Kissinger flirts with Barbara Walters.
Kissinger Part 2 of 5: A man of charm and calculation
Polished, playful image wins Washington society, media elite
chicagotribune.com
By James Warren
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 18, 2005
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the best-known diplomat of his generation, cultivated a playful, man-about-town image and was a fixture in the gossip columns, a position he seemed to relish.
Even as he dealt with deadly serious matters, notably the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration's historic opening to China and Cold War entanglements with the Soviet Union, the winner of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize was celebrated both for his charm and his flirtatiousness, traits that made him equally popular with society hostesses and the working press.
Those abilities also served him well in the high-stakes Washington game of give-and-take with the media, as recently released transcripts of his phone conversations clearly show. The excerpted transcripts contain the original punctuation errors and phonetic mistakes made by his secretaries.
Here, NBC's Barbara Walters speaks to Kissinger on Feb. 21, 1973, about the parameters of an on-camera interview she desperately wants for competitive reasons.
Walters: When will I hear from you?
Kissinger: Are you home tonight?
Walters: I'm going out to dinner and I'll be home later this evening.
Kissinger: See, consumed by jealousy.
Walters: I know. The real reason I wanted to do this interview is just to have a few moments with you alone.
Kissinger: Oh, I knew that. With a camera. You like warriorism [voyeurism].
Walters: Should I call you when I come home or will you be sleeping? …
Kissinger [later in the conversation]: Now you know I'm going to be sitting there waiting.
Walters: You're so full of baloney. How can you be so marvelous, so fantastic, so interesting, so brilliant, and so full of …. That's the first question I'm going to ask you.
Kissinger: Only if you complete the sentence.
Walters: (Laughter) I'm glad you're back.
Kissinger: Thank you, Barbara.
On July 7, 1970, Kissinger receives a call from Associated Press features writer Kay Bartlett. Here he appears to concede he's got a certain image, but passes it off as mostly one he exploits at dinner parties.
Bartlett: In some of the articles I have read you have been described as a secret swinger.
Kissinger: I wanted to know what you are doing. I don't like to discuss my social life.
Bartlett: I am writing on the Washington Social scene. I saw a piece that you liked the appellation and if a date didn't work out right it was her fault.
Kissinger: I did. I said it was good at dinner tables.
Bartlett: Do you stand by that?
Kissinger: Yes.
He calls Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post, on the same day, July 7, 1970.
Kissinger: I have so many reasons to be mad at the Washington Post I have given up. I am calling on a friendly basis.
Graham: I am sorry because I was anxious to get back to you because [Kissinger aide Joseph] Sisco called.
Kissinger: I am calling about something frivolous. I have a new office and I wonder if you want to see it. 6:30 or 7?
Graham: Which is better?
Kissinger: 7. Go to the W. Basement entrance and they will direct you. . . .
He speaks with British interviewer David Frost on July 13, 1970.
Kissinger: I am going to stop talking to you. Every time you are here it's a crisis. First, there was Cambodia. Last time I said it was a quiet day. You were barely out of the door when Jordan blew up.
Frost: It's the story of my life. Three hours after I was born Hitler marched into Czechoslovakia.
Kissinger: Are you studying Henry Kissinger under stress?
Frost: No, I was calling to get you away from the stress. I was wondering if you could get to NY tomorrow night. Clair -in transcript that's one long underine, not dashes is giving a dinner in my honor. I asked him to invite you but he didn't because he felt that in the middle of the Middle East crisis it would be trivial.
Kissinger: I have a dinner with some newsmen tomorrow. Maybe I can change that. What's the address?
Frost: 323 (or possibly 322) E. 57th St.
Kissinger: How late can I let you know?
Frost: Anytime.
Kissinger: You are not plotting a crisis?
