312–21

Conversation No. 312-21

Date: January 11, 1972
Time: 12:29 pm - 2:39 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[Conversation No. 312-21A]

[See Conversation No. 18-64]

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 12:35 pm.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


End of telephone conversation]

Colson's health

The President's schedule
-The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Meeting of bipartisan leaders
-Hawaii
-Length of flight
-Bipartisan meeting
-Cabinet meeting
-George W. Romney meeting
-Cancellation
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Housing message
-Timing
-Camp David
-Return to Washington
-Ehrlichman
-January 13, 1972
-Vietnam announcement
-Timing
-Melvin R. Laird
-Neil H. McElroy
-Swearing-in ceremony of John E. Sheehan
-Romney meeting
-Domestic Council
-Ehrlichman
-Laird, McElroy
-Vietnam announcement
-McElroy
-Sheehan
-Robert O. Anderson
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Romney
-John A. Volpe
-Ehrlichman
-Cabinet meeting
-January 25, 1972
-Republican leaders
-January 26 and 27, 1972
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-January 28, 1972
-Rainer Barzel
-DeWitt Wallace
-Governors dinner
-Emilio Colombo
-Prayer breakfast
-Republican governors dinner
-Bipartisan leaders meeting
-Arthur S. Flemming swearing-in ceremony
-Sheehan swearing-in ceremony
-Health industries group
-Laird, William P. Rogers, John N. Mitchell, John B. Connally
-Haldeman's role in scheduling
-Domestic Council, Henry A. Kissinger
-Telephone calls
-Camp David
-Preparation for State of the Union speech
-Congressional leaders briefing on foreign policy
-Time
-State of the Union speech
-Michael J. Mansfield
-President’s involvement
-Extent
-Preparation
-William E. Timmons
-Delivery of report
-Leaks

An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time before 2:39 pm.

-Maj. Gen. James D. (“Don”) and Betty Hughes
-Thelma C. (“Pat’) Nixon
-Children
-Florida
-The President’s need to study
-Rose Mary Woods
-The President's attendance at party for aides
-Don Hughes and family
-Dinner marking third anniversary of the 1969 Inauguration
-Possible attendees
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Russell E. Train, Richard M. Helms, Herbert Stein, Philip V. Sanchez,
George A. Lincoln, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., William T. Eberle,
Clay T. (“Tom”) Whitehead, Virginia A. Knauer, Dr. Jerome H.
Jaffe, Leonard Garment, Herbert G. Klein, Raymond K. Price, Jr.,
Ronald L. Ziegler, Don Hughes
-Size
-Woods
-Other attendees
-General Lewis B. Hershey
-Size
-Other attendees
-Constance M. (“Connie”) Stuart, Lucy A. Winchester
-John A. Scali
-Charles W. Colson
-Robert J. Brown
-John C. Whitaker
-Wallace dinner, January 28, 1972
-Woods's role
-Guests
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Fred Waring
-Kennedy Center

Appointments
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Haldeman’s talk with Ehrlichman
-Possible appointment as Attorney General
-Timing
-Confirmation as Attorney General
-Ehrlichman’s view
-Compared to Mitchell’s
-Mitchell’s view
-Campaign committee
-Use of wiretaps as issue
-Clark MacGregor
-Kleindienst
-Possible campaign role
-Timmons
-Attorney General position
-Kleindienst
-Haldeman’s and Ehrlichman’s possible talk with Mitchell
 14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Mitchell
-Campaign committee
-Kleindienst
-Possible role
-Timing of action
-The President’s forthcoming trip to the PRC

Douglas L. Hallett's memorandum to Colson
-Merits
-Speechwriting
-Forthcoming campaign
-Unknown person
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Samuel I. Rosenman
-Raymond Moley
-Robert Sherwood
-Harry Hopkins
-Compared to William L. Safire

Speeches
-Quality
-Gettysburg Address
-Inaugural address, nomination acceptance speech

