May 27, 2004
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Kissinger Tape Reveals Beleaguered Secretary
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
WASHINGTON — As his presidency unraveled, Richard Nixon was too "loaded" to take an urgent call during the Arab-Israeli war, according to transcripts of foreign policy chief Henry Kissinger's phone calls released Wednesday by the National Archives.
On the night of Oct. 11, 1973, just days into the Arab-Israeli War and with the United States and Soviet Union on a seeming collision course, British Prime Minister Edward Heath tried to reach Nixon by phone to discuss the crisis.
"Can we tell them 'No?'" Kissinger asked his assistant, Brent Scowcroft, who had told him of the request from 10 Downing Street. "When I talked to the president, he was loaded."
"We could tell him the president is not available and perhaps he can call you," Scowcroft replied.
Kissinger said Nixon would be available in the morning.
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