410-014a

Conversation No. 410-14

Date: February 13, 1973
Time: 4:16 pm - 5:46 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

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

Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-New position as Army Vice Chief of Staff

Personnel
-Administrative abilities
 -24-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Charles W. Colson

Stephen B. Bull entered at 4:16 pm.

Raising the flag for prisoners of war [POWs]

The President [?] and Bull left at an unknown time after 4:17 pm.

[Pause]

The President entered at an unknown time after 4:17 pm.

President’s schedule
-Meeting

Labor relations
-George P. Shultz
-Meeting with George Meany
-Peter J. Brennan
-Briefing
-AFL-CIO
-Departure for Florida
-Colson’s conversation with Brennan

Brennan
-Appointments
-[First name unknown] Hill [?]
-Colson
-Qualifications
-Shultz
-Assessment of Brennan at Labor Department
-Appointments
-Relationship with John D. Ehrlichman
-Domestic Council
-Contacts
-Colson
-Shultz
 -25-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Shultz
-Differences on policy
-Ehrlichman
-Rapport
-Colson
-Shultz
-Appointments
-Donald F. Rodgers
-Undersecretary of Labor
-Shultz
-Solicitor
-Brennan's selection
-Appointments
-Shultz’s opinion
-Anti-union sentiment
-Colson
-Clash with Frederic C. Malek
-Ehrlichman
-Shultz

Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 4:16 pm and 4:55 pm.

[Conversation No. 410-14A]

Call to Shultz's office
-Departure with Brennan

[End of telephone conversation]

Brennan
-Shultz

Henry A. Kissinger
-Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
-Egyptians

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:16 pm.
 -26-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)



Dictabelts for Rose Mary Woods

Coffee [?]

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:55 pm.

US-Egypt relations
-Hafiz Ismail
-Meeting with Edward R. G. Heath
-Visit to US
-State Department
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Meeting with President
-Anwar el-Sadat
-Message
-President’s schedule
-AFL-CIO
-Kissinger’s cable
-Arrangement for meeting

Personnel
-Brennan
-Liaison with White House
-Colson
-Political matters
-Shultz
-John A. Scali
-Civil Aeronautics Board [CAB]
-John B. Connally’s wishes
-Republican vacancy
-Recommendation
-Lee B. Nunn
-Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
-Watergate
-Qualifications
-Secretary of the Army
 -27-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Candidate
-Qualifications
-Political deficiencies
-Howard H. (“Bo”) Calloway
-Elliot L. Richardson’s opposition
-Offer
-Malek
-Secretary of the Air Force
-John W. Warner
-Robert C. Seamans, Jr.
-John A. Love
-Political advantages
-Compared to John H. Chafee
-Benno C. Schmidt
-Abilities
-Black candidate
-Blacks
-News summary
-Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
-Support for President
-Ehrlichman
-Jordan
-Criticism by young blacks
-Visit to White House
-Dealings with administration
-Services secretaries
-Businessmen
-President of TRW
-President of Collins Radio
-Schmidt
-Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW]
-Calloway
-Offer of Secretary of the Army
-Second choice
-Federal Highway Administration
-Recommendation
-Norbert Tiemann [?]
 -28-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Roman L. Hruska, Carl T. Curtis
-Political support
-Colson
-Alternate
-William Cellini
-New Majority
-Richard B. Ogilvie
-Qualifications
-Illinois Secretary of Transportation
-Lobbying, contracting ties
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Tiemann
-Highway Trust Fund


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

1972 election
-Curtis
-Possible meeting with Haldeman
-News summary
-Republican candidates
-Losses in Middle America
-Compared to President
-Gordon L. Allott
-President’s Lincoln Day speech
-Curtis
-Possible meeting with George H. W. Bush
-Nebraska
-Iowa
-Support for President
-Jack R. Miller

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************
 -29-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)



Press relations
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-President's note
-Arthur D. Sulzberger
-William L. Safire

Medal of Freedom
-John Ford
-Imminent death
-Support for President
-Location
-Nguyen Van Thieu’s visit
-Dinner
-Hollywood
-United State Information Agency [USIA] films on Vietnam
-S. Bruce Herschensohn
-Awards
-Foreign
-Josip Broz Tito
-Telephone call

President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:16 pm and 4:55
pm.

[See Conversation No. 43-69]

[Conversation No. 410-14B]

[End of telephone conversation]

Medal of Freedom
-Presentation to John Ford
-Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, Grapes of Wrath
-John Wayne
 -30-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


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

Cary Grant
-Attendance at White House dinner
-Political activities
-Sophia Loren

1972 election
-Curtis’s statement
-Bush
-1972 campaign strategy
-Middle America
-President’s approval

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


Personnel
-FBI director
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Qualities
-William C. Sullivan
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Ehrlichman
-Recommendations
-John W. [?] Larsen
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-Colson’s conversation with President
-Interior Department
-System analyst
-Tax background
-Conversation with Ehrlichman
-Colson
-Support for President
-IRS
 -31-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-IRS chief
-Colson
-Donald Alexander
-Cincinnati
-Qualifications
-George D. Webster
-Colson's view
-Roger Barth
-Background
-State Department
-David K. E. Bruce
-William P. Rogers
-African desk
-Robert C. Hill
-Latin America
-Henry J. Tasca
-Rogers’s opposition [?]
-Kissinger's opposition
-Middle East
-Joseph J. Sisco
-David D. Newsome

The President talked with John Ford between 4:55 pm and 4:57 pm.

