479–1

Conversation No. 479-1

Date: April 14, 1971
Time: 9:10 am - 9:45 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger

Kissinger’s call to President

[The President talked with the White House operator [?] at an unknown time between 9:10 am
and 9:45 am]

[Conversation No. 479-1A]

Telephone call

[End of telephone conversation]

Kissinger’s dinner with Joseph W. Alsop

Unknown people entered at an unknown time after 9:10 am

[Unintelligible]

The unknown people left at an unknown time before 9:45 am

Kissinger’s dinner with Alsop
-Attendees
-Katharine L. Graham
-Marilyn B. (“Missy”) Chandler
-Benjamin C. Bradlee
-Stewart J. O. Alsop
-Alice Roosevelt Longworth
-Esteem for President
-Conversation with Kissinger
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Conversation regarding 1972 elections
-Graham
-Bradlee
-President’s prospects
 2

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Possible Democrat candidate
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Edmund S. Muskie
-George W. Romney
-Bradlee’s remarks
-Romney

President’s conversation with William P. Rogers Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-Rogers’ location
-Cornell University
-Muskie
-US Senate
-Television
-Press conference

Kissinger’s dinner with J. W. Alsop
-Chandler
-Support for President
-Vietnam
-Chandler
-Mood
-S. J. O. Alsop
-Reaction to President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-S. J. O. Alsop
-Article
-Joseph C. Kraft
-Vietnam article
-Withdrawal
-Laos
-J. W. Alsop
-Attendees
-Robert S. McNamara
-McNamara’s remarks regarding 1972 elections
-President’s prospects
-McNamara
-Letter
-World Bank
-Graham
-Polls
-Mood
-Kissinger’s support for the President
 3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Attitude toward the President
-Chandler


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Privacy] Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
[Duration: 5s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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


-Population Control Council
-President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Vietnam
-J. W. Alsop
-Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.
-John B. Connally
-Leavenworth military prison
-Trial

Middle East
-J. W. Alsop’s views
-State Department
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] arms shipments
-Israel
-Administration’s possible response

Kissinger’s dinner with J. W. Alsop
-McNamara
-Graham
-Bradlee
-Trip around world
-View regarding President’s foreign policy
-Support
-Trip to Vietnam
 4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



Vietnam
-Press coverage
-Bradlee
-Peter Jay
-Laos

Kissinger’s dinner with J. W. Alsop
-Comments Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-Tone
-Chandler
-Remarks
-Otis Chandler
-M. B. Chandler

Vietnam
-Television coverage
-Media
-Newspaper

People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-[Announcement of relaxation of trade and travel restrictions, April 14, 1971]
-Chou En-lai
-Statement
-Ping-pong team
-US relations
-Ping-pong team

USSR
-PRC initiative
-Kissinger’s conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Congratulations on Central Committee’s elections
-Kissinger’s possible initiatives
-Yuli M. Vorontsov
-US priority
-Dobrynin’s schedule
-Kissinger’s conversation with Vorontsov
-Pyotr A. Abrassimov
-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s speech
-Kissinger’s response
-Dobrynin’s schedule
-Brezhnev’s speech
-Air Force One
 5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Kissinger’s response
-Dobrynin’s election to Central Committee
-Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin
-Telephone number
-Congratulations
-Letters
-Dobrynin’s schedule
-Instructions Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-Possible soviet responses
-Brezhnev

PRC
-US relations
-Possible diplomatic relations
-Timing
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Location
-Support for the President
-Possible use by Administration
-President’s initiatives
-Credit
-Peter G. Peterson
-Time/Life briefing
-State Department
-Press
-Trade
-United Nations [UN] representation
-Publicity
-Marshall Green
-Pakistan
-Agha Muhommad Yahya Khan
-Trade
-Jean Sainteny
-State Department
-Advantages for US
-Confusion of opponents
-Possible North Vietnamese reaction
-USSR
-Brezhnev
-Coincidence of needs
 6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



Support for President
-Kissinger’s dinner
-Criticism of Kissinger
-Senate
-PRC
-President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Compared with November 3, 1969 speech
-Conclusion Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-Accountability
-Kissinger’s dinner with J. W. Alsop
-Vietnam
-Draft, withdrawal rates
-M. B. Chandler
-Bradlee
-McNamara
-S. J. O. Alsop
-Longworth
-Bradlee
-Longworth’s views

Draft legislation
-Dwight L. Chapin
-House
-Pay increase
-Defense budget
-Troop increase
-Anti-ballistic Missiles [ABM]
-Senate
-Margaret Chase Smith
-John C. Stennis
-Four-year draft extension

ABM
-Prospects
-Senate
-Ernest F. (“Fritz”) Hollings
-Supersonic Transport [SST]
-Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
-J. Glenn Beall, Jr.
-Robert A. Taft, Jr.
-California and Illinois
-Unknown person
 7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Smith
-Karl E. Mundt
-Prospects
-Congress
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-USSR
-Dobrynin
-Negotiations Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-Possible statement
-Timing
-Senate
-Vote
-Difficulties
-PRC
-Dobrynin’s schedule
-Kissinger’s possible initiatives
-State Department
-Exchange of letters
-PRC
-Relations with US
-Vorontsov
-Politburo meeting

Vietnam
-Military activity
-South Vietnam
-Timing
-Ashau Valley
-Casualties
-Risks
-US policy
-Casualties
-Helicopters

PRC

USSR
-SALT negotiations
-PRC
-Timing
-Summit meeting
-Timing
 8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-SALT negotiations
-State Department
-Summit
-US position
-State Department
-Jacob D. Beam
-Summit meeting
-Announcement Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-Vietnam
-SALT/Summit
-Prospects
-Timing
-Press
-Summit
-Vorontsov
-Dobrynin
-President’s schedule
-Negotiations
-Style

Laos
-Effects on PRC and USSR
-PRC

Vietnam
-President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Congress
-White House staff
-Democrats
-Prospect of end of war
-Liberal Republicans
-John V. Lindsay
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Kissinger’s dinner with J. W. Alsop
-Reaction to the President
-President’s speech, November 3, 1969
-Hardhats
-Cambodia
-Kissinger’s dinner with J. W. Alsop
-Consensus
-John Freeman
-Kissinger’s attempted telephone call to the President
 9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-President’s location
-S. J. O. Alsop
-Patricia (Hankey) (“Missy”) Alsop

PRC
-Announcement
-Relaxation of trade and travel restrictions
-Ronald L. Ziegler Conv. No. 479-1 (cont.)
-State Department

Vietnam
-President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Reaction of State Department

International support for President
-Report on President’s special message to Congress on American foreign policy
-Bradlee

President’s schedule
-Meeting with Dr. Rainer Barzel
-Duration
-Translator
-Kissinger’s role

Kissinger left at 9:45 am