716–3

Conversation No. 716-3

Date: May 1, 1972
Time: 5:31 pm -5:53 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Vietnam
-Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with Le Duc Tho
-Public record
-Statement by President
-The President’s view
-Wording
-An announcement
-Statement
-Strength
-North Vietnamese offensive
-President's response
-Public support
-Polls
-Bombing
-Extent
-Negotiations
-US demands
-North Vietnamese action
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-March 29, 1972 status quo ante
-Prisoners of war [POW] release
-US bombing
-US proposals
-January 25, 1972
-Withdrawal
-POWs
-North Vietnamese response
-Negotiations
-Kissinger's opening statement
-North Vietnamese [Le Duc Tho’s] responses
-Tenor of Kissinger's remarks
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01)
Conv. No. 716-3 (cont.)

-President's Intentions
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s view
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Melvin R. Laird's previous predictions
-Vietnamization
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Risks
-Success
-Reasons
-US aid
-Tanks
-Japan
-Trained personnel
-South Vietnamese Losses
-Military Region [MR] 1
-South Vietnamese tank losses
-North Vietnamese artillery
-Soviet weapons
-Effectiveness
-North Vietnamese artillery
-Number of rounds
-Estimates
-Quang Tri
-An Loc
-Cambodian operation
-Kissinger’s view
-South Vietnamese response
-Offensive capabilities
-Defensive capabilities
-South Vietnam
-Cambodia
-Offensive ability
-US support
-North Vietnamese offensive
-US response
-Lack of new ideas
-Laird
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Abrams
-South Vietnamese defeat
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01)
Conv. No. 716-3 (cont.)

-US public response
-US public opinion
-Kissinger's dinner with Rowland Evans and Thomas W. Braden
-US response to offensive
-The President’s view
-North Vietnamese offensive
-North Vietnamese targets
-Selection
-Kissinger’s forthcoming briefings
-Abrams
-Moorer
-Briefing of President
-Options
-Dikes
-B-52s
-Populated areas
-Problems
-Press coverage
-Risks
-Haiphong
-Recovery
-Air strikes
-Piers
-Petroleum, oil and lubricant [POL] dumps
-B52s
-Air strikes
-Soviet weapons
-Quality

Soviet Union
-Military capabilities
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster
-Compared with US military capabilities
-The President’s view

US military establishment
-Reorganization
-1972 election
-John B. Connally
-Appointment as Secretary of Defense
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01)
Conv. No. 716-3 (cont.)

-The President’s view

Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Air strikes
-Connally's opinion
-Support in Texas
-Destruction
-Thanh Hoa
-Weather
-Kissinger, Haig
-South Vietnamese performance
-Abrams's evaluation
-Laird
-Morale
-Air strikes
-Impact
-B-52s
-North Vietnamese casualties
-South Vietnamese actions
-Counterattacks
-Plans
-Dong Ha, Quang Tri
-Ronald L. Ziegler's statements
-Stance to press
-North Vietnamese offensive
-South Vietnamese losses
-Public stance
-Press reports
-Impact on US public
-Laos operation
-Provincial capitals
-Memorandum [?]
-Retyping

Kissinger’s schedule

Kissinger left at 5:53 pm.
 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01)
Conv. No. 716-3 (cont.)