715–5

Conversation No. 715-5

Date: April 26, 1972
Time: 12:33 pm - 1:10 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Soviet Union
-News reports
-Invitation from Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Source
-US release
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Official statement
-The President's trip
-Publicity by Soviets

Vietnam
-The President's speech
-Conversation with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)


-Advance copies
-Clark MacGregor and Ronald L. Ziegler
-Kissinger briefing
-Publicity
-Television
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Message
-Report on South Vietnamese performance
-South Vietnamese government agencies
-South Vietnamese Air Force
-South Vietnamese Navy
-South Vietnamese Militia
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Current status
-South Vietnamese government
-Strength
-Popular support
-Possible Bunker briefing in Saigon
-Release of message to John A. Scali
-Publicity from Saigon
-Public Information Officer [PIO]

Haldeman entered at an unknown time after 12:33 pm.

-Press coverage
-Bunker
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Press conference
-Quotation by the President in speech
-US policies
-Public support
-Press response
-Abrams
-Press conference
-Bunker
-Press conference
-Release of message
-Diplomatic angle
-Ziegler and Scali
-The President's speech
-Advance copies
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)


-Release
-Ziegler and MacGregor
-Ziegler's office
-Refusal
-Deletions
-Abrams
-Format
-Distribution
-Time
-Format
-Kissinger's briefing
-Contents
-Press reactions
-Advance copies
-Television vs. print media
-John R. (“Tex”) McCrary
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Column on Kissinger
-Meetings with Kissinger
-Frequency
-Credibility
-Compared with Melvin R. Laird

Press
-McCrary's analysis
-Television compared to print media
-Control by Administration
-Stories
-Biases
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Ways to write stories
-Troop withdrawals
-Vietnamization
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Kissinger’s private meetings
-Television networks
-Briefings
-Kissinger's briefing
-Length of the President's speech
-Television
-American Broadcasting Corporation [ABC]
 14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)


-Basketball game
-Starting time
-National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC], Columbia
Broadcasting System [CBS

Vietnam
-The President's speech
-Briefing of congressmen
-MacGregor
-Kissinger briefing
-Kissinger briefing
-Troop withdrawals
-Attendance
-Letters to congressmen
-Text
-Advance copies
-MacGregor and Scali
-Excerpts
-Kissinger's briefing
-Press
-Television networks
-Contents
-Vietnamization
-William J. Porter
-Bombing
-Soviets
-Invitation to Kissinger
-Work on talks
-Public statement
-Gromyko
-Comments to Kissinger
-Trip

Zosimo Monzon entered at an unknown time after 12:33 pm.

The President's suits
-Colors
-Selection for speech
-William H. Carruthers
-Tie

Monzon left at an unknown time before 12:54 pm.
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)



Vietnam
-The President's speech
-Advance copies
-Excerpts
-Kissinger's briefing
-The President’s January 25, 1972 speech
-Performance
-Press questions
-Moscow trip
-Comments
-News reports from Moscow
-Talks
-Kissinger's meeting with Brezhnev
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Failure of talks
-Soviet reactions
-May 2, 1972
-Cease-fire
-Washington Special Action Group [WSAG]
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Provincial capitals
-Possible capture
-Pleiku and Kontum
-An Loc
-North Vietnamese problems
-An Loc
-Loss
-Impact
-Significance
-Kontum
-Size
-Possible loss
-Kissinger’s comments to newsmen
-Montagnards
-Pleiku
-Loss
-North Vietnamese capture
-US air power
-Compared with Laos
-Abrams
 16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)


-Air power
-Laos operation
-Reports to Kissinger
-Tactical air [TACAIR]
-Gunships
-Air operations
-Photographs
-Kissinger's retrieval
-Staff
-Kissinger briefing

Kissinger left at 12:54 pm.

-The President's speech
-Advance copies
-Problems
-Reasons for refusal
-Duration

Kissinger entered and Haldeman left at 12:55 pm.

Vietnam
-Photographs
-Air strikes
-Pilot
-Oil storage facilities
-Haiphong
-Targets
-Secondary explosions
-Bomb damage
-Targets
-Railroads
-Lyndon B. Johnson's policy
-Johnson
-Strategy
-Nature of war
-Guerilla war
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Change of nature of war
-The President's speech
-Changes
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)


-Speechwriters
-John K. Andrews, Jr. and Winston Lord
-Work with Kissinger
-Support for the President's changes
-Personal element
-November 3, 1969 speech
-Andrews
-Work with Kissinger
-Changes in text
-Conclusion
-Criticism
-Kissinger's briefing
-North Vietnamese offensive
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Naval attack
-North Vietnam
-Thanh Hoa
-Blockade
-Hanoi and Haiphong
-Attack on shipping
-Compared to attacks on Israel
-Torpedo boats
-Naval gunfire
-Effectiveness
-Impact on North Vietnam
-Peace talks
-Soviet role
-Brezhnev
-Soviets
-Statement on contacts with US

Strategic Arms
-Submarine offer
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer's response
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Hawks
-Anti-ballistic missiles [ABMs] and Sub-launched marine ballistic missiles [SLBMs]
-Gerard C. Smith
-William P. Rogers
-Treaty
-Duration
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)


-Soviet position
-Signing ceremony
-Value
-Location

Soviet Union
-The President's trip
-State dinner
-Location
-The President's previous trip
-Nikita S. Khruschev
-Plenary sessions
-Hall of Catherine the Great
-Soviet arrangements

Vietnam
-Doves
-Bombing
-Success
-Washington Post editorial
-Responsibility
-1972 election
-South Vietnam
-Survival
-Pleiku
-Bombing
-Abrams
-Use of fire power
-Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Air base
-Thailand
-Kissinger’s talk with Moorer
-Cambodian and Laotian operations
-Problems
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Change of situation
-US response
-Justification
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ] violation
-The President’s speech on Laos
-Linkage
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Conv. No. 715-5 (cont.)



Kissinger left at 1:10 pm.