Secret White House Tapes

414–1

About this recording

414–1
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • White House operator
  • Richard M. Helms
February 28, 1973
Conversation No. 414-1

Date: February 28, 1973
Time: 12:23 pm-2:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

Governors' meeting
-Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Linwood Holton
-Budget
-Press

President's schedule
-Meetings
-Steven B. Bull
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Meeting with governors

Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Dr. James R. Schlesinger
-Politics


******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 1m 54s]

CIA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
******************************************************************************
-2-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)



CIA
-Politics

Government reorganization
-[Dr. Edwin H.] Land panel
-Office of Science and Technology [OST]
-Dr. Edward E. David, Jr.
-Elliot L. Richardson
-FIOP [?]


Report for President
-Henry A. Kissinger

The President talked with the White House operator at 12:30 pm.

[Conversation No. 414-1A]

[See Conversation No. 37-7]

[End of telephone conversation]

Helms
-Cooperation
-CIA reorganization

President's schedule
-Regularity of meetings
-Weekend vacation
-Weather
-Cabinet members
-Bimonthly contact
-Domestic Council
-National Security Council [NSC], Domestic Council
-Monthly meetings
-Regularity of meetings
-3-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


The White House operator talked with the President at an unknown time between 12:30 and 12:41
pm.

[Conversation No. 414-1B]

[See Conversation No. 37-8]

[End of telephone conversation]

President’s schedule
-Counselors to President
-Bimonthly meetings
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Compared with Cabinet, NSC, Domestic Council
-Press conference
-White House staff
-Haldeman, George P. Shultz, Ehrlichman
-Taxes impoundment
-Weekly frequency

The President talked with Richard M. Helms between 12:41 and 12:43 pm.

[Conversation No. 414-1C]

[See Conversation No. 37-9]

[End of telephone conversation]

President’s schedule
-Ehrlichman
-White House staff meetings
-Memorandum
-Staff meetings with Congress members
-Hugh Scott
-Compared with committees

Government reorganization
-Personal
-4-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-Appeals
-1972 election
-Camp David meetings
-Scott [?]

President’s schedule
-Meetings
-Cabinet, NSC
-Shultz’s attendance
-Foreign policy issues
-Nuclear test ban treaty
-White House staff
-Congress members, “outsiders”, governors
-Staff briefings

Bryce N. Harlow, Clark MacGregor, George H. W. Bush
-Meetings with Haldeman
-Congress

President’s schedule
-Republican leaders in Congress meetings
-William E. Timmons
-Bimonthly compared with monthly
-Scott, Gerald R. Ford
-Bipartisan leaders in Congress
-Frequency
-Trade meetings
-Unannounced meetings
-Social affairs
-American Cancer Society [ACS]
-Republican leaders in Congress
-Pressure
-Vetoes
-Republican Congress members
-Complaints
-Reports
-Cabinet meeting
-Counselors, staff meetings
-5-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-Ehrlichman’s attendance
-Social affairs
-Worthiness
-Obligations
-Ehrlichman’s and Haldeman’s advice
-Christmas
-White House staff
-Harry S. Truman's funeral
-Effects on events
-White House staff functions
-Congress
-Evenings at the White House
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Church services
-White House dinners
-Meetings with Congress members
-Effects of meetings
-Cabinet members
-Richardson
-Meeting schedule
-Staff, Congress members
-Kissinger
-Telephone calls
-Cabinet, staff meetings
-Diplomatic credentials
-Meetings with President
-Congress members
-Republican leaders
-Bipartisan leaders
-Vietnam
-Budget office
-Effects
-MacGregor’s and Harlow’s opinions
-Thinking time
-Effect on decision making
-President's schedule compared to other Presidents
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-6-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-Number of meetings
-Unscheduled time
-President’s use of Camp David

Congressional relations
-Democrats
-Supporters of President
-Vietnam reception attendees
-Admiration for Presidency
-President’s attendance at meetings with Congress members
-Ehrlichman
-Energy policy briefing
-Counselors
-Republican committee members
-Electoral politics
-Meetings with candidates
-President’s meetings
-Republican leaders, bipartisan leaders, Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield,
Carl B. Albert, freshmen, Wilber D. Mills, Russell B. Long
-Chowder and Marching
-Buddy system
-Agencies, departments, staff
-Freshmen, loyalists
-Loyalists
-Trade issues
-Protectionalists
-Jacob K. Javits, Charles H. Percy
-Meeting
-Individual compared with group meetings
-Mills
-Leadership group
-Harold R. Collier [?], Marjorie S. Holt
-Freshmen
-Jack F. Kemp, Bill Archer, John J. Flynt, Jr. [?], John Y. McCollister, [First name
unknown] Dunn [?], Goodloe E. Byron
-Sophomores
-Pete V. Domenici, Dewey F. Bartlett, Howard H. Baker, Jr., Alphonzo Bell,
William Brock, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.
-7-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-New Senate Leadership
-Garry Brown, Jerry L. Pettis, Larry Lynn [?], G. V. (“Sonny”) Montgomery, W. S.
(“Bill”) Stuckey, Jr.
-Fourth term
-Old leadership
-[First name unknown] Barnes [?], John W. Stanton, David E. Satterfield, III
-Fifth term
-Meetings with President
-Trade
-Leadership
-Wildcard
-Bipartisan leaders
-Timing
-New leadership

