully assembling a trove of Kissinger's previously secret conversations across virtually every area of his engagement during the Nixon presidency. The book adds much to understanding the personalities, politics, and policies of the era plus illuminates the nuances of Kissinger's pettiness, deceit, and self-adulation. Wells has given us a real historical gem. * Larry Berman, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis, and author of No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger and Betrayal in Vietnam * The Kissinger Tapes is an essential document for anyone wishing to understand how power works in the world. Wells ably guides the reader through the air-conditioned jungle of the Nixon White House. * Tim Weiner, author of The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century and One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon * Under one cover, Tom Wells has assembled perhaps the most unique, candid, and revealing collection of formerly secret conversations ever to be declassified. The Kissinger Tapes provides an incomparable compilation of Henry Kissinger in his own wordsand a verdict of history on his controversial foreign policies. * Peter Kornbluh, Senior Analyst, The National Security Archive * Tom Wells' The Kissinger Tapes is a fascinating look at the political class's self-surveillance, and of the consuming distrust and paranoia that comes from waging illegal wars and coups across multiple continents. Now, if we only had a recording of Kissinger's psyche... * Greg Grandin, C.Vann Woodward Professor of History, Yale University, and the author of Pulitzer winning The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America * Wells provides unparalleled insight into the premier American diplomat of the twentieth century... * Foreign Affairs * Since Kissinger did not intend his transcripts to be public, the collection is a window both into him as a person and into the operations of the U.S. national security state... For Kissinger, lies weren't a strategic tool limited to selective uses in international statecraft. They appear to have been part of his personal makeup...Throughout the transcripts, he deceives his foreign counterparts, his colleagues, and the media...He lied to obtain strategic advantage; he lied to shift blame; he lied to protect his reputation and status...Reading these conversations, one can't help but wonder whether a country that abandons its morals for potential security will preserve neither its morals nor its security, while strengthening the greatest threat to both: the state's unchecked power. * Reason Magazine * Wells provides unparalleled insight into the premier American diplomat of the twentieth century as well as minute-by minute accounts of U.S. foreign policy decision-making in a momentous era, including during the Vietnam War, the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Nixon's opening with China, the Watergate scandal, various Cold War crises, and much more. * Jessica T. Mathews, Foreign Affairs * Not merely a documentary collection but a destabilizing counter-archive of American diplomacy.... If Wells's tone occasionally veers toward prosecutorial zeal, the underlying archival achievement remains formidable. By assembling and contextualizing these conversations, he provides historians with an unusually intimate record of power in action. The result is a book that reads at times like a political thriller and at others like a forensic investigation of statecraft itself. For readers willing to confront its uncomfortable implications, The Kissinger Tapes offers something rarer than scandal or vindication: a raw, unsettling glimpse into the moral psychology of modern diplomacy. * Sri Lanka Guardian * Tom Wells' newly published The Kissinger Tapes: Inside His Secretly Recorded Phone Conversations offers a revelatory glimpse into this era. In reading Wells' book, one realises that Kissinger was both brilliant and morally flawed, terrifying and indispensable.... The Kissinger tapes remind us, with unsparing clarity, of what we have lost: the art of the back channel, the subtlety of influence, the moral ambiguity of statecraft wielded with skill.... Wells' book, with its chronological transcripts, illuminates a world in which the exercise of power was deliberate, cold, and guided by ruthless logic. * The Morning (Sri Lanka) * Unusually dependable as a research tool and unusually gripping as a read: you get the adrenaline of real-time decision-making and the unguarded candor rarely found in memos or memoirs.... Histories tell us what was decided; these tapes show how-the impatience, the performative threats, the tactical feints, and the ever-present calculation about how a move would 'read' in the press.... With The Kissinger Tapes, Wells has assembled a command-center view of U.S. foreign policy at the dawn of the 1970s. Admirers of Kissinger's diplomacy will have to confront the unabashed candor of the record; critics will find their arguments reinforced with hard evidence. Ultimately, the book reshapes the factual foundation for any future debate about Kissinger and his era. * The Cipher Brief * An essential history-as told in Kissinger's own words-of his tenure as national security advisor and secretary of state during the Nixon years...providing hundreds of pages of revealing evidence into his policies, strategies, personality and the rampant abuses of power that defined his stewardship of U.S. foreign policy. * National Security Archive *
Cast of Characters
Introduction: Kissinger's Personal Trove
Chapter One: The Secret Cambodia
Bombing and Vietnam Peace Talks
January-March 1969
Chapter Two: North Korea's Shootdown of a U.S. Spy Plane,
Leaks, and Vietnam Withdrawals
April-June 1969
Chapter Three: Secret Vietnam Peace Talks, the Green Beret
Murder Scandal, a B-52 Stand-Down, and Golda Meir's First Visit
July-September 1969
Chapter Four: The Moratorium and Mobilization Protests,
Nixon's November 1 Ultimatum to Hanoi, the My Lai Massacre, and Warsaw Talks
with China
October-December 1969
Chapter Five: French Plane Sales to Libya, B-52s over
Laos, Japanese Textile Negotiations, Hitting SAM Sites in North Vietnam,
Danielle Hunebelle, and Thai Troops in Laos January-March 1970
Chapter Six:
Arms to General Lon Nol, Beecher Leaks, the Invasion of Cambodia and the Hunt
for Supplies and COSVN, an Explosion of Protest, and the Heaviest Bombing of
North Vietnam Since 1968
April-May 1970
Chapter Seven: Brian McDonnell, Cambodia and the Press, U.S.
