638–4

Conversation No. 638-4

Date: December 15, 1971
Time: 8:45 am - 11:30 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

Television program


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 51s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The President's schedule
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Staff meeting
-John B. Connally

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 8:45 am.

Pens

Bull left at an unknown time before 8:49 am.

Azores trip
-Media coverage
-Hobart Rowen
-Connally
-Airport statement

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 8:45 am.
 3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)



The President's schedule
-Meeting with Connally
-Timing
-Availability of the President

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 8:49 am.

Azores trips
-Media coverage
-Devaluation of the dollar
-Effects
-US consumers

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 8:49 am.

Oval Office
-Decoration
-“Star of the President”

The President talked with the White House operator at 8:49 am.

Margaret Chase Smith's location

[End of telephone conversation]

Oval Office
-Decoration
-Walter H. Annenberg
-Steuben glass
-Presidential seal
 4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 21
[Privacy]
[Duration: 15s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 21

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-“Star of the President”
-Location in office
-Birds

Azores trip
-Media coverage
-“Today Show” and “Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] Morning News”
-Explanation of devaluation
-Effects
-Prices
-Jobs
-CBS interview of Connally
-National Broadcasting Company [NBC]
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-British
-Japanese
-Germans
-Geroge R.S. Baring [Earl of Cromer]
-Talk with Kissinger
-United Nations [UN] Security Council Resolution
-Comments
-Earl of Cromer’s location
-Edward R.G. Heath
-French and US
-Germans and Italians
-George P. Shultz
-Talk with Kissinger
-Convertibility
-Talk with Connally
 5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Peter G. Peterson
-Arthur F. Burns
-Kissinger's talk with Connally
-Meeting
-Convertibility
-Numbers
-Pompidou
-Agreement
-French
-Numbers
-Concessions
-Pompidou
-Note about US reaction
-Press
-Joseph C. Kraft
-Previous conversation with Kissinger
-Reaction to coverage
-French
-“Azores Doctrine”
-“Guam Doctrine”
-Difference in policy
-Dan Rather
-Comments
-\"Guam Doctrine\"
-Editorials
-Rowen
-Stock Market
-Effect of agreement
-Communiqué
-Pompidou
-Connally
-Status of the dollar
-England
-Italy
-Japan
-Pompidou
-\"Group of Ten\" meeting
-Devaluation
-Briefing
-Connally’s previous conversation with Kissinger
-Ziegler
 6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Rather [?]
-John A. Scali
-Preparation for questions
-Kissinger
-Pompidou
-Connally
-Praise from Kissinger
-Role
-Liaison with Congress
-Meeting with leadership
-Clark MacGregor

President's schedule
-Florida trip
-Congressional meeting
-Connally
-Percentage of work

India-Pakistan situation
-British resolution
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] assurances
-West Pakistan
-No military attack
-US strategy
-UN
-Possible letter exchange
-Leonid I. Brezhnev and the President
-Effect on People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-West Pakistan
-Summit meeting
-Media coverage
-CBS
-USSR
-Indians
-PRC
-Yuli M. Vorontsov
-Brezhnev
-Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Ziegler
-Coverage of Summit
-Brezhnev
 7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Pakistan
-USSR guarantee
-Vorontsov
-Dividing line
-Formalization


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 57s ]


INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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Bull entered at an unknown time after 8:49 am.

Smith
-Incoming call

Bull left at 9:12 am.

The President talked with Smith between 9:12 am and 9:14 am.

[Conversation No. 638-4A]

[See Conversation No. 16-103; one item has been withdrawn from the conversation]

[End of telephone conversation]


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
 8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


[Privacy]
[Duration: 14s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


Azores meeting
-Kissinger comments
-New York Times story
-Tad Szulc
-Pompidou
-Terms discussed
-Percentage of devaluation
-Germans, Japanese, and French
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Connally
-Kissinger opinion
-Shultz proposal
-Germany
-Possible settlement
-Gold prices
-French
-Japanese
-Finance Minister
-Timing
-Peterson report
-Pompidou
-Possible written statement
-Heath
-Pompidou
-“Group of Ten” meeting
-President's stature in Europe
-President's trips to New York and Paris
-French and US relations
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Pompidou
-Maurice Schumann
 9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)



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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[National Security]
[Duration: 3s ]


FRANCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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-Pompidou
-Upcoming American elections
-George H. Gallup polls


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 4m 37s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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-Media coverage
-Compared to John F. Kennedy
-Nixon Doctrine

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:14 am.

