314–13

Conversation No. 314-13

Date: January 18, 1972
Time: 4:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with William L. Safire.

Draft for Vietnam speech of January 25, 1972
-Foreign policy
-[National Security Council [NSC]]
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Personality
-Drafts
-Construction
-Theme
-State of the World
-Negotiations
-Kissinger
-May 31, 1971
-Troop withdrawal deadline
-Prisoners of war [POWs], ceasefire
-August 1971
-Nine month deadline
-October 1971
-June 1971
-Kissinger’s draft
-Phrasing
-Last paragraph
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 314-13 (cont.)


-Possible audience
-Negotiations
-Peace offer
-Opening paragraph
-Troop withdrawal deadline
-POWs
-The President’s draft
-The President’s pledge
-Negotiations
-Kissinger
-William P. Rogers
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-David K.E. Bruce
-William J. Porter
-Henry Cabot Lodge
-Bruce
-Bunker
-Rogers
-Kissinger
-Page seven
-Public concern over the peace issue
-The President’s memorandum
-Peace plan
-Deadline
-Troop withdrawal
-Ceasefire
-October 1971 proposals
-Deadline
-Ceasefire, POWs
-Proposals
-Kissinger
-Deadline
-Troop withdrawal, return of POWs
-Ceasefire
-The President’s proposal
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Possible resignation
-Reference to North Vietnamese
-State Department
-Page eight
-Congress
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 314-13 (cont.)


-Kissinger
-Page eleven
-Nine month proposal

[The President talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 4:15 pm and 5:00
pm.]

[Conversation No. 314-13A]

Schedule

[End of telephone conversation]

Speech draft
-Negotiations
-Secrecy
-Deadlock
-Thieu's offer to resign
-Free elections
-Communists
-Exchange of POWs
-New South Vietnamese elections
-Agreement on principles
-Kissinger’s draft
-Troop withdrawal, return of POWs
-Paris negotiations
-Safire’s possible talk with Kissinger
-US relations with South Vietnam
-Public opinion

Vietnam
-Possible military action
-The President’s 1966 proposal
-Mining Haiphong Harbor
-Bombing railroads, dykes
-Blockade
-World Wars I and II
-Civil War
-Robert E. Lee

Speech draft
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 314-13 (cont.)


-Cuts
-Public trust
-Support
-Ending of wars
-Tone
-Negotiation record
-Troop withdrawal

Kissinger
-Safire’s meeting with the President
-Call from the President
-References to in speech
-Le Duc Tho
-Work with Safire on draft
-The President’s schedule
-State of the Union speech
-Record of negotiations
-Publication of proposals
-Speech draft
-Thieu
-Submission to Rogers
-Possible briefing of Thieu

Final draft
-Submission to the President
-Date
-Dinner
-Study by the President
-Florida
-Meeting with Safire and Kissinger
-Trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]

Forthcoming Vietnam speech
-Resolutions by Senators in Congress
-John Sherman Cooper, Frank F. Church,, Michael J. Mansfield amendments
-Impact on negotiating position
-Possible public reaction
-Secret negotiations
-Thieu
-POWs
-Secret negotiations
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 314-13 (cont.)


-Kissinger’s draft
-Vietnamization
-Effectiveness
-Withdrawals
-Peace in Vietnam, Southeast Asia

Final draft
-Rogers
-Kissinger
-Thieu
-Rogers
-References to Kissinger
-Consultation
-Timing
-Kissinger and Safire
-Thieu, Bunker
-Winston Lord
-Draft preparation

Cabinets
-Conflict
-Kissinger, Rogers
-Cordell Hull, Harry Hopkins
-Abraham Lincoln
-Winston S. Churchill
-Lord Melbourne, Benjamin Disraeli
-Rogers and Kissinger
-Opinions
-State Department
-Rogers
-Qualities
-Tactical skills
-Public relations
-Deficiencies
-Kissinger
-Self-confidence, knowledge
-Compared with Rogers

Kissinger
-Visit by Safire
-Draft
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 314-13 (cont.)


-Congress
-Thieu
-Rogers

Rogers-Kissinger conflict
-The President’s relationships with others
-Melbourne and Disraeli
-Lack of conflict

Safire left at 5:00 pm.