Air Strikes and South Vietnamese in Cambodia, Frictions with State, and a
Tenuous Middle East Cease-Fire and Clashes over Credit
June-August 1970
Chapter Eight: 60 Minutes Debut, Subverting Allende in
Chile, Jordan on the Brink and Intervention Planning with Israel, and a
Trumped-Up Soviet Facility in Cuba September-October 1970
Chapter Nine: The
Son Tay Prison Raid and Heavy Bombing of North Vietnam, Charles de Gaulle's
Funeral, South Vietnamese Operations and U.S. Bombing in Cambodia, and Laos
Planning
November-December 1970
Chapter Ten: Laird's Vietnam Machinations; More
Strains with State; Planning a Meeting with the Kidnapping Plotters; the
Ill-Fated U.S.-Supported South Vietnamese Invasion of Laos, the News Blackout
and PR; and Slowing and Toning Down State on the Middle East
January-February 1971
Chapter Eleven: The Laos Invasion-Tchepone, the Hasty
South Vietnamese Retreat, Rout Stories and Bad Press, the PR Offensive,
Upbeat Military Reports, and Whistling in the Dark; Kissinger's Meeting with
the Kidnapping Plotters, Cover Stories, and Lies; and Another Round of
Bombing of North Vietnam and "Protective Reaction" Claims
March 1971
Chapter Twelve: My Lai; More Troop Withdrawals; U.S. "Moral
Bankruptcy" in Pakistan; the Opening and Invitation to China, the Soviet
Game, and Picking an Envoy; Creighton Abrams's Indiscretion on Laos; Allen
Ginsberg's Overture; and an Ambiguous SALT Announcement Negotiated in the
Back Channel April-May 1971
Chapter Thirteen: Secret Senate Sessions on Laos;
Retreat at Snuol; Pinning Laos on Kennedy; the Pentagon Papers-"This Is
Treason," Kissinger's Distancing ("I Didn't Know the Thing Existed"), and
Appealing to Lyndon Johnson; Kissinger's Secret Trip to China; Announcing
Nixon's Visit to China and the New Public Mood; More Secret Vietnam Talks and
the Impasse over Thieu; the Upcoming Rigged South Vietnamese Election; and
Bypassing State on Berlin
June-August 1971
Chapter Fourteen: Defense Leaks on U.S. Withdrawal from
Vietnam and More Unguarded Remarks from Abrams, Another Round of Heavy
Bombing in Southern North Vietnam (Nixon--"I Am Not So Goddamned Concerned
about the Civilian Population"), Egyptian-Israeli Clashes and Retaliations,
Upheaval in China and the China Summit, Kissinger's Second Trip to China,
Reining in State on the Middle East, and SALT
September-October 1971
Chapter Fifteen: The Pakistan-India Conflict--the
United Nations, a "Soviet-Indian Naked Power Play," Border Clashes and
Escalation, Cutting Off Aid to India, Disputes with State, Pakistan's
Surprise Attack, Blaming India, Illegal Arms Shipments, Preventing "a
Dismemberment of West Pakistan," Coordinating with China, Pakistan's
Surrender and Gandhi's Cease-fire; a Cuban Attack on a Suspect Freighter; and
Massive Bombing of North Vietnam November-December 1971
Chapter Sixteen:
Relations with India and Bangladesh, the Radford Leaks and JCS Spying
Operation, in Nixon's Doghouse and under Attack in the Press, Bemoaning
Rogers and Talk of Resigning, Haldeman's Incendiary Today Show Charge,
Preparing for the Enemy Offensive and Intensified Bombing in the South, and
the China Summit and Shanghai Communique
January-February 1972
Chapter Seventeen: The Enemy Offensive in South
Vietnam--U.S. Bombing and Shelling of the North, Weather Delays, Bombing in
the South, Discord with Abrams and Laird, Expanding the Bombing Northward,
Rolling Out the B-52s, and the Heavy Weekend Bombing of Haiphong and Hanoi;
Kissinger's Secret Trip to Moscow; and Nixon's Threats to Cancel the Summit
and Blockade the North
March-April 1972
Chapter Eighteen: A Futile Meeting in Paris; Prodding the
South Vietnamese; Soviet Summit in the Balance; Mining North Vietnam's Ports,
Bombing Its Rail Lines, Resuming Heavy Bombing in the Hanoi-Haiphong Area,
and Internal Dissent; a Supreme Commander in Vietnam?; the Battle and B-52s
in South Vietnam; the SALT Agreements; and Danielle Hunebelle's Dear Henry
May-June 1972
Chapter Nineteen: The Disturbed Bobby Fischer; the Cockamamie
Jimmy Hoffa Pardon and POW Scheme; George McGovern, Pro-Nixon Democrats, and
the Thomas Eagleton Debacle; Bombing Dikes; the Nixon Campaign and
Fundraising; Swifty Lazar's Pursuit of Kissinger's Memoirs; and the Jackson
Amendment on SALT July-August 1972
Chapter Twenty: Maligning and Attacking
George McGovern; Nixon's Backing of the Jackson SALT Amendment; Connally and
Resignation Rumors; Kissinger: The Adventures of Super-Kraut; the October
Peace Agreement--Leaning on Thieu, His Rejection and "Suicide," Hanoi's