President's schedule
 10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Connally meeting

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:28 am.

The President's schedule
-Florida

Connally entered at 9:28 am.

Schedule

Azores meeting
-Public relations
-Media coverage
-Ziegler
-Scali
-Upcoming meeting with Connally
-President's instructions about questions
-Publicity
-Haldeman’s opinion
-Compared to \"Guam Doctrine\"
-CBS coverage
-Rather
-Rowen
-Devaluation of the dollar
-NBC
-Connally interview with Irving R. Levine
-Price rises
-Jobs
-Ziegler
-Scali
-Devaluation
-Trade with Europe
-US progress
-Improvement of American competitive position
-Devaluation
-Imports
-American goods
-Prospects for the future
-Need for modesty
-US position
 11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Consideration for US trade partners
-Possibility of recession abroad
-Earl of Cromer
-Recent conversation with Kissinger
-UN Security Council Resolution
-President’s instructions
-Connally’s upcoming conversation with the Earl of Cromer
-Karl Schiller
-Quoted in the newspaper
-Need for another meeting
-Willy Brandt
-Relationship with Schiller
-Nobel Prize


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 40s ]


WEST GERMANY


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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-Schiller
-Brandt
-Future meeting with the President
-Pompidou


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 22
[National Security]
[Duration: 43s ]
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)




WEST GERMANY


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 22

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-Congress
-Henry S. Reuss
-Possible Action
-MacGregor
-Briefing
-Reuss
-Jacob K. Javits
-Authority to devaluate
-Trade terms
-Potential problems
-Convertibility
-Pompidou
-Congress
-Strategy
-Resolution of authority
-Trade concessions
-Banking and Currency Committee
-Finance
-Ways and Means Committee
-Paul A. Volcker
-Inclusion
-Briefing
-Schedule
-Convertibility
-Strategy
-Convertibility
-Agreement
-Recessions and depressions
-World trade
-Camp David
-Burns
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Predictions
-Stock exchange
-Agreement
-Briefing
-Peterson
-Shultz
-Paul W. McCracken
-Herbert Stein
-Burns
-Kissinger
-State Department
-Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress
-J. William Fulbright
-Involvement in briefing
-India-Pakistan situation
-Haldeman's call to William P. Rogers
-Macgregor and Connally
-Ways and Means Committee
-Nathaniel Samuels
-Volcker
-Haldeman’s call to Rogers
-State Department’s involvement
-Ziegler
-Scali
-William D. Eberle
-Directive about public statements
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Carl B. Albert
-Michael J. Farrell

Haldeman left at 9:47 am.

-Public statements
-Treasury Department
-Press
-Trade
-Tobacco
-Citrus
-Pompidou
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Tobacco
 14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Grain
-Germans
-Need for his assistance
-Canadians
-Connally's role
-Credit for the President

Connally's schedule
-Call to Germany
-Schiller meeting
-Timing
-Breakfast
-Communications with Egon Bahr

Child care bill
-Media
-James J. Kilpatrick, Jr. column
-News summary
-President's use
-Dallas
-Chicago
-Washington Post
-Kilpatrick
-Column

Azores meeting
-Connally
-Strategy
-Ziegler
-Scali
-Assistance to Connally
-Future
-Jobs
-NBC interview
-Convertibility
-Pompidou
-Shultz
-Instructions
-Conversations with Connally and Kissinger
-Views
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


Haldeman entered at 9:55 am.

-Levine
-Previous conversation with Connally
-Pompidou
-Congress
-Agenda
-Trade
-Revaluation of exchange rates
-Political strategy
-Inflation
-International monetary conditions
-Employment
-US leadership
-President’s instructions
-Public relations
-US world position since World War II
-Finance
-Monetary importance
-The President’s August 15, 1971 statement
-Press coverage
-European reaction
-Need for co-operation
-Importance
-Pompidou
-European position
-Germany
-Jobs
-Results of meeting
-Time lag
-Currency realignment
-1972 election
-Impact of trade changes
-Burden sharing

Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 9:55 am.

President's schedule
-Congressional briefing
-Peterson
-Ziegler
 16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Scali

Haldeman, Kissinger, and Butterfield left at 10:00 am.

