328–25

Conversation No. 328-25

Date: April 3, 1972
Time: 12:55 pm - 1:28 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

A meeting
-Arrangements

Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Time
-Weather
-March 8, 1972 strikes
-The President’s recollections
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-Surface to air missiles [SAMs] sites
-Strikes
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 328-25 (cont.)


-Kissinger’s view
-Authority for military strikes
-Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Kissinger’s opposition
-Kissinger’s forthcoming call to Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

Kissinger talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 1:28 pm.

[Conversation No. 328-25A]

Requested a call to Haig

[End of telephone conversation]

Kissinger talked with Haig at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 1:28 pm.

[Conversation No. 328-25B]


Kissinger’s schedule

Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Authority
-March 8, 1972 request from the Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Air strikes
-SAM sites
-Authorization
-Denial of requests
-North Vietnam build up
-Reports
-Number of sorties
-Limitation
-Adm. Thomas h. Moorer’s report on the Air Force
-Sorties
-Number
-The President’s interest
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 328-25 (cont.)


-Kissinger’s view
-Compared to Laos operation
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Proposals
-[David] Kenneth Rush
-Gen. Robert E. Pursley
-Kissinger’s view
-Melvin R. Laird
-Soviets
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Kissinger’ forthcoming message to the Chinese
-Kissinger’s view
-Berlin Agreement
-Situation in Vietnam
-Soviet military equipment
-US air strike
-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s letter
-Pressure on the North Vietnamese
-Soviet Union
-PRC
-Brezhnev’s possible meeting with William P. Rogers
-Air strikes
-Press reports
-The President’s view
-Press
-The President’s view
-Compared to Laos operation
-Kissinger’s briefing of H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John A. Scali and Ronald L.
Ziegler
-Herbert g. Klein
-Scali
-Department of Defense, State Department
-Reports
-Anticipated loss of territory
-State department
-North Vietnamese crossing of the DMZ
-Geneva agreement of 1954
-Defense Department statement
-North Vietnamese units across the DMZ
-North Vietnamese offensive
-South Vietnamese resistance
 29

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 328-25 (cont.)


-Intensity
-Kissinger’s view
-Moorer’s view
-Artillery
-South Vietnamese armor
-Number
-Defense line
-Dong Ha
-Quang Tri
-Hue
-Tanks
-Use of air power
-Weather
-North Vietnamese casualties
-Compared to Laos operation
-Public relations
-Rogers, Laird
-Public comments
-Sense of crisis
-The President’s contacts
-Rogers
-Laird
-Moorer
-Washington Special Actions Group [WSAG] meeting
-Department of defense, state department
-Bureaucracy
-Laird
-Rogers
-Public comments
-Kissinger’s possible public comments
-Laird
-Press conference
-Bombing
-South Vietnam
-South Vietnam
-Capacities
-North Vietnam
-Destruction in the North
-Hypothetical attacks
-Gen. Douglas MacArthur
-Hanoi
 30

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 328-25 (cont.)



Cambodia
-News summary
-Phnom Penh
-North Vietnam presence
-Movement
-South Vietnamese border
-Tay Ninh province

Vietnam
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Troops in Saigon
-Vietnamization
-Withdrawal of US troops
-Noncommunist nations’ fight against Communism
-The President’s and Kissinger’s doubts
-Laird
-South Vietnam
-Survival
-Cambodia invasion
-Laos
-Compared to British and French experience in 1918
-Incidents of mass surrender
-North Vietnamese artillery and tank attacks

An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 1:28 pm.

-Artillery
-Technology
-Kissinger’s view
-North Vietnamese artillery
-Moorer’s report
-II Corps fire bases
-The President’s view
-Leadership
-Kissinger’s view
-Haig
-Vietnamization
-Air strikes
-Reports on damage
-The president’s goals
 31

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 328-25 (cont.)


-Safety of US forces
-Press
-Public relations
-Survival of South Vietnam
-US press
-Loyalty to the nation
-Depiction of North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s view
-Laos
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Use of air power
-Importance
-Laos
-Hue and Da Nang
-Possible fall
-Impact on US withdrawal
-Timing
-The President’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Possibility
-Air Force
-Consequences
-Necessity for US action
-US options
-Impact of US defeat
-PRC
-Soviet Union
-Indonesia
-Japan
-Laird
-Politics
-US bombing
-Soviet Union
-PRC
-Soviet response
-Influence on the North Vietnamese
-Forthcoming US-Soviet summit
-US offer to the Soviets
-South Vietnam
-Thieu
-Performance during offensive
-Defense structure
 32

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 328-25 (cont.)


-Weaponry of the North Vietnamese
-Weaponry
-Morale
-Losses
-North Vietnamese casualties
-North Vietnam
-Casualty rates
-Bombing

Kissinger left at 1:28 pm.