872–19

Conversation No. 872-19

Date: March 8, 1973
Time: Unknown between 2:50 pm and 3:34 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope. The White House photographer was present at
 -33-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-18 (cont’d)


the beginning of the meeting.

Greetings

Gift
-Golf club
-Camp David
-Weight, type

The White House photographer left.

Golf celebrity tournament at Woodmont
-President's game
-Burning Tree Country Club
-A tree
-Melvin R. Laird

Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Evening at the White House
-Hardships
-Discipline
-Example for US

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 2:50 pm.

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman's attendance at meeting

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 3:05 pm.

POWs
-Discipline
-Patriotism
-Vietnam War
-Value
-Heroes
-Appreciation
-Vietnam War veterans and casualties
-Hospitals
 -34-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


Haldeman entered at 3:05 pm.

White House entertainment
-Evening at the White House for POWs
-Tony Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Reception
-Postponement
-Return of all POWs
-Hope’s variety show
-Military
-Hope's advice
-Contact with Haldeman
-National show for POWs
-Jane Fonda
-Honor America theme
-Primetime Television [TV]
-POW repatriation
-Timing
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Overnight stay in White House Lincoln Bedroom
-Performance
-Hope's remarks at dinner
-National show for POWs
-TV
-Planning
-Compared to fundraising dinners
-Contributors
-Celebrities
-Broadcast
-Location
-Proceeds
-Scholarship fund
-Vietnam veterans
-Children of killed, wounded, and missing in action
-Telethon
-Planning
-President's attendance
-Los Angeles
-Fundraising dinner
 -35-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


-VIPs attendance
-Tax deductable donations
-Telethon
-Advantage
-Wider participation
-Broadcast
-Hope's advice
-Telethon
-Contributions
-Dinner and telethon
-Network TV broadcast
-POWs, celebrities, Cabinet officers, military
-President’s attendance
-Los Angeles
-Century Plaza
-Los Angeles
-Advantages
-Celebrities
-Timing

Veterans
-Exploitation
-Fundraising events
-H. Ross Perot
-Ford Motor Company
-Scholarship fund
-Eligibility
-Disability
-Thailand
-Amount of money
-Source of funds
-Compared to veterans benefits
-POWs
-Entertainment at the White House
-Planning
-Haldeman’s role
-Variety show
-Les Brown's band
-Date
 -36-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)



Golf
-President's game
-Hope's golf clubs

Plaque
-Gift of Charles G. (\"Bebe\") Rebozo, Robert H. Abplanalp to President

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:05 pm.

Plaque
-Massachusetts
-Executive Office Building office
-Delivery to Oval Office

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 3:20 pm.


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Golf
-Game
-Twosomes
-Length of time to play
-Hope’s game
-President’s game
-Need for exercise, diversion
-Hope’s meeting with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Walter Reed Hospital
-Mamie G. D. Eisenhower
-Joke about golfer

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************

Nguyen Van Thieu
-Joke
-Gen. Juan Domingo Peron
 -37-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)



Thieu's visit to US
-Demonstrations
-Support for North Vietnam
-Le Duc Tho
-Protection
-Washington, DC
-San Clemente

Mardi Gras
-Hope as King
-1973 inauguration
-Rowdiness
-Object thrown at Hope
-Irish wakes
-Parades
-Number
-Hope
-Security guards
-New Orleans French Quarter
-Hippies
-Marijuana smoking

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 3:05 pm.

Plaque

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 3:20 pm.

-Gift of Abplanalp
-President’s birthday
-Hope's opinion

Paul W. Keyes
-Planning
-White House events

Haldeman left at 3:20 pm.
 -38-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


Hope's schedule
-Return to California
-Telegrams
-Award
-Hollywood Television Society
-Purpose

Vietnam War
-Post card to Hope
-Second term in office
-Bombing
-May 1972 bombings, mining
-Summit with USSR
-December 1972 bombing
-Impact on peace negotiations
-Lost aircraft
-Compared to Lyndon B. Johnson
-Damage to enemy
-B-52s
-POWs’ reaction
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Press criticism
-Henry A. Kissinger, Melvin R. Laird
-Sorties
-B-52s
-Impact on peace negotiations
-Americans’ attitude toward defeat
-POWs
-Return
-Col. Robinson Risner, [first name unknown] Kassler, James A. Mulligan,
Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton
-Pride
-Denton’s letter
-Compared to Abraham Lincoln
-Hope’s support for President
-Criticism
-New York Times, Life, Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Bombings
-Necessity
 -39-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


-US status as great power
-Leonid I. Brezhnev and Chou En-lai
-President’s 1959 “Kitchen Debate”
-Nikita S. Khrushchev
-Clark M. Clifford
-Talk with Hope during Burning Tree golf game
-Vietnam War
-South Vietnam’s government
-Corruption
-Bombing halt in 1968
-B-52 bombings
-Moorer
-President's responsibility
-Weather
-Damage to enemy
-Hopes' visit to Thailand
-Talk with Gen. [first name unknown] Sullivan
-December 26, 1972 bombing
-Haiphong
-Air Force personnel
-Entertainment
-Stress level
-B-52 losses
-Christmas losses
-Compared to World War II
-Bombings
-Press criticism
-Chicago Tribune
-Washington Post
-Acknowledgment of President's success

People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Kissinger's conversation with Chou En-lai
-Hope's film on the USSR
-Eugene Ormandy's visit to PRC
-Hope's USSR trip
-USSR’s response to tour
-Purpose of tour
 -40-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


The President talked to the White House operator.

[Conversation No. 872-19A]

[See Conversation No. 37-62]

[End of telephone conversation]

Hope’s tour of PRC
-Follow-up

Radio station
-KRLA
-Pasadena, California
-Acquisition


******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Privacy]
[Duration: 10s]



END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
******************************************************************************


-Hearings
-Engineering
-TV station
-Robert Maheu, Orange Group
-Conflict over acquisition
-Western Broadcasting

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger between 3:26 pm and 3:27 pm.

[Conversation No. 872-19B]
 -41-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


[See Conversation No. 37-63]

[End of telephone conversation]

Hope’s tour of PRC
-Letter
-Kissinger

Hope's watch
-Special features
-David Sarnoff dinner
-Compared to clock in Oval Office
-Age
-Value
-Gift to President
-President's thanks
-Golf club

Hope’s trip to [PRC]
-Talks with US officials
-Kissinger, George H. W. Bush, William P. Rogers
-Meeting with President
-Camp David
-Letter to Ottawa Embassy
-Rogers
-Letter from Hope
-Kissinger
-Delivery
-Private channel
-Chou En-Lai

Hope's watch
-Special features
-[First name unknown] Conrad, Sarnoff

Golf
-President's game
-Course
-Kenwood Country Club
 -42-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)


-San Clemente
-Hope's favorite course
-Game with John B. Connally and William E. Simon
-Score

Meeting with Newbold (“Newby”) Noyes, Jr.

Hope and the President left at 3:34 pm.