William P. Rogers
-[Kissinger]
-Meeting with the President
-Scheduling
-Laird
-State Department
-News summary
-Foreign trips
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon's trip to Africa
-Politics
-The President’s 1953 experience
-Advance work
-Business community, embassy staff, US information Agency
[USIA], Peace Corps, Agency for International Development
[AID]
-US embassies
-The President's itineraries
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-1969 Asian trip
-Foreign contact
-Diplomatic wires
-Kissinger

Kissinger
-Relations with the President

Rogers

The President's schedule
-Forthcoming campaign
-Forthcoming meeting with Romney, Congressional leaders Maurice H. Stans, James
Hughes
-Foreign leaders
-Barzel, Dutch foreign minister, Colombo
-Domestic leaders
-Cabinet
-Preparation for PRC trip
-Ehrlichman's concerns
-Environment, health services, elderly
-Perceptions of the President's use of time
-The President's health

The State Department
-PRC trip
-Marshall Green
-U. Alexis Johnson
-John N. Irwin, II
-Rogers
-Handling
-Kissinger
-Washington Special Actions Group [WSAG]
-Joseph J. Sisco
-Possible ambassadorship to Iran
-Area of responsibility
-Relations with Rogers

Rogers
-Recent talk with Haldeman
-Relations with Kissinger
 16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Forthcoming PRC trip
-Richard F. Pedersen
-Qualities
-As strategist
-As tactician
-Foreign service officers
-Forthcoming talk with Haldeman

Haig's assessment of Kissinger

Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Call to Kissinger
-Media coverage
-Possible Kissinger resignation

Kissinger
-Women's National Press Club speech
-Paul W. Keyes's call to the President
-Compared to Gridiron speech
-Value
-Marvin L. Kalb
-Possible Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] appearance by Kissinger
-Today show
-Public exposure
-PRC trip
-Talk with Haig
-State of the World report
-Mitchell, Rogers
-Rockefeller’s call
-Timing of release
-Women’s National Press Club speech
-Possible resignation
-Health
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


**************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
[Privacy]
[Duration: 23s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15

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-Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr.
-Health
-Dilantin
-Epilepsy
-Health

Dreyfus
-Book
-Depression
-Dilantin

Kissinger
-Health

PRC trip
-Dr. W. Kenneth Riland
-Kissinger
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 18s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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-Preparations
-Food
-Banquets

Kissinger
-Forthcoming campaign
-Ehrlichman
-Rogers
-Unknown person

Kissinger
-Social life
-Haldeman’s and the President’s view
-Freudian analysis


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Privacy]
[Duration: 42s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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Kissinger’s schedule
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Women’s National Press Club speech

Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Tricia Nixon Cox
-Opinion of David N. Parker
-Staffing
-First Family scheduling
-Tricia Cox

White House staff
-Dwight L. Chapin
-PRC trip advance work
-Parker
-Julie Eisenhower


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 36s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9

**********************************************************************


Use of poll

Kissinger
-Value to administration
-Celebrity
-Possible consequence to health
-1960 campaign
-Differences between being in and out of office
-Women
-Trip

Speechwriting
-Hallett’s memorandum
 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Ziegler
-Quality
-The President’s efforts
-Memorable phrases


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 51s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10

**********************************************************************


CBS
-Frank Stanton
-Television appearances
-The President’s January 2, 19972 interview with Dan Rather
-Ratings
-The President’s demeanor
-Rather’s view

The President's press conferences
-Demeanor
-Rather interview
-Introduction
-Mark I. Goode

Hallett memorandum
-Eastern establishment
-Compared to mass of America
-Work ethic
-State of the Union speech

Public attitudes on foreign policy, US supremacy
-Shultz's and Ehrlichman’s January 10, 1972 review with Haldeman
 21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)



Shultz
-Qualities
-The administration's image
-Comments at recent staff meeting
-Unemployment
-Inflation
-Unemployment
-John F. Kennedy's administration
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Arthur Goldberg's tenure as Secretary of Labor
-Activity
-Administration's position and actions
-Inflation
-Tax policy
-Peter G. Peterson, James D. Hodgson
-Tours of country
-West Coast

Washington Post editorial on unemployment
-Vietnam
-Labor market
-Compared to number of jobs
-Military personnel
-Peacetime economy
-Expansion

