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Tipsy Nixon?

Five days into the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, with the superpowers on the brink of confrontation, President Nixon was too drunk to discuss the crisis with the British prime minister, according to newly released transcripts of tape recordings.

Henry Kissinger's assessment of the president's condition on the night of Oct. 11, 1973, is part of more than 20,000 pages of transcripts of Mr. Kissinger's phone calls as the president's national security adviser and secretary of state -- records whose privacy he had guarded for three decades. The National Archives released them yesterday.

In October 1973, U.S.-Soviet tensions were peaking over the Arab-Israeli war, and British Prime Minister Edward Heath's office called the White House just before 8 p.m. to ask to speak with the president.

"Can we tell them no?" Mr. Kissinger asked his assistant, Brent Scowcroft, who had told him of the urgent request. "When I talked to the president, he was loaded."

Mr. Scowcroft replied: "We could tell him the president is not available and perhaps he can call you."

Mr. Kissinger said Mr. Nixon would be available in the morning.

Communion rail

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver yesterday became the latest Catholic bishop to enter the debate over Catholic politicians and Communion, saying that anyone who strays from the teachings of the church should refrain from receiving the Eucharist.