On Saturday, June 17, 1972, I wandered into the Times’ L Street bureau as I usually did on Saturdays. On this particular day, I had no pressing story to cover. I had already written a lengthy piece on the background to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty which President Nixon and Soviet leader Brezhnev had signed the previous month in Moscow. The story was scheduled to run in Sunday’s paper alongside a similar analysis by Rick Smith, the new Moscow correspondent. Henry Kissinger, despite the favorable publicity he received for his negotiating efforts, had gone again to Peking for another round of talks. And Le Duc Tho, his Hanoi counterpart was reported in Peking also. There was hope in the air that the Vietnam war was winding down.
As was my habit, I wandered over to the wire “tickers” in hte bureau to read what was coming over the wires that day. I was struck by a police story that said that five men had been arrested at 2:30 a.m. that day on charges of breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee located in the Watergate apartment complex, which was located near the recently opened Kennedy Center. The news tickers did not give the story big play but I thought it quite interesting. The bureau on that Saturday morning was quite deserted. I urged Bill Robbins who was running the buro that day, to send someone to cover the police arraignment later that day. Of course, in those days there was no reporter who was a designated police reporter, and Robbins sent a young reporter Nat Sheppard, who wrote a story that was buried in the next day’s paper. The next day’s Washington Post, however, plastered the Watergate story all over the front page, and noted that one of those arrested was a former CIA operative, and others arrested included some Bay of Pigs veterans.
The odd thing about Watergate was how long it took for the story really to take off. I was engrossed completely at that time in foreign affairs. I was concerned about how the the new Vietnam agreement was working. The administration was complaining about North Vietnamese violations of the accord, and the failure of the Laotian and Cambodian insurgents to honor the agreement. I also was getting ready in the spring of 1973 to cover the expected arrival of Leonid I. Brezhnev in reciprocity for Nixon’s Moscow summit the year before. Marie-Jeanne was due to deliver our first son in this period, and I remember calling Kissinger on the phone, and he told me off the record that Brezhnev would arrive around the end of June. Orginally, Brezhnev planned to take his wife and family with him to see the United States, and to visit more than Washington and San Clemente, but Kissinger believes that after the Watergate affair broke, the Kremlin decided to limit Brezhnev’s travels in the United States. As a result, he did not take his family with him,
He was due to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington around 3:30 pm Saturday, June 16, 1973, the anniversary of the Watergate break-in.. Because of the Times’ very early deadline for the Sunday paper, I stayed in the Washington bureau and sent a clerk to the airbase to telephone me as soon as the plane landed. When the phone rang at my desk, and I picked it up, I found Marie-Jeanne at the other end. She said that she thought her labor was beginning. I promised her I would get home as quickly as possible. Finally, the plane arrived, and I wrote: “Leonid I. Brezhnev arrived in a heavy downpour today for the unofficial start of a nine-day visit intended to spur arms control talks and to promote cooperation and commerce between the United States and the Soviet Union, Secretary of State William D. Rogers, who led a small American welcoming party at heavily guarded Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington, greeted the burly Communist Party leader by saying ‘this is a wheat rain which in America is a very good omen.'”
Marie-Jeanne and I got to the hospital around midnight but James, our first-born, was a bit stubborn. He wasn’t born until about 5 am on June 17, which was also Father’s Day that year.
I was able to cover most of the Brezhnev visit but I did not go to California with him. The two leaders signed a number of agreements in different fields, including oceanography, transportation, agricultural research, and cultural exchange. They also agreed on income taxes, and atomic energy research and priorities on the current round of strategic arms talks.The trade agreement as still hampered by the demands of Congress to link most-favored-nation status to the unimpeded emigration of Soviet Jews.
As the summer progressed, Nixon began to focus less and less on foreign affairs because Watergate began to overtake him. He was forced to fire his closest aides, Ehrlichman and Halderman and to face the prospect of being accused himself of masterminding the illegal activities. Kissinger clearly felt alienated from Nixon but also felt he could not resign as he had once planned to do. Al Haig, who Nixon had made hi personal aide, recommended to Nixon that he make Kissinger Secretary of State to replace Rogers. It was only in August at a swimming pool in San Clemente did Nixon offer the job to Kissinger.
Soon after Kissinger’s confirmation by the Senate, he held an off-the-record dinner with the State Department regulars, who covered the department, including me. In those days the TV networks and newspapers all had “stars” covering Foggy Bottom. They included Marvin Kalb of CBS, Richard Valeriani of NBC, Ted Koppel of ABC, as well as Barry Schweid of AP, Murray Marder of the Washington Post, Stan Carter of the NY Daily News, and me. in that meeting Kissinger promised to take us all on his next trip to Peking. I don’t think any of us could have forecast how many days we would be spending with Kissinger in the next several years.
Kissinger went to the United Nations and on September 24, 1973 addressed the General Assembly and gave a rather uninspiring speech. He met with Arab ambassadors the next day and said the United States recognized their unhappiness with the situation in the Middle East and said Washington was ready to help find a solution but warned them not to expect the United States “to bring forth miracles.” The Israelis then were waiting for their own elections at the end of October before doing anything.
Even though everyone knew that the Middle East was likely to be the next big crisis area, no one expected the Egyptians and Syrians to jointly launch a surprise attack against Israel on Yom Kippur–October 6, 1973. This would turn out to be our main focus for the next several years, and would take up an enormous amount of Kissinger’s energy and attention.
