Here is a quote from Thomas L. Friedman’s NYTimes editorial today. It in turn quotes from a Richard Reeves bio of Nixon the following passage in a memo Nixon wrote to Kissinger in 1969 describing his feelings, and America’s about Israel: “[The Israelis] must recognize that our interests are basically pro-freedom and not just pro-Israel because of the Jewish vote… [Golda] Meir…must trust [Nixon] completely. He will see to it that Israel always has ‘an edge’”.
This makes no sense to me. Who is the “He” in the last sentence? We can obviously rule out the female Meir. This leaves only Nixon, but if so he would have written “I will see to it …” Perhaps Friedman misread, and Kissinger wrote the note? Again “he” would refer to Nixon, but then Kissinger would have written “You will see to it…” Although assertive, I don’t think even Kissinger would have presumed to tell Nixon what his course of action would be. The only other thing I can think of is Friedman was in fact quoting from the book itself, and not the actual note. But he by no means makes that clear, and the obvious implication that he is quoting from the note itself.
Am I a complete idiot? Deranged and Delusional? What am I missing here?