Gallup poll
-President’s position on amnesty
-Amnesty poll
-Budget poll

[John F.] Kennedy’s Great Mistakes by Malcolm Smith, Jr.
-News summary
-Publishing history
-Subjects
-Bay of Pigs
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-Public expectations
-President’s decision compared with John F. Kennedy
-Prisoner’s of war [POWs]
-Mistake
-May 8, 1972 decision, December 1972 bombing
-President’s statement on International Conference on Vietnam negotiations
-Press conference
-Mining, troop withdrawals
-Kissinger’s recommendations
-Escalation
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Kennedy
-8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-Public relations effect
-Kennedy’s handling of Berlin, Cuba, and Laos
-Nikita S. Khrushchev
-Berlin Wall

President's schedule
-Public relations compared with private deliberation

Rhetoric
-Public reactions
-President compared with Kennedy
-“Peace with honor” compared to “the status of Berlin is non-negotiable”

Polls
-1969 month by month
-Decline
-Vietnam
-Asia trip, Apollo moon landing, Vietnam, California hiatus
-Television [TV], State of the Union, veto, press conference
-1970 month by month
-Decline
-Mid-west tour, State of the World, TV, economy
-Rise
-Cambodia, election month rating
-1971
-Decline
-Laos, economy
-People's Republic of China [PRC] announcement, August economic action
-Issues not affecting polls
-1969
-Europe trip, Korea airline incident
-1970
-G. Harold Carswell’s nomination, Cambodia, Kent State, Walter J.
Hickel, press conference, trips, Apollo 13, POW raid, withdrawals
-Issues affecting polls
-1971
-Vietnam announcement, Europe trip
-Issues not affecting polls
-9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-1971
-TV, State of the Union, revenue sharing
-Retreat, protest march
-Pentagon Papers, PRC announcement
-New Economic Program, freeze
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] announcement
-Kissinger’s trip to Peking
-Phase II price controls
-Vietnam peace proposal, Europe trip
-1972
-Rise
-Vietnam, TV, PRC trip
-Decline
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
-Rise
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Decline
-Watergate, 1972 campaign, Vietnam
-Gallup compared with Haldeman’s polls
-Currency
-Timing
-Cease-fire

POWs
-Public reaction
-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Press conference or interview with POW [Col. Robinson Risher?]
-Effect of domestic protests
-Jane Fonda
-December 1972 bombing
-Carter Wall’s [?] letter
-Suffering

President’s poll ratings
-Public reaction
-Presidential trips
-Jacksonville
-Compared with TV news conference
-10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-President’s poll numbers compared with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Second term
-Peak ratings
-Cycles
-Effects of the economy
-Salary
-Budget
-Cost of living

Recruitment of minorities and ethnics
-Polish-American
-Peter J. Brennan, Charles W. Colson
-Bill Houska [?]
-Winton M. (“Red”) Blount
-Willie J. Usery, Jr.

Evaluation of individuals for jobs
-Bob Mosley [?]
-Brennan
-Appointees
-Shultz
-Ehrlichman
-Maurice H. Stans, Peter G. Peterson

President’s poll ratings
-Public perceptions of the Presidency
-Competence, fun
-President’s entertainment
-Tricia Nixon Cox’s wedding
-Edward K. (“Duke”) Ellington
-Effects
-Timing of poll
-Pentagon Papers
-Economy
-Lou Harris, Opinion Research Corporation [ORC]
-Questions
-Colson
-Liberal on social policy
-11-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


-George H. Gallup
-Support of President’s economic policy

President's schedule
-Use of prime time television
-John Ford salute
-California trip
-Baseball game
-POWs

Public perception of the Presidency
-Franklin R. Gannon’s study
-Spiritual, personal, programmatic aspects
-Balance
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Patrick J. Buchanan

President's personal appeal
-Public events
-Dinners at the White House
-Ellington
-Frances A. (“Frank”) Sinatra
-Italian-American
-Nelson Ripple [?]
-Orchestra
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-William V. S. Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Accommodations at the White House
-Compared with Sinatra

Hugh Scott
-Public statements

Electoral politics
-Carl T. Curtis
-Poll numbers compared to President
-George H. W. Bush, Robert J. Dole
-12-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 414-1 (cont’d)


President's schedule
-Meeting
-Ehrlichman

Haldeman left at 2:15 pm.
Secret White House Tapes |

414–1

This recording is currently not available on millercenter.org. To listen to it, please email Mike Greco at mdg4u@virginia.edu

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