617–5

Conversation No. 617-5

Date: November 12, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:29 pm and 4:54 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger and Clark MacGregor.
[The recording began at an unknown time while the meeting was in progress]

Vietnam
-The President's troop withdrawal announcement of November 12, 1971
-Peter Lisagor's reaction
-Press questions
-Amnesty
 3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 617-5 (cont.)


-The President's responses
-Troop withdrawals
-Melvin R. Laird's recommendation
-Press projections
-Infiltration
-Bombing
-Reactions
-\"Doves\"
-Timing
-The President's concern for prisoners of war [POWs]
-MacGregor's calls
-Michael J. Mansfield, Hugh Scott, Gerald R. Ford and Robert P. Griffin
-Projections
-Vietnamization
-Troop withdrawals
-Levels
-POWs
-The President's recent troop withdrawal announcement
-Possible North Vietnamese reaction
-Withdrawal rate
-Forthcoming announcement
-Timing
-Press questions
-Percentage of reduction
-Shelley's A. (Scarney) Buchanan conversation with MacGregor
-MacGregor's call to Carl B. Albert
-Press questions
-Stock market
-War prosperity
-Helen Thomas
-Mrs. Cornell
-Television
-Stock market question

The President's press conferences
-Effectiveness
-September 16, 1971
-October 12, 1971
-Forthcoming trip to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Format
-Television
 4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 617-5 (cont.)


-November 12, 1971
-Announcement
-The President's responses to questions

Vietnam
-Amnesty
-POWs
-Abraham Lincoln
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Draft
-Eugene J. McCarthy's view
-POW wives
-Veterans
-Barry M. Goldwater's possible statement
-Veterans
-Deaths in combat
-World War II and Korean Conflict
-Casualties
-The President's recent troop withdrawal announcement
-MacGregor's forthcoming phone calls
-Final announcement
-POWs
-Ford's reaction
-Laird's possible reaction

MacGregor left at 4:35 pm.

-Kissinger's call to Laird
-Laird's location
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.'s message for Robert E. Pursley
-Pursley's reaction
-National security
-Withdrawal rate
-Press conferences
-Infiltration rate
-North Vietnamese possible reaction
-POWs
-Tet offensive
-Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Recent troop withdrawal announcement
-Possible settlement
 5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 617-5 (cont.)


-Aid
-People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Cambodia
-John F. Kennedy
-Nixon Doctrine
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Effectiveness
-Bombing passes
-North Vietnam
-Laos

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 4:47 pm.

-Press reaction

Haldeman left at 4:48 pm.

Daniel L. Schorr
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] investigation
-Ziegler's forthcoming statement
-Personnel practices

Vietnam
-The President's previous troop withdrawal announcement
-Mrs. Cornell [Thomas] statement
-Amnesty

Forthcoming National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Photographs

Ziegler left at 4:50 pm.

-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Gerard C. Smith
-Timing
-Forthcoming Summit with the USSR

US relations with the USSR
-SALT negotiations
-Anti-Ballistic Missiles [ABM]
-Sites
 6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 617-5 (cont.)


-Populations
-Alternatives
-One to one
-Capitals
-Missile fields
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Submarines
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Directive
-Forthcoming NSC meeting
-Agenda
-Kissinger
-Smith and William P. Rogers
-Forthcoming ABM talks
-John J. McCloy

The President's previous press conference
-Forthcoming trips to PRC and USSR
-John A. Scali's suggestion
-Possible backgrounder by Kissinger

McCloy

Kissinger left at 4:54 pm.