Space shuttle
-Hubert H. Humphrey, Edmund S. Muskie
-Opposition
-Differences in focus
-Florida and New Hampshire

Colson's suggestion
-Hallett’s memorandum
-Target groups
-Aerospace, shipping, other industries

Unemployment
-Administration's posture
-Concern
 22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-The President’s possible action

Public trust and confidence in the President
-Economy
-Stock market
-Connally’s comments
-Need for understatement
-Herbert Stein’s memorandum

Government spending
-Administration issue
-Statistics
-Deficits
-Budget message
-Connally
-Pre- and post-1969 budgets
-Problems with cuts
-Perception
-Priorities
-Defense budget
-Right wing

Foreign policy focus
-Issues
-Taxes, Nixon Doctrine, defense, international affairs

Administration's goals for the future
-The American spirit
-Shultz’s and Ehrlichman’s view
-Health
-Environment
-Peace

Drug traffic
-Difficulty of showing results
-Task force recommendations
-Arrest of traffickers
-Grand juries
-Offer of immunity
-Suppliers
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


Shultz
-Spokesman role
-Connally, Ehrlichman

Domestic issues
-Busing
-Texas, Tennessee
-Suburban housing
-Pollution

Shultz
-Possible statement for the President on the spirit of America
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.

Speechwriting
-Hallett’s view
-Compared to Lyndon B. Johnson and Eisenhower
-Eisenhower’s
-Emmett Hughes
-Bryce N. Harlow

The President’s speeches
-Dignity of work, Newport speech, Nebraska speech
-Hallett

Television press conferences
-Frequency
-Type
-World conference with editors
-Scholastic
-Length of time

“Color” events
-Hallett
-Mrs. Nixon’s activities
-The President’s activities
-Shipyard
-Meeting with unknown woman in Florida
-American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations
[AFL-CIO] meeting of November 19, 1971 [?]
-Effect on polls
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)



Assessment of year's events for 1971
-Attacks on the administration
-Laotian military action
-Pentagon Papers case
-Congressional relations
-Vietnam bombing

Connally
-Hallett
-Strengths
-Personality
-Compared with the President's
-1970 election critique


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 51s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11

**********************************************************************


Press conferences
-First year of administration
-Format
-Preparation
-Advantages
-Staff
-TV coverage
-Prime time
-Connally
-East and West Coasts

Themes
-New Federalism
-New American Revolution
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Forthcoming State of the Union speech
-Cheerlines
-Leonard Garment’s view
-Ehrlichman
-Price
-Drafts

The President's programs
-Hallett’s view
-Compared to Ehrlichman and Shultz

Public impressions of the President
-The President
-1971
-Muskie
-Poll
-Connally
-Colson
-Kissinger
-Hallett
-Establishment press
-Poll
-Public trust
-Louis P. Harris
-Muskie
-The President compared to Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Eisenhower
-Vietnam
-Troop withdrawal announcements
-Balance
-Complacency and unsettledness
-Difficulty in ascertaining
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 51s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12

**********************************************************************


Busing
-Ehrlichman
-Courts
-Unknown judge
-Possible appeal
-Supreme Court
-Ehrlichman
-Legislative course
-Constitutional amendment

Muskie
-Hallett’s analysis
-Poll

News media
-Treatment of the Democrats

Images of presidential qualifications

The President's image
-Public perceptions
-Foreign policy focus
-Ehrlichman, Shultz
-Domestic issues
-Environment
-Foreign policy focus on the Soviet Union and PRC
-Muskie’s possible argument
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 312-21 (cont.)


-Unemployment
-Poll
-Appeal to youth
-The President’s birthday


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 33s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13

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Press conferences
-Necessity
-Preparation
-Briefing books
-Questions
-Unknown press conference
-International press conference
-Scholastic press conference
-Hallett’s analysis
-Eastern Establishment
-Colson’s view

Programs
-Ehrlichman, Shultz
-Presidential empathy

The President’s forthcoming trip to the PRC

Domestic Council
-Ehrlichman

Haldeman left at 2:39 pm.
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)