719–22

Conversation No. 719-22

Date: May 4, 1972
Time: 1:24-1:51 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

President's meeting with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
-President's report

Haldeman's meeting with John B. Connally and Henry A. Kissinger
 35

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 719-22 (cont.)

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 1:24 pm.

Ronald L. Ziegler
-Meeting with the President

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 1:27 pm.

Meeting with Connally
-Haldeman's discussion
-Connally's discussion
-Polls

Vietnam
-Connally's advice
-Necessity of victory
-Kissinger
-Military action
-Bombing
-Blockade
-Soviet Summit
-Cancellation
-Responsibility
-Soviet Union
-Kissinger
-Bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong
-Intensity
-Targets
-Civilian casualties
-Paul N. McCloskey's charges
-Press coverage
-Kissinger's position
-Soviet Summit
-Soviet intentions
-Cancellation
-Kissinger's position
-Bombing
-President's decision
-President's speech

Ziegler entered at 1:27 pm.

J. Edgar Hoover building
 36

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 719-22 (cont.)

-Announcement
-Release

President's eulogy
-Ziegler's opinion

Ziegler left at 1:31 pm.

Vietnam
-North Vietnam offensive
-Soviet summit
-Possible cancellation
-President’s response
-Blockade
-Timing with summit
-Advantages
-Cancellation of summit
-Connally’s advice
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Kissinger
-Melvin R. Laird
-President’s policies
-Public support
-South Vietnam performance
-Morale
-Kissinger’s opinion
-Abrams’s opinion
-Improvements
-Effect of Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
-Bombing
-Risks to summit
-Kissinger’s view
-Blockade
-Kissinger’s position
-President’s position
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr’s position
-The President’s view
-Bombing
-Impact on North Vietnam
-North Vietnam dikes
-Kissinger’s opinion
-Soviet summit
 37

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 719-22 (cont.)

-Possible cancellation
-Connally’s advice
-President’s opinion
-Comparison to U-2 incident
-Effect on Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Connally’s view of public opinion
-On Vietnam
-On summit cancellation
-On People's Republic of China [PRC] visit
-President’s military response
-Kissinger’s position on cancellation
-Connally’s position on cancellation
-Soviet initiative
-US military action
-Blockade
-Support from Kissinger, military
-Problems
-Future North Vietnam negotiations with Democratic President
-Kissinger’s position
-Bombing
-Civilian casualties
-President’s assessment of Connally’s advice
-Soviet summit
-Possible cancellation
-Connally’s position
-Kissinger’s position
-Bombing
-Effect on summit
-Responsibility
-US military defeat
-Political impact
-Connally’s assessment of President's position
-President’s standing with public
-Soviet summit
-Possible cancellation
-US response
-Bombing
-Kissinger’s position
-President’s attitude
-Abrams
-Position
-Connally’s advice
 38

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 719-22 (cont.)

-Compared with Laird and William P. Rogers
-Polls
-Charles H. Percy's polls in Illinois
-Statements on bombing
-Necessity of blockade
-Illinois attitudes
-Effect of polls
-US military defeat
-Soviet summit
-Possible cancellation
-Kissinger’s position
-Bombing
-Advantages
-Timing
-Kissinger’s advice
-The President’s view
-Public opinion
-Support for the president's actions
-Damage
-Gen. John W. Vogt's report

Hoover funeral
-President's eulogy
-Reception
-Delivery
-President's conversation with Rev. Edward L.R. Elson
-Photographs
-Elson
-President's arrival
-President's eulogy
-Length
-Number of words
-Time
-References
-Law and order
-Patriotism
-Critics
-Biblical quotation
-John K. Andrews, Jr.
-Honor guard
-William F. Rhatican's idea
-US Army chorus
 39

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 719-22 (cont.)

-Pallbearers
-Press reaction
-The President’s view

Vietnam
-North Vietnam offensive
-Bombing
-Public reaction
-Poll results
-Initiation
-Public reaction
-Relation to Soviet Summit
-Connally's views
-Possible cancellation
-Kissinger's view

The President and Haldeman left at 1:51 pm.