316–1

Conversation No. 316-1

Date: January 25, 1972
Time: 12:32 pm - 2:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Robert H. Finch.

Request that Finch talk with an unknown person

The President's speech on Vietnam peace plan, January 25, 1972
-Reading for Finch
-Eyeglasses

The President read his \"Address to the Nation Making Public a Plan for Peace in Vietnam\" at an
unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:15 pm.

[A transcript of the speech in its final form appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard
M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 100-105]

The President's forthcoming speech
-Possible reaction
-Phraseology
-Americans
-Belief in North Vietnamese statements
-Finch’s view
-Indochina
-North Vietnamese peace plans
-Nine point compared to seven point plans
-Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
-Vietnam
-Vietcong
-Michael J. Mansfield's Amendment
-All-Indochina Peace Conference
-Understanding of word by Americans
-Nine point program
-Henry A. Kissinger's forthcoming briefing
-Cease-fire
-Laos and Cambodia
 2

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


Vietnam
-Negotiations
-US proposals
-Secret channel
-North Vietnamese response
-Offensive
-Public disclosure
-Possible effect
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Cease-fire
-Deadline
-Aid to Indochina
-North Vietnamese proposals
-US reply
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Resignation
-Possible effect
-Candidates
-Secret talks
-Public reaction
-Channels
-References to by the President

The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Timing
-New Hampshire primary
-Planning
-Mao Tse-tung

Vietnam
-Possible criticism of forthcoming speech
-New York Times and Washington Post
-US possible military response to offensive
-Air power
-Thieu resignation
-National election
-The President's forthcoming speech
-Possible effect
-Possible leaks
-Kissinger
-Yeoman [Charles E. Radford]
 3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


-Air Force
-Time
-Possible reaction


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 14m 7s ]


Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:35 pm.


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


Ronald W. Reagan
-Credibility
-Television
-Positions

[The President talked with an unknown person [the White House operator?] at an unknown time
between 12:32 pm and 1:35 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-1A]

[Aborted telephone call]

[End of telephone conversation]

Busing
-Finch's view
 4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


The President's State of the Union Address
-Length of written message
-Spoken message
-Television
-Written message
-Delivery to Congress
-Administration programs

The President's legislative programs
-Number
-Mansfield
-Press


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 19s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


The President's forthcoming speech
-Republican senators
-Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin and Barry M. Goldwater
-Norris Cotton and Carl T. Curtis
-Ages
-William E. Brock III and Howard H. Baker, Jr.
 5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 47s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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


Senate
-Leadership
-Compared with House of Representatives
-Baker, Brock, Charles H. Percy and Edward W. Brooke
-Robert A. Taft, Jr. and John G. Tower
-The President’s experience


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 23m 8s ]


Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:35 pm.

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


Rose Mary Woods entered at 1:35 pm.
 6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


The President's forthcoming speech
-Length
-Kissinger
-Preparation

Finch's instructions

Woods left at 1:37 pm.

Finch
-Departure from administration
-Impact
-Reasons
-John N. Mitchell
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak
-Mitchell
-Campaign committee
-Herbert G. Klein
-Press conference


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 16m 17s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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


The President's State of the Union Address
-Tone
-Holmes Alexander's column
-Dan Rather
 7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


The President's response to opponents
-Timing
-State of the Union address
-Rather
-Foreign trips
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Fala speech
-Wendell Willkie
-Harry S. Truman
-Congress
-Standing in popularity polls
-Special session of Congress
-Possible action by the Administration
-Republican National Convention

[The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman?] at an unknown time
between 1:37 pm and 2:15 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-1B]

Lee W. Huebner

Peter M. Flanigan

Ronald W. Reagan

The President's stance against opponents
-Compared with Roosevelt in 1936 and 1940

News summary
-Patrick J. Buchanan

The President's schedule
-George P. Shultz
-Finch

[End of telephone conversation]
 8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 24s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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Issues
-National economy
-The President's prediction in 1971
-Inflation
-1972
-Vietnam
-South Vietnam
-People's Republic of China [PRC] and Soviet Union

Congress
-Legislative programs
-Number
-Welfare reform
-Revenue-sharing
-Health care
-Budget
-Reapportionment
-Polls

Government
-Public approval
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Effect of 1960’s
-Polls
-The President's standing
 9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)


Close elections
-1972
-The President's public visibility
-Ulysses S. Grant
-Samuel Tilden-Rutherford B. Hayes
-Popular compared to electoral vote
-James G. Blaine-Grover Cleveland
-Benjamin Harrison-Grover Cleveland
-William McKinley
-Theodore Roosevelt in 1904
-William H. Taft in 1908
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Charles E. Hughes
-Warren G. Harding in 1920
-Calvin Coolidge in 1924
-Herbert C. Hoover in 1928
-Franklin Roosevelt
-Thomas E. Dewey
-Truman
-Eisenhower
-Lyndon B. Johnson-Goldwater
-Hubert H. Humphrey-Nixon
-The President's plurality
-Bombing halt

Finch's schedule
-Lunch
-Meeting with Reagan, January 26, 1972

Finch left at 2:15 pm.
 10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)