338–31

Conversation No. 338-31

Date: May 9, 1972
Time: 12:37-1:12 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Vietnam
-Kissinger's previous press conference
-Ronald L. Ziegler's report
-Ronald W. Reagan and Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Talks with Kissinger

Rockefeller
-President's call
-Statement of support for the President
-President's call
-Letter from the President to Terence Cardinal Cooke
-Responsibility

Vietnam
-Reagan
-Support for the President
-Telegram campaign
-Blockade
-Melvin R. Laird
-Television appearance
-William P. Rogers
-Public appearance
-Kissinger’s view
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-Laird
-Public relations abilities
-Kissinger’s view
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01) Conv. No. 338-31 (cont.)


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Alexander M. Haig, Jr. entered at an unknown time after 12:37 pm.

-Support for President's blockade decision
-Kissinger
-A Baptist official
-Dr. [Forename unknown] Jackson
-Kissinger's briefing
-Negotiations
-Press response
-Attitude
-Compared with Cambodia
-Comments about the Soviet Union
-Soviet Summit
-Blockade
-President's peace terms
-Ceasefire, Prisoners of war [POWs], withdrawal
-Support
Democrats
-President's support for John F. Kennedy in 1962 Cuban missile
crisis
-Effect on President's gubernatorial campaign
-Rockefeller
-Criticism
-Reasons
-Duration
-Success
-North Vietnam offensive
-Latest reports
-Hue
-Kontum
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01) Conv. No. 338-31 (cont.)


-South Vietnam losses
-A firebase
-Hue
-South Vietnam counteraction
-Spoiling tactics
-Blockade
-Impact on South Vietnam morale
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Movement of forces
-First Airborne Division
-North Vietnam offensive
-Hue
-Kontum
-Pleiku
-Kontum
-Blockade
-Supporters of the President
-Message from President to Sir Alexander F. (“Alec”) Douglas-Home
-Congressional response
-Possible vote on antiwar legislation
-Air strikes
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Public support
-Targets
-Petroleum, oils, and lubricants [POL] dumps
-Blockade
-Mining operation
-Air strikes
-POL dumps in Hanoi area
-Protests from North Vietnam
-Negotiations
-US stance
-North Vietnam offensive
-Duration
-Resources
-POL
-Air strikes in North Vietnam
-President's decision to blockade
-Forthcoming election
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Impact on US
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01) Conv. No. 338-31 (cont.)


-Soviet response
-Frank Shakespeare
-Comments on Soviet position
-Soviet Summit
-President's position
-Kissinger’s view
-Support for the President
-Rockefeller
-Call to the President

Harvard
-Request for Kissinger’s resignation
-Kissinger’s conversation with a former colleague

Vietnam
-Press reports
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Rogers
-Statements
-Appearance
-Meeting with J. William Fulbright
-President's speech
-Comparison with other speeches
-Previous speech on Vietnam
-Press comments
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Rowland Evans
-President's policies
-Withdrawal of troops
-An unknown person's praise for speech
-Alsop
-Stakes for US and the free world
-Consequences of US defeat
-The President’s view
-Military performance
-Kissinger’s view
-Air strikes
-Power plants
-Impact
-Secondary targets
-POL
-Rails
 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01) Conv. No. 338-31 (cont.)


-Germany in World War II
-Targets in Britain
-Air fields
-Timing
-Red Cross
-Israelis

The President talked with Moorer between 12:56 and 12:58 pm.

[Conversation No. 338-31A]

[See Conversation No. 24-59]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Blockade
-Moorer
-Public support
-Rogers
-Statements
-Subcabinet briefing
-Statements
-Subcabinet
-Support
-Columnists
-\"Hawks\"
-Kissinger meeting
-Richard (“Dick”) Wilson
-William S. White
-Alsop
-Evans
-Soviet Summit
-Cancellation
-Possibility
-President's decision
-Plans
-Cancellation
-Timing
-A statement
-Rogers
-Postponement
 21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Dec-01) Conv. No. 338-31 (cont.)


-President's Vietnam policies
-Impact
-Blockade
-Impact
-North Vietnam offensive
-Possibility of South Vietnam defeat
-US options
-US Marines
-Military exercises
-South Vietnam operations
-I Corps
-Hue
-Air strikes
-B-52 sorties
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Intensity
-Impact on North Vietnam
-Compared with World War I artillery barrages
-Abrams
-Use of air power
-Command structure
-Forthcoming meeting

[Unintelligible]

Kissinger and Haig left at 1:12 pm.