Secret White House Tapes

333–7

About this recording

333–7
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • Henry A. Kissinger
  • Alexander P. Butterfield
  • UNKNOWN
April 26, 1972
Conversation No. 333-7

Date: April 26, 1972
3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



Time: 9:26 am - 10:29 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Kissinger's talk with Charles W. Colson
-Barry M. Goldwater
-James L. Buckley

Vietnam
-Paris negotiations
-Resumption
-Announcement
-Military situation
-Military Region Two
-North Vietnamese advances
-Central Highlands
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams's actions
-Commitment of forces
-Central Highlands
-Abrams's actions
-Air attacks
-[David] Kenneth Rush
-Melvin R. Laird
-Bombing
-Extension
-Kissinger's wire from Moscow to Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Approval
-Joint Chiefs of Staff
-Memorandum to Laird
-President’s orders
-Political objectives
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Laird
-Rush
-David Packard
-Rush
-Loyalty to the President
-Quality of work
-Laird
-Robert C. Seamans, Jr.
-Robert S. Mcnamara
4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)




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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 8s ]


Soviets


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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


-Kissinger’s schedule
-Haig
-Laird
-The President's message
-Kissinger's order
-Haig
-Impact of Laird's actions on negotiations
-B-52 strike
-Compared with Tacair
-Target on the 20th parallel
-Thanh Hoa
-Haiphong
-Le Duc Tho
-Trip to Paris
-Telvision news stories
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Press reports
-Third North Vietnamese division
-Headquarters
-Coast
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman's project
-Kissinger's meeting with Haldeman
-Haig
-Summit meeting
-Press
-Thomas E. Jarriel
-Kissinger's briefing
5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Press reports
-Washington Post
-Editorial
-Kissinger's trip to Moscow
-Washington Post
-Katharine L. Graham
-New York Times
-Loyalties
-Washington Post
-Democratic National Committee
-Press reports
-Kissinger’s trip
-Lack of coverage
-Soviet summit announcement
-Lack of coverage
-Possible effect of Soviet summit on negotiations
-William P. Rogers
-Press reports
-Administration's reaction
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Haldeman
-Democrats
-Massachusetts
-Soviets
-Negotiations
-Kissinger's Trip
-Public opinion
-Press
-Defeatism
-Haldeman's project
-Defeatism
-Laos
-Military operations
-Central highlands
-An Loc
-Television coverage
-III Corps
-Momentum
-I Corps
-North Vietnamese attack
-II Corps
-Necessity for US
-Kontum
6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Pleiku
-Abrams
-Cable from Ellsworth F. Bunker and Abrams
-Contents
-Bombing
-Haiphong
-Effects
-Negotiations with Hanoi
-Negotiations
-Cease-fre
-Bombing
-Timing with summit
-North Vietnamese offers

Kissinger's trip to Moscow
-Trip to Florida
-Itinerary

The President's forthcoming speech
-Kissinger's assessment
-Toughness
-Length
-Kissinger's review
-Start of speech
-Changes in text
-Positive emphasis
-Revisions
-Page two
-Page three
-North Vietnamese victory
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Cambodia references
-Number of North Vietnamese regulars

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 9:44 am.

-John K. Andrews, Jr.
-Changes in speech
-Meeting with the President

Butterfield left at 9:45 am.

-Trip to People's Republic of China [PRC]
7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Changes of wording
-Weaknesses
-White House staff
-Demonstrations
-References
-Deletion
-Attitude of average American
-Slogan
-Draft of speech
-Andrews
-Compared with William L. Safire
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Influence of Washington Post
-Reference to young demonstrators
-Ho Chi Minh
-Personal tone
-Andrews's work
-Compared with Safire

Kissinger's schedule
-Washington Special Action Group [WSAG] meeting
-Haig

Kissinger talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 9:45 am and 10:29 am.

[Conversation No. 333-7A]

Call to Haig

Kissinger talked with Haig, at an unknown time.