Azores meeting
-Connally
-Credit for the President
-August 15, 1971 actions

Briefing
-The President’s August 15, 1971 statement
-World markets
-Convertibility
-Jobs in Germany, France, and the US
-Effects on trade
-Need to improve US position
-Attitudes of Europeans
-Economics
-Vitality of all participants
-Importance to US interests
-US stance
-Toughness
-Purpose
-Upcoming agreements
-Japan
-Canada
-Europe
-Devaluation of the dollar
-Scali
-Possible comments by the President
-German deutschemark
-August 15, 1971 actions
-Wage and price controls
-Implications for the future of US currency
-Explanation of US position
-Scali
-Location

Haldeman entered at 10:01 am.

-Photograph
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Scali

Ziegler entered at 10:02 am.

President’s instructions
-Need for unity
-Sensitivity of issues
-Connally
-Scali
-Need for open communication
-Timing

Scali entered at 10:05 am.

-Press coverage
-Upcoming negotiations
-Need for White House clearance of remarks
-Connally
-Wage and price freeze
-Taxes
-International monetary situation
-President's accomplishments
-Historical context
-Timing
-The President’s August 15, 1971 statement
-Economic policy
-Inflation
-Phase I and II
-Jobs
-Tax incentive
-International monetary situation
-Chances for success
-Devaluation
-Meaning
-Effect on US goods and jobs
-Reasons
-US monetary situation since World War II
-Compared to other countries
-US dollar overvalued
-Trade situation
-Effect of monetary reform
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Timing
-Results of Azores meeting
-President's leadership stressed

Kissinger entered at 10:13 am.

-\"Azores Doctrine\"
-Corollary to “Guam Doctrine”
-Mutuality and burdensharing
-US role in meeting
-Nationalism
-Effects in Europe
-Burns’s view
-Instability
-Possible recession
-US responsibility
-Spending
-Freedom
-Stability
-European viewpoint
-Pompidou
-Perceived victory

Azores meeting
-Dealing with the Germans and Japanese
-National interests
-Reasons for US involvement
-Offset agreement
-Major currency realignment
-Trade concessions
-Realignment
-Fairness to US dollar
-Pompidou
-Result for France
-Washington Star article
-George Sherman
-Heath's upcoming visit
-Pompidou
-Previous conversation with the President
-Simile
-Lebanese
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-United Press International [UPI]
-Helen A. Thomas
-France
-Victory in devaluation
-Attitude toward gold
-Press
-Kissinger's opinion
-US objectives
-US results
-French results
-Ideology
-Gold prices
-World market prices
-Raising of price
-French viewpoint
-Connally's opinion
-Hoarding
-History
-French Revolution
-Kissinger's opinion
-Attitude toward own currency
-PRC
-View of money
-Methods
-French
-View of gold
-Pompidou
-Forthcoming election
-Relative revaluation
-Connally’s backgrounder
-US position compared to French position
-Devaluation
-Revaluation

President’s instructions
-Volcker
-Reuss
-William Proxmire
-Javits
-Democrats
-View of agreement
 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Possible change
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Revaluation
-Effects internationally
-Prices
-Jobs
-Prices abroad
-US product prices
-Effects in the US
-Common Market
-Japan
-Effects on dollar
-Vulnerability and strength
-Realignment of world currencies
-Effects
-Competitiveness of US goods
-Revaluation
-Semantics
-France
-Connally
-Work toward agreement
-Recommendations
-Negotiations
-President's comments about agreement
-Pompidou
-Great Britain
-US economy
-Compared to other Western powers
-Germany and Japan
-Results
-Credit
-Connally
-Friday meeting with Connally
-Instructions

Connally, Scali, and Kissinger left at 10:38 am.

USSR summit
-Press coverage
-Ziegler’s previous conversation with Haig and Kissinger
-India
 21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-USSR
-Ziegler's strategy
-Kissinger

Haldeman talked with Kissinger [?] at an unknown time between 10:38 am and 10:41 am.

[Conversation No. 638-4B]

Requested Kissinger return to the Oval Office

[End of telephone conversation]

-India-Pakistan
-USSR role
-UN
-Effect on negotiations
-Potential problems

West Coast dock strike
-Timing of statement
-Settlement from President
-Possible questions
-Congress
-Legislation
-Need for legislation
-Shultz's, Charles W. Colson's opinion
-Farm belt opinion
-Need for transportation legislation
-Strategy
-Ziegler’s opinion
-Congressional action

Kissinger entered at 10:41 am.