On July 27, 1970, he speaks with NBC reporter Nancy Dickerson, a pathbreaking female network correspondent who is eager to interview him on the "Today" show. He has just returned from an elite, all-male retreat at Bohemian Grove outside San Francisco. There are rumors circulating about Kissinger possibly departing the administration.
Dickerson: How was Bohemian Grove?
Kissinger: It was magnificent.
Dickerson: I'd love to go there.
Kissinger: You can't - it's for boys.
Dickerson: I like to be with boys, etc. etc. Are you going to leave in January?
Kissinger: That's a story I put out to keep up the morale of my staff. Where does everybody get that story. . . . They have a new belly dancer at the hotel there and I want to get to know her.
Dickerson: Maybe we could help you get to know her.
Kissinger: I haven't focussed (sic) on that problem. All these stories have no basis.
Dickerson: I just wondered off the record whether you were going.
Kissinger: I have to keep my staff together.
Dickerson: (She wanted to get together with Mr. Kissinger in the future)
Kissinger: I have been trying for a long time.
Dickerson: It has been a long time.
Kissinger: There is all the ingredients for a mutual bargain. Let's hope no one is tapping this phone…
If there are any doubts about the incestuous nature of Kissinger's relationship with the media, they are surely dispelled during an Aug. 14, 1970, conversation with Henry Brandon, chief Washington correspondent for The Sunday Times of London.
Brandon: Muffie [Brandon, his wife] took a beautiful picture of you and the children; we're having it mounted.
Kissinger: Aren't you sweet. I really enjoyed the weekend with you. It was one of the most relaxing days I've had since I have been here.
Brandon: I was wondering if I could see you - I'm not sure I can come to San Clemente [the so-called "Wesern "Western White House" in California where Nixon had a home].
Kissinger: I will try. Next week is murderous for me.
Brandon: I understand.
Kissinger: By the way I talked to the President about your doing a bood [book]. He is agreeable to a degree of cooperation, and I would go fairly far to cooperate. I have a favor to ask of you, though one should never do a Teutonic person a kindness: Is there a chance of using your swimming pool this weekend?
Brandon: Of course.
Hugh Sidey is a longtime Time magazine reporter and columnist and a quintessential Washington insider who on Sept. 22, 1972, discusses a book deal with Kissinger, a man he covers, and reveals yet-to-be published polling data concerning Nixon's re-election campaign against Democrat George McGovern.
Sidey: We own Little Brown, the publishers, Henry, and they are very much interested in what your plans are, if you have any, and they wrote me and said you know, what should we do; is he interested in chatting about 4 years from now or 10 years from now when he sits down and does this or not. And so I just come to you and say shall I turn them off and wait or would you like to chat with them?
Kissinger: I have taken the position that it wouldn't be proper for me to have any discussions on that subject.
Sidey [later in the conversation]: Listen, I'll tell you we've got a poll coming out next week - the New York Times and us that oh, you know, if I were McGovern, I think I would quit.
Kissinger: Really? In Time?
Sidey: It's going to be in Time and also in the New York Times. See, we've had it done between us.
Kissinger: Can you tell me what it shows? I won't repeat it.
Sidey: Yes, incredibly confidentially because-
Kissinger: Yes, I give you my word I won't.
Sidey: There are now 39-40 precentage (sic) points difference. It's two to one-I forget what the point is. I was up in New York and I just heard a spiel on it but it's 60-some to oh, gosh, in the 20s or something like that or the low 30s.
Three hours later, the transcripts show, Kissinger was on the phone with White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman telling him about the unreleased Time/New York Times polling numbers.
Kissinger: Hugh Sidey isn't basically our friend and he reported that with something like shock.
Haldeman: That is good to know.
Kissinger: Well, you will tell the President?
Haldeman: When we get on the plane.
Kissinger: I will not tell anybody.
Haldeman: I will not tell anybody but him.
Kissinger: It will be good if I keep my relations with him [Sidey] - not to let it get out.
Wednesday: An exchange with Sen. Charles Percy. |