Kissinger's schedule
-Speech
-WSAG meeting
-Haig's presiding
-Chairman
-Bob Lamour [?]
-Rush

[End of telephone conversation]

Speech draft
-Andrews
8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Assessment
-November 3, 1969 speech
-Cambodia speech [April 30, 1970]
-Personalization
-January 25, 1972 speech
-Edmund S. Muskie's reaction
-North Vietnamese divisions
-Changes in text
-Deletions
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ] crossing
-Cambodia
-Number of troops
-Change of wording
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-South Vietnam
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-US support

Vietnam
-News reports
-Nelson A. Rockefeller's call to Kissinger
-Democratic critics
-George S. McGovern and Hubert H. Humphrey
-Soviet trip
-The President's position in nation

Speech draft
-Changes and revisions
-American newsmen

Vietnam
-Vietcong [VC]
-North Vietnamese goals
-Provincial capitals
-US press
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Losses
-An Loc
-Quang Tri
-Provincial capitals
-An Loc
-State of offensive
-Counteraction
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Trips To PRC and Soviet Union
-Moscow trip
-Press hostility
-Kissinger's trip
-Publicity
-The President's trip to Moscow
-Benefits
-Press hostility
-Ziegler
-Press reports
-Favorable articles

The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Gerard C. Smith, May 1, 1972
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Navy
-Submarines
-Florida
-Texas

Kissinger's schedule
-Trip to Paris
-Meeting with Le Duc Tho
-Publicity
-Announcement

Vietnam
-Critics
-Soviets
-Bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Troop levels
-Negotiations
-Compared with The President
-Dealings with Soviets
-Soviets
-May 2, 1972 meeting
-Mission to Hanoi
-Summit
-The President’s comments in February 1969
-Linkage
-State Department
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



Willy Brandt
-Government
-Vote of \"No Confidence\"
-Social Democratic Party [SDP]
-Possible Outcome
-Secret Ballot
-Balance of power
-Treaties
-Ratification
-Possible outcome of \"No Confidence\" vote
-Impact
-Treaties
-Ratification
-Impact
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-US
-Government
-Strength
-\"No Confidence\" vote
-Procedures
-Treaties
-Ratification
-Upper and Lower Houses
-Moscow trip
-US

Speech draft on Vietnam
-Changes
-South Vietnam
-Page five
-Page six
-Page seven
-Page nine
-Victory of communists
-Page ten
-Andrews's draft
-References to doves
-Changes
-Recommendations
-Surrender of US
-Wording
-US involvement in Southeast Asia
-Wording
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Deletions
-Rogers
-Public impact
-Presidency
-McGovern
-Wording of speech
-Andrews's draft
-Sentences
-Future of US foreign policy
-The President's talk at Congressional retirees dinner, April 25, 1972
-Presidency
-McGovern
-Copies
-Kissinger's WSAG meeting
-Kissinger's work with Winston Lord and Andrews
-Quality of work of speechwriters
-Lord’s tenure
-Cambodia
-Personalizations
-Andrews's draft
-Abstractions
-References to demonstrators
-Popular perceptions
-Support for Muskie and McGovern


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 22s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9

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


Vietnam
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
-Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
-Kissinger's meeting with Le Duc Tho
-SALT breakthrough
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Significance
-Kissinger’s trip
-Summit
-Expectations

The President’s schedule
-Haldeman

Vietnam
-Announcements
-Bombing halt
-Summit
-Message to PRC
-Private meeting
-Laird
-Thieu
-Copy of April 26, 1972 speech

Soviet trip
-Haldeman
-The President's schedule
-Church service in Moscow
-Kissinger's conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Soviet leaders
-The President's reelection
-Church
-Maintenance
-Reasons
-Message for Dobrynin
-Brezhnev
-William F. (“Billy”) Graham
-The President's schedule
-Consultation with Soviet leaders
-Brezhnev
-Attitude toward the President
-[Napoleon, King of France] Napoleon [Bonaparte] I
-Chou En-Lai
-Office
-Foreign policy
-The President’s accommodations
-Lay-out and furnishings
-Refurbishing Kremlin
-Courtyard
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-US relations with Soviets
-Compared to Harriman and Joseph Davies
-North Vietnamese news article
-US efforts in Soviet Union
-Significance
-Compared with US aid to Iran
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Shah of Iran [Moahmmed Reza Pahlavi]
-Bombing of Haiphong
-Relation to summit
-Harriman
-Henry C. Lodge
-Discussion with Giovanni Battista Motini [Pope Paul VI]
-Kissinger's trip to Moscow

The President's speech
-Kissinger meeting
-Work on draft
-Speechwriters
-Meeting with Kissinger
-New draft
-Time
-Wording
-Demonstrators
-Actions

Vietnam
-Support for the President
-Congressmen
-Kissinger's briefing
-John Sherman Cooper
-Colson

The President talked with an unknown person [Haldeman?] at 10:29 am.

[Conversation No. 333-7B]

The unknown person's schedule

Kissinger left at 10:29 am.

[End of telephone conversation]
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Secret White House Tapes |

333–7

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