295–14

Conversation No. 295-14

Date: November 16, 1971
Time: 3:31 pm - 5:04 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Peter G. Peterson, George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman.

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

Secretary of Commerce
-Maurice H. Stans

Haldeman entered at 3:32 pm.

-Activities
-Tenure in office
-Peterson
-Possible role
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Jeb S. Magruder
-Compared with Stans
-State Department's activities
-William P. Rogers
-Employees
-Peter M. Flanigan
-John N. Mitchell
-Shultz and Ehrlichman
-James T. Lynn
-Stans's views
-Peterson
-Possible roles
 8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-National Bureau of Standards [NBS]
-Atomic Energy Commission [AEC]
-Advocacy
-Stans's tenure in office
-Budget review sessions
-Herbert C. Hoover
-Research and development
-Government reorganization plan
-Gross National Product [GNP] statistics
-Errors

Cabinet
-John B. Connally
-Shultz
-Peterson's possible role
-Speeches
-College campuses
-Congress
-International economics
-Work of various US departments and agencies

Flanigan
-Possible role with administration

International economy
-State Department
-David M. Kennedy
-Russell B. Long
-State Department
-Stans's views
-Kissinger
-US trade with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Soviet Summit
-Vietnam War
-East Bloc satellites compared with the Soviet Union
-Co-Ordinating Committee on Export Controls [COCOM]

Stans
-Schedule
-Tenure in office
 9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Role


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 39s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


Commerce Department
-Lynn
-Harold B. Scott
-Statistics
-Peterson's role
-Business Council


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 57s ]


AUSTRALIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


International monetary situation
-Connally
-Arthur F. Burns
 10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Price of gold
-Convertibility
-Peterson's conversation with Pierre-Paul Schweitzer
-Italy
-Labor’s reaction
-Edward R.G. Heath
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Charles A.J.M. De Gaulle
-Price of gold
-Convertibility
-Politics
-Views of Henry S. Reuss and William Proxmire
-Views of Edward M. Kennedy, Edmund S. Muskie And Hubert H.
Humphrey
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Price of gold
-US trade surplus with Europe
-Agriculture
-William D. Eberle's negotiations
-National defense
-Convertibility
-International Monetary Fund [IMF]
-Connally’s view
-Muskie, Humphrey, Reuss and Proxmire
-Price of gold
-Exchange rate

Commerce Department
-Peterson
-Relations with other departments
-Connally
-State Department
-Rogers
-John R. Stevenson
-Conversation with Shultz
-Leaks

Leaks
-Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Notes of telephone calls to Rogers
 11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)



Commerce Department
-Unknown man
-Staff
-Peterson's possible role
-Popular opinion of business
-Advocacy
-Management

Water Quality Bill
-Muskie
-Passage by Senate
-House committee's forthcoming hearings
-Commerce Department
-Credibility

Peterson left at 4:20 pm.

The President's possible speech to American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organizations [AFL-CIO]
-Charles W. Colson's views
-The President's possible reception
-George Meany
-Rhetoric
-Office of the Presidency
-Shultz's previous conversation with Colson
-Interests
-Range
-Relations with rank and file
-Construction unions
-Wage and price freeze
-Possible themes
-National security
-Employment
-Labor program
-Dignity of work
-Research and development
-Progress
-Environment
-Ehrlichman and John C. Whitaker
-Timing
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Colson’s view
-Meany
-Democrats
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson and Humphrey
-Value
-Reception
-Value
-Press
-Public

Support for the President
-Unions
-Blacks
-Jews
-Israel
-B'nai Brith
-Organized labor
-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], B'nai Brith
and AFL-CIO
-Whitney M. Young, Sr. funeral
-Working people
-Blacks

The President's possible speech to AFL-CIO
-Reception
-Phase II
-Meany
-Foreign policy
-James R. Hoffa
-Possible clemency
-Possible announcement

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 4:30 pm.

