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Conversation No. 621–043

Date: November 22, 1971
Time: 9:10 am - 10:22 am
Location: Oval Office
Participants: President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Barry Goldwater
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The President discussed his need for conservative support with National Security Adviser Henry A. Kissinger and Senator Barry M. Goldwater, R-Arizona.

[58:48 on 621C]

President Nixon: Let me tell you something, Henry. Let’s tell Henry something and tell you something, too, because he knows, he can back this up. You know, when I ordered that test on Amchitka-–

Barry Goldwater: Yes.

President Nixon: Did you tell him the story, Henry?

Henry Kissinger: Yeah, I told him the story.

President Nixon: We had over ten thousand wires in here against that test. Twenty-five for it. Twenty five. Ten thousand, to twenty five.

Goldwater: Hm.

President Nixon: At that point, they, you know, one of our little scary guys up here, says, “Oh, God, this terrible, terrible.” And he put it in my weekly news summary. I saw that count, and I know why they put it in. God, they had to, because they were against it. We’ve got mostly environmentalists, naturally, in the Domestic Council.

Goldwater laughs.

President Nixon: And so I said to him, and then so I [unclear] and they said the Supreme Court’s going to rule. And they said, it looks like it might go against. What are you going to do? And I said, I told Henry that morning, I said, “I don’t give a goddamn what the Court does. We’re going to go forward with that test because I found that if we didn’t, we’d drop a year behind in the ABM [Antiballistic Missile]. Also it could ruin our negotiations with the Soviets.” Not one conservative spoke up, saying, “Thank God that the President went ahead with that test.” I don’t mean [Senator] Barry Goldwater [R-Arizona]—what I mean—not [National Review Editor and Columnist] Bill Buckley, all these guys, what the hell’s the matter with them? Why don’t they attack the liberals?

[Discussion of the President’s need for conservative support continued, with Goldwater urging him to “get on the horn” and ask for it.]

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