Demand That It Be Upheld and Signed, "Peace Is At Hand," and Fear of a
Blow-Up September-October 1972
Chapter Twenty-One: McGovern--"He's an Awful
Man," Pressuring and Appeasing Thieu and Reneging on a Peace Agreement That
Was "Good Enough," Moving without and Threatening Thieu, the Connally
Problem--"He's a Total Lightweight," Nixon's Distancing, Visit of a Thieu
Emissary, Breakdown in Paris, and the Christmas Bombing November-December
1972
Chapter Twenty-Two: PR on the Christmas Bombing; Agreement in Paris;
Facing Down and "Turning the Screw" on Thieu, Threatening a Separate Peace
and an Aid Cutoff, and Contingency Planning for a "Tragedy"; Initialing and
Signing the Agreement; "Peace with Honor"; Memoirs and Interviews January
1973
Chapter Twenty-Three: Israel's Shootdown of a Civilian Libyan Airliner;
Flacking Kissinger's Hanoi and China Visits; POW Releases, Peace Agreement
Violations, and the Paris Conference; Diplomatic Killings in Sudan; Cambodia
and Laos Bombing; and Aid to Pakistan February-March 1973
Chapter
Twenty-Four: "Trouble-Making" Cables; Stepped-up Bombing in Cambodia and Two
Days of Air Raids in Laos; Watergate Explodes, Getting "Blood Flowing" and
"Total Disassociation," Plotting with Garment and Shultz, and Pleading
Ignorance of Watergate; the Wiretapping Breaks and Kissinger's Evasions and
Lies; and Kalb Book Intrigues
April-May 1973
Chapter Twenty-Five: Watergate, the Wiretaps, and the
Plumbers; the Brezhnev Summit; Another Grain Deal; the Looming Cambodia
Bombing Cutoff; Morton Halperin's Wiretapping Lawsuit; Memoirs; Nixon's
Pneumonia; Dan Rather's Report on Kissinger's Move to State; the Butterfield
Taping Revelation; and the Uncovering of the Secret Cambodia Bombing
June-July 1973
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Safire Wiretap and Safire's Angry
Crusade; Nixon's Watergate Speech and Statement; Senate Hearings and Pentagon
Releases on the Secret Cambodia Bombing; Legal Pleadings on the Halperin
Wiretap; Nixon's Press Conference on Kissinger's Nomination as Secretary of
State; Kissinger's Confirmation Hearings and the Wiretap Problem; Kissinger
as Wiretap Victim?; the Coup Against Allende; and the Joe Kraft Wiretap
August-September 1973
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Yom Kippur War--Egypt's and
Syria's Surprise Attacks, Restraining Israel and Egypt, the Soviets and the
UN, Regaining the Prewar Lines, Warplanes, Tanks, and Ammo to Israel,
Israel's Counterattacks, the Cease-Fire and Its Collapse, Israel's
Strangulation of Egypt's Third Army, and Brezhnev's Threat of Unilateral
Action; the Watergate Tapes; and Elliot Richardson's Resignation
October 1973
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Golda Meir's Visit, Middle East
Negotiations, the Arab Oil Embargo, and Wiretapping of Kissinger Revisited
November-December 1973
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Kissinger's Shuttle Diplomacy and
Israeli-Egyptian Disengagement, More Resignation Threats, the JCS Spying
Operation Breaks, and the Oil Embargo in Limbo
January-February 1974
Chapter Thirty: The Lifting of the Oil Embargo,
Israeli-Syrian Disengagement, Tensions with Schlesinger, Israeli Raids in
Lebanon, and More Wiretap Questioning
March-June 1974
Chapter Thirty-One: The Greek Coup in Cyprus-the Ousting of
Makarios, Consulting and Excluding the Soviets, the Unsavory Nikos Sampson,
Collaboration and Conflict with Britain, Sisco's Missions, and Keeping U.S.
Options Open; the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus-the Clerides Solution,
Preventing War with Greece, Frustrations with Sisco and Underlings at State,
Schlesinger's Arms Cutoff and Dissociation from Greece, and Threatening a
Turkey Arms Cutoff; and More Wiretap Testimony July 1974
Chapter Thirty-Two:
Nixon's Resignation and Kissinger's Role, and Memoirs
August 1974 Abbreviations
Notes
References
Index
Tom Wells is the author of three previous books: The War Within: America's Battle over Vietnam, Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg, and (with Richard A. Leo) The Wrong Guys: Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four. He has also contributed articles to books on the Vietnam War and the 1960s. He has received fellowships and grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Institute for the Study of World Politics, the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Columbia University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