The President's possible speech to AFL-CIO
-Hoffa
-Possible clemency
-Presidential demeanor
-Content
-Support for the President
-Cambodia
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Marches
-Sacrifices
-Prosperity in 1968
-Causes
-Preparation
-Colson
-Timing
-Content
-James D. Hodgson
-Mine safety
-Politics
-Support for the President
-Cambodia
-National economy
-Phase II
-Foreign policy
-Meany
-PRC
-Soviet Union
-Cuba
-Colson
-Ehrlichman

Appointments
-Shultz's forthcoming conversations
-Council of Economic Advisors [CEA]
-Federal Reserve Board [FRB]

The President's schedule
-Quadriad

Shultz's schedule
-Kissinger and Connally
-Peterson and Burns
-International monetary situation

International monetary situation
-The President's schedule
-Possible meetings with European Heads of State
-Connally's views
-Japan
 14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Paul W. McCracken's Views
-Convertibility
-International trade
-Connally
-Offset
-West Germany
-Analogy to Japan
-Okinawa
-Shultz's schedule
-Connally and Burns
-Convertibility
-Burns's views
-Surcharges
-Japan
-Textile Agreement
-Yen
-Devaluation
-Possible settlement
-Timing
-Manlio Brosio's letter to Kissinger
-West Germany
-Convertibility
-Political ramifications
-Italy
-West Germany
-Connally
-1972 election
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Trips to PRC, Soviet Union
-Japan, Western Europe

National economy
-Balance of trade
-Imports
-Exports
-Dock strike
-Shift
-1971 compared to 1970
-Economic expansion
-Gross National Product [GNP]
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


The President's schedule
-Quadriad
-Burns

National economy
-Money supply
-Shultz's conversations
-Milton Friedman
-Burns
-Erratic behavior
-Friedman's letters to Burns
-1960

CEA
-Friedman
-Possible role
-McCracken
-Burns
-Friedman
-Possible effect
-Conservatives
-Phase II

National economy
-Phase II
-Friedman's possible role
-Herbert Stein's possible role
-Burns

Japan ambassadorship
-Hoyt Ammidon
-Wife
-Walter N. Thayer
-Armin H. Meyer
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-William S. Renchard
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Frederic V. Malek
-Chemical Bank
-Wife, Alice M. (Fleming) Renchard
-Father [Robert V. Fleming]
 16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Meyer's wife [Alice Meyer]
-Women
-Possible appointment

Shultz and Ehrlichman left at 4:50 pm.

The President's possible speech to AFL-CIO
-Ehrlichman's views
-Meany
-Popular opinion
-Phase II
-Reception
-Colson's views
-Content
-Phase II
-Colson's views

Laird
-Previous conversation with Haldeman
-Leaks
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Associated Press [AP] story from Saigon
-Compared to New York Times story
-Press
-Troop withdrawal figures

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-The President's forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Response

Haldeman left at 4:54 pm.

-Le Duc Tho
-US proposal
-Possible publicity
-Timing
-Rogers
-Possible North Vietnamese proposal
-PRC and Soviet Union
-PRC
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Recent speech

International economy
-Textiles
-Connally
-Cabinet
-Peterson
-Secretary of Commerce position
-Flanigan
-George R.S. Baring, the Earl of Cromer's memorandum to Kissinger
-Connally
-Call from Kissinger, November 16, 1971
-Connally
-Kissinger, Shultz and Connally
-Peterson
-The President's schedule
-Forthcoming meetings with Europeans
-Negotiations
-Convertibility
-Forthcoming report

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Strategy
-Possible military action
-Possible announcement
-Forthcoming trip to PRC
-William J. Porter
-Paris
-Publicity

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:54 pm.

The President's schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:04 pm.

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-US proposal
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Possible resignation
-Le Duc Tho
-The President’s actions
-Reaction
-Announcement
-Timing
-North Vietnamese expectations
-Thieu
-US bargaining position
-Timing

The President's schedule
-Kissinger's conversation with the Earl of Cromer, November 15, 1971
-Willy Brandt
-Georges J.R. Pompidou

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-POWs
-Deadline
-Possible bombing
-Possible effect
-PRC trip
-Kissinger’s possible message to PRC

PRC
-The President's forthcoming trip
-Message to Vernon A. Walters, November 16, 1971
-Timing
-Soviet Union
-United Nations [UN] speech, November 15, 1971
-State Department
-Soviet Union
-Press reaction
-George H. W. Bush's forthcoming statement in New York
-Rhetoric
-Television

International economy
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Burns
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


-Convertibility
-Connally

Kissinger left at 5:04 pm.