[See Conversation No. 43-70]

[Conversation No. 410-14C]

[End of telephone conversation]

Ford's health
-Stroke

Ford's support for President
-Amnesty and Vietnam issues
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
 -32-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


Prisoners of war [POWs] return
-Press coverage
-President's handling
-Flying of flag
-Claudia A. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson
-POW sign in support of President
-Release
-December 1972 bombing of North Vietnam
-Hanoi
-B-52s
-Quality of POWs
-Collaborators
-Number
-Handling
-Amnesty
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.,
-Scowcroft

Amnesty
-Draft evaders
-Opposition among public
-Ford
-Support, opposition
-Polls
-Limited or conditional amnesty
-Support
-Restitution
-Opposition
-President’s constituency
-Impact of POWs
-Divisiveness of issue
-Supporters
-Opposition to the President
-President’s compassion

White House military aid
-POWs
 -33-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Career men
-Leaders
-John V. (“Jack”) Brennan
-Promotion

Bush
-Talk with William E. Brock, III and Clarence J. (\"Bud\") Brown, Jr.
-POWs
-Candidate against antiwar representative
-Vietnam veterans

POWs
-Bush
-1946 Congress
-Number of World War II veterans
-Astronauts
-Heroes
-Heroism
-Symbol of the end of Vietnam War
-John A. Scali’s statement
-Issue for President’s opposition
-George C. Wallace
-POW bracelet
-Col. Robinson Risner
-Bracelets
-Names

Amnesty
-President's position
-Supporters
-Low profile of amnesty supporters
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Poll
-Congress
-Authority to grant
-Bella S. Abzug
-Bill for amnesty
 -34-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Kennedy
-Low profile

Bicentennial
-Leonard Garment
-Organization
-Bicentennial Commission
-Reorganization
-Chief
-Volunteers
-Full-time position
-Festivities
-Garment

California
-Foundation for future Nixon Library
-Nguyen Van Thieu's meeting with the President
-Dinner
-Action on presidential library
- John C. Stennis
-Public Works Committee
-Armed Services Committee
-General Services Administration [GSA]
-Support for President
-Republicans
-Southern Democrats
-Library site
-Architects
-Funding

Watergate
-Talk with Colson
-Executive privilege
-Testimony
-Dwight L. Chapin, Gordon C. Strachan
-Executive privilege
-Guidelines
 -35-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Colson's suggestion
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Kissinger, Timmons, Colson, Clark MacGregor, Herbert
G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler
-Written interrogatories
-Ehrlichman, Colson
-Ground rules
-Impact of refusal to answer
-Compared with television [TV]
-Negotiations over questions
-Executive sessions

Middle East
-Sisco
-Rogers
-Assignment
-Africa
-Ambassador

Personnel
-William J. Casey [?]
-Leonard Mullin [?]
-Navy appointment
-Maurice Stans
-Confirmation

Watergate
-Executive privilege
-Consumption of time
-John W. Dean, III
-Colson
-Witnesses
-Partner
-John J. Sirica
-Sentencing
-Colson
-Concern over E. Howard Hunt, Jr.’s emotional state
-Dorothy Hunt's death
 -36-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Life insurance
-Children
-Sense of guilt
-Donald Segretti
-Colson
-Dirty tricks
-Unanswered questions
-Testimony
-John N. Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Assumption of blame
-Authorization of intelligence activities
-Counterintelligence
-Demonstrations
-Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Wiretapping
-James W. McCord, Jr.
-Mitchell's knowledge of involvement
-Involvement
-Bernard Barker and the Cuban defendants
-Sentencing of defendants
-Time
-Appeals
-Colson
-Strategy of delay
-Advantages
-Hearing
-Mitchell
-Attacks
-Dean
-Colson
-Mitchell
-Liability
-Dangers
-G. Gordon Liddy
 -37-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Magruder
-Dean, Richard A. Moore

President’s schedule
-White House events
-Problems
-Entertainment
-Location
-Type
-State dinners
-Army Chorus
-Planning
-Entertainment
-Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra's show
-President’s remark
-Dinners
-State dinners
-Guests

The President talked with the White House operator at 5:40 pm.

[Conversation No. 410-14D]

Request for a telephone call to Ronald L. Ziegler

[End of telephone conversation]

Watergate
-Resolution
-Gordian knot

The President talked with Ziegler between 5:40 and 5:41 pm.

[See Conversation No. 43-71]

[Conversation No. 410-14E]
 -38-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


[End of telephone conversation]

Watergate
-Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Consequences


Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 5:41 pm.

Dictation machine [?]

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:46 pm.

Watergate
-Mitchell's acceptance of responsibility
-Burden of blame
-Justice Department
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Prosecutors
-Grand jury
-Sentencing
-Defendants
-Discrimination
-Intelligence operations in campaign
-Chapman’s friend
-Colson
-Kennedy
-Democrats’ illegalities
-Investigation

Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 5:41 pm.

Dictation machine [?]

Watergate
-Investigation of Democrats
 -39-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)


-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger’s wife
-Heckling
-Minority counsel
-Wiretapping
-Gray
-Wiretapping investigation

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:46 pm.

Watergate [?]
-Telephone

The President [?] and Haldeman left at 5:46 pm.