636–11

Conversation No. 636-11

Date: December 10, 1971
Time: 5:38 pm - 6:27 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Jerrold L. Schecter; the White House photographer was present at the
beginning of the meeting.

Photographs
-Types

Tour of rooms

The President
-Remarks from Schecter

The White House
 22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 636-11 (cont.)


-History
-Abraham Lincoln bust
-Unknown sculptor
-Winston S. Churchill

Presidential portrait and bust
-Sculptor
-The President’s relationship with
-Photographer

Oval Office history
-The President’s past experiences
-Harry S Truman
-Meeting with Charles J. Kersten, Congressman from Wisconsin, 1948, and the
President
-Eastern Europe
-East-West relations
-Ambassadors
-Polish-Americans
-The President’s meetings with Democrats
-Globe
-Marshall Plan
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Oval Office “effect”
-The President’s recollection as Vice President
-John F. Kennedy
-Call to the President
-Bay of Pigs
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Meetings
-Other locations
-Executive Office Building [EOB] office
-Camp David
-Key Biscayne and San Clemente
-Oval Office “effect”
-Johnson
-Use of Oval Office
-Televisions
-Lack of them
-Examples of hoe the President receives news
-Summary
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 636-11 (cont.)


-New York Times
-Washington Post
-News programs
“Meet the Press”
-Weekend reading
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-William L. Safire
-Al [Surname unknown]
-President’s reading choices
-Commentary
-Time
-New Republic
-National Review
-The London Observer
-Importance to the President

Television
-President’s advice
-Watching oneself

Decision-making process
-Clarity

Oval Office
-Cleanliness
-The President's desk
-EOB office
-Camp David
-Exceptions

Physical and mental condition of the President
-Essential for the job
-John Connally

Decision-making process
-Consensus
-Oval Office, Lincoln Sitting Room, Camp David, EOB

Delegation of authority
-Grover Cleveland
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 636-11 (cont.)


-Ability to delegate authority
-Comparisons
-Important decisions
-President’s advice

Press
-The President’s feelings
-Attempts to accept press criticism
-Not take it personally

News summary
-Issues compared to personal material

The President's reading habits
-History
-Biography
-Carl Sandburg's Lincoln
-Churchill
-Benjamin Disraeli
-Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Andrew Jackson
-Churchill
-Blake’s Disraeli
-Diary
-Dictaphone
-Rose Mary Woods

Notes
-President’s schedule
-Upcoming trip to the Waldorf Hotel
-[Forename unknown] Bell
-Death
-Wife and daughter
-The President’s expresses sympathy
-Night
-Reminders

Dictation
-Woods
-Marjorie P. Acker
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 636-11 (cont.)


-The President as Congressman

Decisions made in the Oval Office
-Cambodia
-Final order
-EOB office
-Camp David
-November 3, 1969 speech on Vietnam
-EOB
-Camp David
-Henry A. Kissinger
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Part of decision making process
-Legislative matter
-Clark MacGregor
-EOB office
-Campaign bill

Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Types of conversation between the President and Mrs. Nixon
-White House decoration
-Delegation of authority
-The President
-Menus
-Wines

Entertainment at the White House
-Woods
-Guest lists
-Other responsibilities

Wines
-The President's knowledge
-International experiences

The President's diet
-Restaurants compared to wine
-“Spartan” existence

Relaxation
-Camp David
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 636-11 (cont.)


-Florida
-California

Decorum as President
-Dignity
-Humanizing the Presidency
-Eisenhower
-Military background

The President as Congressman
-Becoming President
-Selection as Vice President
-Unpredictability

Use of the EOB office
-Informal compared to formal
-Oval Office
-Quietness
-Camp David
-California
-Florida

Events of last few months
-People’s Republic of China [PRC] and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR
Summits
-Economics
-Vietnam
-Inflation, unemployment

Press
-Relationship

Congressional criticism

Decision making
-Hazards
-Anger

Washington Post and the New York Times
-Reading habits
-Herbert L. Block
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 636-11 (cont.)



Mental discipline
-Development
-Campaigning
-Victory and defeast

Foreign leaders

Pictures in the Oval Office
-Rembrandt Peale
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower

Tour of other rooms

The President and Schecter left at 6:27 pm.