India-Pakistan situation
-Ziegler strategy
-USSR Summit
-Possible effect
-Kissinger’s comments to the press
-Negotiations
-Potential for success
 22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Administration plans
-Rogers
-Effect on negotiations with USSR
-USSR Summit
-Cancellation possibilities
-Kissinger's remarks
-The President’s remarks
-PRC
-Vorontsov
-Meeting with Kissinger

Azores meeting
-Connally
-Compared to rest of Cabinet
-Credit
-Pompidou
-Upcoming Group of Ten meeting
-Publicity
-Negotiations
-Press
-Szulc
-Reaction
-Pompidou
-European press
-Germans
-European press compared to US press
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Skip Isaacs

Ziegler left at 10:54 am.

Release of Richard G. Fecteau from PRC
-Kissinger
-Call to Edward W. Brooke and Edward M. Kennedy
-Kennedy
-Statement
-Human interest story
-Confinement
-Amount of time
-Fecteau and Mary Ann Herbert
-Effect on prisoners of war [POW] wives
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Mao Tse-Tung
-John T. Downey
-Sentence commutation


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 23
[National Security]
[Duration: 8s ]


INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 23

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-Effect on POWs

Kissinger's appointment with Vorontsov
-Timing
-UN Security Council resolution
-Brezhnev letter
-Request for letter about Pakistan USSR intention
-Effect on PRC
-Possible outcome
-Exchange of letters
-PRC
-USSR
-PRC

Personnel
-Scali
-Future assignments
-Ziegler
-Scali
-Importance of public relations
-Reliability
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Compared to Ziegler
-Haldeman
-Ziegler
-Desire to get into Washington Special Action Group [WSAG]
-Abilities
-Kissinger’s forthcoming talk with Haldeman
-State Department
-William L. Safire
-Scali
-President's personnel philosophy

India-Pakistan relations
-Summit with the USSR
-Possible cancellation
-Kissinger’s comments
-British resolution
-Strategy
-Opposition
-USSR
-PRC
-Indians
-US conservatives

President's schedule
-Briefing
-Kissinger's memorandum
-Connally’s talking points

Kissinger's meeting with Vorontsov
-Timing
-Connally

Kissinger left at 11:05 am.

USSR Summit
-Kissinger’s comments

President's schedule
-Florida
-Length of visit
-Time interview
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)


-Time and location
-Press conference
-Value-added tax [VAT]

Connally
-Negotiations
-Pompidou
-Style

Kissinger

VAT
-Press coverage
-Magazines
-Joseph W. Alsop story
-Property taxes
-Sales taxes
-Effect on the poor

President’s schedule
-Press conference
-Questions and answers [Q&A]
-Vietnam announcement
-Timing
-Public opinion
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Heath meeting
-Brandt meeting
-Group of Ten meeting
-Location
-Connally’s schedule
-Heath meeting
-Florida
-Weather
-Camp David
-India-Pakistan relations
-Kissinger
-Public opinion
-Meeting with Congress

Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:05 am.
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)



-Gifts
-Money clips
-Symbolism
-Need for new gifts
-Placement of gifts
-Recipients of gifts

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:30 am.

President's schedule
-John D. Ehrlichman meeting
-Anti-trust action on television networks
-Ehrlichman’s location
-Bill signings
-National Cancer Act of 1971
-Economic Stabilization Act Amendments of 1971
-Alaska claims
-Congress
-Timing of bill signings
-Peterson memorandum
-Commerce Department
-Jobs
-Budget
-Supersonic Transport [SST]
-Ehrlichman
-Possible passage
-“A Day in the Life of the President”
-Music
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Suggestions
-Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Liszt
-Rose Mary Woods
-“Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty”
-Eugene Ormandy
-London Symphony Orchestra
-Russians
-Departure for Florida

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:05 am and
11:22 am.
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)



[Conversation No. 638-4C]

[See Conversation No. 16-104]

[End of telephone conversation]

The President's schedule
-Congress
-Bill signing
-Budget

The President talked with Julie Eisenhower between 11:22 am and 11:25 am.

[Conversation No. 638-4D]

[See Conversation No. 16-105; one item has been withdrawn from the conversation]

[End of telephone conversation]

The President's schedule
-Time-Life interview
-Scheduling
-Hedley W. Donovan
-Church service
-Location
-Lincoln Sitting Room
-Staff open house
-Christmas decorating
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Florida
-Meeting with Congressional leaders
-Helicopter
-Possible duration
-Connally

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 11:25 am.

-Agnew
-MacGregor and an unknown person
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 638-4 (cont.)



The unknown person left at an unknown time before 11:30 am.

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 20
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 14s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 20

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The President’s schedule
-Forthcoming Congressional meeting
-MacGregor
-William E. Timmons

Haldeman left at 11:30 am.