282. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

P: Anything new? I got pretty much tied up with my domestic problems today.

K: There is a big North Vietnamese offensive in the Plain of Jars.

P: Yes.

K: I have called the Special Action Group together for tomorrow morning. We were given absolutely no warning about these North Vietnamese concentrations.

P: So our intelligence broke down again.

K: Either the intelligence or the way it is being transmitted. They have overrun all the fire bases. They are within artillery range of Long Tieng. It is going to be tough to hold.

P: Well they won’t get it all. It is going to wash back and forth, back and forth, isn’t it?

K: Unless they are pursuing the strategy we discussed yesterday to inflict the maximum blow before they move to the diplomatic move.

P: Right. Otherwise nothing new?

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Laos and Vietnam.]

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Kissinger Telephone Conversations, Chronological File, Box 12. No classification marking.