527–12

Conversation No. 527-12

Date: June 22, 1971
Time: 5:09 pm - 6:46 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John N. Mitchell and H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

Greetings

Weather
-Miami compared to Washington, D.C.

Dinner with businessmen

John D. Ehrlichman entered at 5:10 pm.

Mitchell's meeting with businessmen
-Topics
-Crime
-Drugs
-Pentagon Papers
-Politics
-John B. Connally participation
-Henry A. Kissinger participation
-Demeanor
-Enthusiasm
-Peter G. Peterson
-Advocacy role

Business community
-Academic thrust
-George P. Shultz
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-Dr. Edward E. David, Jr.
-Response to calls for advocacy
-Arrival in Washington, D.C.
-Howard W. Johnson of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[MIT]
-George J. Steigler
-Dr. Edward C. Banfield
-Robert H. Ebert's role
-Harvard Medical School
-Dr. John E. Jeuck's role
-University of Chicago
-James R. Killian's role
-MIT
-Fredrick J. Geitz
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Dr. H. Gayford Stever
-Carnegie-Mellon University
-W. Allen Wallis
-Milton Friedman
-Johnson
-Steigler
-Response

Pentagon Papers
-Melvin R. Laird and William P. Rogers’ meeting with Carl B. Albert
-Clark MacGregor
-Arrangement
-MacGregor
-President's talk with Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Breakfast
-Mansfield
-Bipartisan committee
-Political ramifications
-Scope of documents
-World War II
-Korean War
-Bay of Pigs
-Talk with MacGregor
-Executive and legislative relations
-Make up of bipartisan group
-Comparison with Joint Committee on the conduct of the War
-Abraham Lincoln
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-Tactics to let President release documents
-President’s cooperation with Mansfield
-Bipartisan committee
-Richard B. Russell [?]
-Gen. Douglass MacArthur
-Effect on litigation of committee
-Composition
-Hugh Scott Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Mansfield
-Albert
-Gerald R. Ford
-Paul N. (“Pete”) McCloskey, Jr.
-Bella S. Abzug
-Bipartisan committee
-Mansfield's role
-Albert
-MacGregor
-Mansfield
-View on the war
-Press coverage of bipartisan committee
-Robert S. McNamara's role
-McGeorge Bundy's role
-Clark M. Clifford's role
-John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson circle
-Timing
-Dean Rusk
-Questioning
-Impact on Democrat party
-Albert
-Mansfield
-Johnson
-Edmund S. Muskie call for Lyndon Johnson testimony
-Refusal
-McNamara
-President's opinion
-Ronald L. Ziegler's statement
-Turning files over to Congress
-Ehrlichman
-President's meeting with Ziegler
-Focus on President's initiative
-Reference to Lyndon Johnson and Kennedy administrations
-Mitchell's use
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-Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration
-Washington Star headline
-Beginning of Vietnam
-Boston Globe story
-Charles W. Colson
-Attack on Kennedy
-Ngo Dinh Diem reference
-Statement by President Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Attack on Henry Cabot Lodge
-MacGregor's contact with Albert
-Mansfield reference
-Ziegler
-Liaison
-Kissinger
-Statement by President
-Ziegler
-Effect on litigation
-Format
-Criticism of timing
-Problem of spill over
-Focus on Democratic administrations
-President visits in Vietnam
-Support
-Nguyen Van Thieu's election

Ziegler entered at 5:38 pm.

-Ziegler's briefing
-Reporters' demeanor
-Laird's comment
-Public’s right to know
-Declassification procedures
-Compromise of published material
-Court decision on Times publications
-Level of classification
-Department of Defense
-Other court decisions
-Task force study
-Background
-President's role in public release of information
-NSC directive
-Administration's strategy
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-Laird and Rogers action
-Albert
-Mansfield
-Possible meetings with President
-Laird calls to Mitchell
-Authorization by Mitchell to Laird for statements
-Media solidarity
-Effect on clarity of issues Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Public perception
-Volatility of information compromised
-Judge Murray Gurfein
-Description of administration
-Appointment
-Rockefeller
-Jacob K. Javits
-Thomas E. Dewey
-Law partner
-Poll
-Questions
-William L. Calley poll
-President's statements
-Results
-Awareness of Times controversy
-Freedom of press question
-Results
-Effect of criminal actions
-Guilt
-Results

Ziegler left at 5:39 pm.

-Legal decisions
-John M. Harlan
-Warren E. Burger
-Timing
-Effect of forthcoming Mansfield statement
-Public relations problems
-Suppression of information

Ziegler entered at an unknown time after 5:39 pm.

-Mechanics of court decision
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-Decision related to facts
-Effect on administration appeal

Ziegler left at an unknown time before 6:16 pm.

-Decision related to law
-Effect on appeal
-Supreme Court schedule Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Effect on administration action
-Legal motivation of administration
-News revelations
-Mansfield committee revelations
-Public perception of administration legal attack
-Polls
-Perception of administration motives
-Publication of stolen documents
-Legality of Times publication
-Right to know versus the law
-Focus on theft of classified documents
-Focus on legal questions
-Post, Times, Washington Star legal coverage
-Drawbacks
-Comparison with Alger Hiss case
-Grand jury
-Colson
-George T. Bell

International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union
-Influence
-James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa
-Frank S. Fitzsimmons
-James R. Hoffa, Jr.
-Effect of visit by President
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Cooperation of Union and administration
-Social Security issue


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Federal Statute]
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[Duration: 12s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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

Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Harold J. Gibbons
-Lawyers at meeting with President
-Mitchell's action on New York grand jury
-Union election
-Fitzsimmons
-Commitments
-Indictments
Pentagon Papers
-Supreme Court
-Appeal process
-Support for administration
-Burger
-Harry H. Blackmun
-Byron R. White
-Potter Stewart
-Harlan
-Approach of Court
-Stewart
-Opposition to administration
-Burger and Blackmun
-Stewart opinion against newspapers
-Unknown woman
-Public relations problem
-Appeal to Supreme Court from other sources
-Public relations problems of appeals
-Focus on facts
-Focus on law
-Effect of split Court
-Need for definitive decision
-Need for administration’s decision
-Court schedule
-Ethnic prejudices in civil rights cases
-Kissinger
-Leslie H. Gelb
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-Prior prosecution
-Communists
-Elizabeth Bentley
-John Abt
-Victor Perlo
-Lee Pressman
-Use of photographic shop
-Joseph McCarthy's efforts Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Mistakes
-Jewish predisposition
-Supreme Court decision on golf club
-Jewish protest of Soviet emigration policy

Mansfield amendment
-Vote
-Cook-Stevens amendment
-John C. Stennis’ amendment
-Prisoner of War [POW] release
-Vote
-Reconsideration
-Vote
-Mansfield maneuver
-\"Sense of the Senate\" resolution
-Cook-Stevens
-Provisions
-Proclamation of withdrawal date
-Ceasefire negotiations
-POW return for withdrawal
-Vote
-Impact
-Kissinger
-Other resolutions
-Impact
-Impact of Mansfield amendment
-Problems
-Lack of leverage

Pentagon Papers
-Timing of court decisions
-President's schedule
-Dinner for businessmen
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President's schedule
-Dinner for businessmen
-Peter M. Flanigan's speech

Stock market
-End of trading standing
-George P. Shultz information
-Volume Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)

Pentagon Papers
-Need for administration attack
-Assessment of documents
-Adm. Noel Gayler
-National Security Agency [NSA]
-Compromise of information collection
-\"Select committee\" concept
-Structure
-Scott
-Ford
-MacGregor’s view
-Mansfield
-Albert
-Witness selection
-MacGregor's role

[Ehrlichman talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:38 pm and
6:16 pm]

[Conversation No. 527-12A]

[See Conversation No. 5-128]

[End of telephone conversation]

Stock market

President and Congress tension over foreign policy and defense

Stock market
-Performance
-Fluctuations
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Pentagon Papers
-Ford call to MacGregor
-Announcement by administration on document release
-Timing
-Mansfield
-Clark call to Albert
-Timing
Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
Mansfield amendment
-Administration response
-Ford
-Scott
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Control of administration supporters in Congress
-Albert
-Scott
-Ziegler statement
-Issues covered by President already
-Ceasefire
-Withdrawal of POWs
-Withdrawal of armed forces

Pentagon Papers
-Administration response
-Declassification process
-Laird's role

Schedule
-Kissinger

Mitchell and Ehrlichman left at 6:16 pm.

Butterfield entered at 6:16 pm.

Seating at upcoming stag dinner
-Flanigan’s suggestions
-Robert O. Anderson
-Donald T. Regan
-Howard J. Morgens
-Procter and Gamble
-Edward W. Carter
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Butterfield left at an unknown time after 6:16 pm.

Kissinger entered at 6:16 pm.

Mansfield amendment
-Stennis
-Impact
-Contents Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
-Ceasefire
-Administration policy
-Statement by administration
-Contents
-Deadline drawbacks
-Respect for Senate and House
-Rationale
-Republicans
-Public revelations by President
-Tactical benefits
-Warning of Senate
-Mansfield
-Effect on negotiations
-Force of amendment
-Budget implications
-Administration statement
-Responsibility of amendment supporters

Vietnam Peace negotiations
-North Vietnamese reaction
-US contact with People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-US reaction to rejection of proposals
-Possible television appearance by President
-Clifford's efforts
-Times efforts
-Administration response
-Effect on amendment's supporters
-US contact with PRC
-Soviet reaction
-US position
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-administration response
-Focus on US offers to North Vietnam
-Negotiations in Paris
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-US obligation to set withdrawal date
-Future credit-taking
-Lack of support for President
-Comparison with Abraham Lincoln
-Republican support
-Justification
-Vote
-Cook-Stevens amendment Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)

Businessmen stag dinner
-Reception format
-Quality of group
-Donald McI. Kendall work trip

President's meeting with Frank J. Shakespeare
-Haldeman's comment to Shakespeare
-Efficacy of presentation
-Effective presentation
-Format
-Jack R. Miller's report
-India-Pakistan segment

Support for administration
-American Medical Association [AMA] meeting
-Problems
-War in Vietnam
-Media
-Need to fight

Ziegler entered and Haldeman left at 6:36 pm.

Press briefing
-Statement on Mansfield amendment
-Force of amendment
-Defeat of restrictive amendments
-Consideration of Congressional views
-Contradictory nature of amendment
-Objectives of administration policy
-Inconsistencies of amendment
-Force of amendment
-Defeat of restrictive amendments
-Effect of deadline
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-Results of Congressional efforts
-Wording
-Use by others
-Robert J. Dole
-Stennis

Ziegler left at 6:42 pm.
Conv. No. 527-12 (cont.)
Kissinger's schedule
-Paris
-Businessmen's dinner
-Kissinger's contact with businessmen
-Pentagon Papers
-Rogers
-Lyndon Johnson
-Vietnam
-Negotiations
-US and Soviet Union relations
-US and PRC relations
-New basis for foreign policy
-Domestic problems

Administration response to critics
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Democrats
-Republicans

The President and Kissinger left at 6:46 pm.