Autorentext

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.

Klappentext

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.

Inhalt

• 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
• …