260–21

Conversation No. 260-21

Date: July 2, 1971
Time: 5:39 pm - 6:29 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President talked with Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon.

[Conversation No. 260-21A]

[See Conversation No. 6-103; one item has been withdrawn from the conversation]

John D. Ehrlichman entered at 5:40 pm.

Pentagon Papers case
-Security
-Department of Defense
-Rand Corporation
-Brookings Institute
-Security clearances
-Rescission
-Declassification

H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 5:43 pm.

-July 2, 1971 article by the Wall Street Journal
-Court decision
-Washington Post and the New York Times
-The First Amendment
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-Criminal liability
-Justice Byron R. White
-Justice Hugo L. Black
-Opinion
-First Amendment
-US prisoners of war [POWs]
-Daniel L. Schorr report
-Washington Post
-Transcript
-Potter Stewart
-[Unintelligible name]
-Request of documents
-Implications of documents’ release
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] agents
-Possible action
-Declassification and document protection
-Ehrlichman’s role
-Conspiracy investigation
-Daniel Ellsberg's press conference

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and
5:49 pm]

[Conversation No. 260-21B]

[See Conversation No. 6-104]

[End of telephone conversation]

-Investigation by the House of Representatives
-Congressman Richard S. Ichord
-Possible political plans
-Witnesses
-Morton H. Halperin, Leslie H. Gelb
-Clark M. Clifford
-Background preparation
-Hiss investigation
-Executive branch investigation
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Call from Melvin R. Laird

The White House operator talked with the President at 5:49 pm.
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[Conversation No. 260-21C]
[See Conversation No. 6-105]

[End of telephone conversation]

-House investigation
-Call to Congressman Gerald R. Ford Conv. No. 260-21 (cont.)
-Possibility of Ichord investigation
-Senate investigation
-Senator John L. McClellan
-Possible objection by John N. Mitchell

White House staff assignments
-Lawyers
-Edward L. Morgan
-Types of cases handled
-Assignment

Funding and appropriations
-Congress
-Leonard Garment, Elliot L. Richardson
-Congressman Roman C. Pucinski
-Support for the President's programs
-$l.5 billion funding
-Busing
-Education of inner city children
-Ehrlichman’s upcoming lunch with Pucinski
-George P. Shultz, Garment
-Use of funds
-Busing
-Teacher salaries, school buildings


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 22s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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Department of Labor
-Philadelphia jobs plan
-Hardhats
-Peter J. Brennan's 1970 meeting
-Arthur A. Fletcher's comments Conv. No. 260-21 (cont.)
-Union members
-Blacks, whites
-New York membership in construction trades

Fletcher
-Domestic Council
-Assignment to special project on economic discrimination
-James D. Hodgson


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 13s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

**********************************************************************


Fletcher
-Assignments for the Administration
-Appearances before Black groups
-Speech topics
-Building trades
-Minority business goals
-Welfare reform
-Revenue sharing
-School integration
-Number of speaking engagements
-Hodgson, Brennan
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Pentagon Papers
-Participants
-Vietnam negotiations
-Conduct of the war
-Protection of lives
-Conspiracy investigation
-Proper handling
-Possible White House operation contrasted with outside
Conv. No.
operation
260-21 (cont.)
-Charles W. Colson
-Other operations
-Colson-Ehrlichman cooperation
-Congress
-The press
-Programming of columnists
-[Unintelligible name]
-Denver congressman
-Congress
-The Hiss case
-Ichord
-Ehrlichman's forthcoming conversation with Ford
-Laird
-Warren E. Hearnes
-Unnamed Admiral, unnamed General
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Military investigative unit
-Staffing
-Ehrlichman
-Morgan
-John F. Evans, Jr.
-Former Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] employee described by
Colson [E. Howard Hunt, Jr.?]
-Richard V. Allen
-Possible role
-Colson


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Privacy]
[Duration: 1m 16s ]
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END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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-First Amendment protection Conv. No. 260-21 (cont.)
-Call to Ehrlichman from Allen
-Recommendation
-Television
-Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe

[The President talked with Rose Mary Woods at an unknown time between 5:49 pm and 6:10
pm]

[Conversation No. 260-21D]

Speech draft
-John K. Andrews, Jr.
-Copy distribution
-Time

[End of telephone conversation]

Pentagon Papers
-Conspiracy investigation
-Unknown man
-John G. Tower, Strom Thurmond
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Morgan
-Congressman
-Need for committee backing
-Ichord

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:49 pm and
6:10 pm]

[Conversation No. 260-21E]

[See Conversation No. 6-106]
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[End of telephone conversation]

Unemployment figures
-Statistical aberration, Bureau of Labor Statistics

The President talked with William E. Timmons between 6:10 pm and 6:16 pm.
[Conversation No. 260-21F]
Conv. No. 260-21 (cont.)
[See Conversation No. 6-107]

[End of telephone conversation]

Pentagon Papers
-Conspiracy investigation
-House Internal Security Committee
-Members
-John Birch Society
-John N. Ashbrook, Fletcher S. Thompson, John G. Schmitz, Roger
Zion
-White House action
-Committee counsel Donald G. Sanders
-Timmons
-Special Counsel
-Chance for statements about national security by Internal Security
committee members
-Investigation into duplication of the Pentagon Papers
-Call from Defense Department staff member to Ehrlichman
-Approach by Congressional committee
-Coordination
-Colson
-FBI
-Mitchell
-Morgan
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-Declassification of documents
-William H. Rehnquist
-Allen
-Need for understanding of subjects
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-The Bay of Pigs invasion
-Lebanon crisis
-The U-2 incident
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-Bi-partisan aspect of topics
-Mechanics of declassification

The President's and First Family's schedule
-Mrs. Nixon, Tricia Nixon Cox
-The President's July 3, 1971 speech at the National Archives
-John Brown anecdote
-William L. Safire, Raymond K. Price, Jr. drafts Conv. No. 260-21 (cont.)
-Pace of reading speech

Cyclamates
-Indemnification issue
-Mitchell's recommendation
-Administration position against pesticides indemnifications
-Non-precedential nature of decision

Construction project
-Nathaniel A. Owings
-Department of Interior
-Skidmore, Owings and Merrill's proposed contract

Rose Mary Woods entered at 6:20 pm.

The President's July 3, 1971 speech draft
-Length
-Inclusion of anecdote at end of speech

Woods left at 6:24 pm.

The President's July 3, 1971 speech
-Andrews’ draft
-Wording
-Anecdote
-Pace of reading speech
-Chief Justice Warren E. Burger's speech on the Bill of Rights
-Length
-Speaker of the House
-Speech on the Constitution

Conspiracy investigation

Ehrlichman and Haldeman left at 6:29 pm.
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