456–5

Conversation No. 456-5

Date: February 23, 1971
Time: 10:05 am - 11:30 am
Location: Oval Office

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

Foreign trade policy
-Peter G. Peterson
-Administration policy
-Coordination
-William P. Rogers and Henry A. Kissinger

Kissinger


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[Duration: 12s ]


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-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Melvin R. Laird
-Press conference on Laos
-News summary
-Cabinet meeting
-Briefings

The President’s schedule
-Governors’ conference
-Laos briefing
-John D. Ehrlichman
-President’s view
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Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 10:05 am

Vietnam
-Military developments
-Reports
-Leak

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 10:25 am

Economy
-Troika meeting
-Arthur F. Burns’ statement
-President’s memo
-Dissemination
-Action
-Haldeman’s conversation with Burns
-Burns’ statements on confidence
-Effect
-Stock market

Appointments
-President’s view
-Retired businessmen
-Retired officers

Open Hour
-Need for accurate reporting
-Butterfield and Ronald L. Ziegler
-Color reports for press
-Role of staff reporter
-John B. Waters, Jr.
-John R. (“Jack”) Williams, Jr.
-Taping system
-Butterfield
-Transcripts
-President’s orders
-Butterfield’s role
-President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
-John K. Andrews, Jr.
-James H. Van Alen
-President’s conversation with Van Alan
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-Publicity
-James Udall
Press report
-Vietnam incident

Public statements
-Murray L. Weidenbaum
-Revenue sharing Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Possible compromise
-John B. Connally
-Maurice H. Stans
-Departmental competition
-Administration policy

The President’s schedule
-Cabinet officers
-Staff dinner
-Radio speech
-Forthcoming White House Governors’ dinner
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Gifts

Kissinger
-Role in Middle East


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[Duration: 30s ]


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-Haig
-The President’s conversation with Moorer, February 22
-Vietnam
-Paris Peace Talks
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-Conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Paris Peace Talks
-Staff meetings
-Rogers, Laird, and Connally
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Rogers’ view
-Kissinger’s view
-Soviet view Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Berlin
-Middle East
-Rogers/Kissinger relationship
-National Security Study Memorandum [NSSM]
-Need for coordination
-Number
-Laird and Rogers’ participation
-Kissinger role
-Kissinger/Rogers relationship
-SALT
-Joseph C. Kraft story
-Policy differences
-State of World message
-William H. Sullivan
-Leak
-Need for Administration response
-Forthcoming call to Rogers
-Effect
-State of the World message
-SALT

[The President talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:25
am]

[Conversation No. 456-5A]

Request that Ehrlichman join them

[End of telephone conversation]

Kissinger
-Abraham Lincoln
-Press image
-Kissinger’s role
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-President
-Laird and Rogers

The President’s schedule
-Governors’ conference
-Possible briefing on Laos operation
-Governors’ concerns
-Publicity Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)

Media reports
-Dennis Warner’s article
-[Forename unknown] Crawford
-Crosby S. Noyes
-Dissemination
-Herbert G. Klein
-Robert J. Dole
-New York Times article on revenue sharing

Ehrlichman entered at 10:25 am

-Administration response
-President’s position
-Comments to governors
-Weidenbaum’s testimony
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with Weidenbaum
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Connally’s role
-Rationale
-Substance
-The President’s meeting with Wilbur D. Mills
-President’s conversation with Connally
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Comments by the President
-Alternatives to revenue sharing bill
-Connally’s forthcoming talk to governors
-Ehrlichman’s comments
-Reaction to the President’s programs
-Rockefeller
-John Briggs
-The President’s commitment to revenue sharing
-Precedents
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Governors’ conference
-The President’s forthcoming talk
-Content
-Domestic issues
-Laos
-Vietnam
-Focus of conference Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Preston Smith
-Welfare costs proposal
-Rockefeller’s reaction
-John V. Lindsay
-Forthcoming lawsuit
-President’s comments
-Welfare reform
-Revenue sharing
-Ehrlichman’s comments
-Regional commissions
-Administration policy
-Edward L. Morgan
-Connally
-Democrats’ counter-proposal
-Connally’s view
-Media coverage of administration presentations
-Weidenbaum
-Ziegler’s role
-President’s comments
-Administration presentation
-Connally’s view
-Media briefings by Donald H. Rumsfeld and Ehrlichman
-Media coverage
-President’s view
-Possible future press briefing
-Ziegler
-Computer printout
-Revenue sharing

Ziegler entered at 10:41 am

-Media coverage
-Statements
-Tone and style of presentation
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-Rumsfeld
-Ehrlichman

Weidenbaum’s statement
-Ziegler’s and Ehrlichman’s statements
Wage and price controls
-George P. Shultz
-Administration’s options Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Davis-Bacon Act
-Effect

Ehrlichman and Ziegler left at 10:45 am

Kissinger
-Speeches
-William L. Safire and Rogers
-Burns
-Relations with Rogers
-Department of State
-Access to the President
-Haldeman’s previous conversation with Rogers
-Haldeman’s and Rose Mary Woods’ roles
-Role of National Security Council [NSC]

-Ecuadorean tuna boats
-Dole
-The President’s reaction
-Rogers’ role
-Organization of American States [OAS]
-Resolution
-Role and workload
-Presidential involvement
-Ambassador from Cyprus
-Nicaraguan transistors
-Peterson
-Use of NSC staff
-Compared to Domestic Council
-Presidential involvement
-Rogers
-Information routing
-Ehrlichman
-Peter M. Flanigan
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-Presidential involvement
-Compared with Department of State personnel
-Rogers
-Role
-Vietnam
-Connally
[Haldeman talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 10:45 am and 10:52 am]
Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
[Conversation No. 456-5B]

Request that he join them in Oval Office

[End of telephone conversation]

The President’s schedule
-NSC meeting date
-Attendance
-Frank J. Shakespeare
-Rogers

Kissinger entered at 10:52 am

-Connally
-Timing
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield breakfast
-Carl B. Albert
-Cabinet meeting
-Preparation
-Agenda
-Laotian situation
-Connally
-Timing
-Dates
-Schedule conflicts
-Attorney General
-Preparation
-Morning meetings

Haldeman left at 11:05 am


Vietnam military developments
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-Death of General Do Cao Tri
-Circumstances
-Impact
-Successor
-Ellsworth F. Bunker cable to Kissinger
-Competence of Tri’s successor
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.’s and Bunker’s view
-General Nguyen Van Thieu Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Nguyen Cao Ky
-Cambodia operations
-Developments
-Tri
-Leadership
-Planning
-Abrams
-[Forename unknown] Davidson
-Competence
-General William C. Westmoreland
-View of war
-Charles E. (“Chip”) Bohlen
-Moorer’s cable to Abrams
-Press stories
-Possible briefing
-Military situation
-Westmoreland’s view
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] competence
-Bunker’s cable
-Effect in Saigon
-Abrams and Thieu
-Lam Son operation
-[Forename unknown] Southerland
-Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Lam
-ARVN
-Public relations plan
-Briefing format
-Leaks to media

Media coverage
-Compared to civil war

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 11:05 am
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Book by Carl Sandburg
-Civil War generals

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 11:30 am

Media coverage
-Newsweek story on the President
-Joseph W. Alsop Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-President’s role
-European leader’s view
-Laos

-Source
-Edward R. G. Heath
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Unknown Italian

Vietnam
-President’s view of news coverage
-ARVN
-Laotian operation
-United States’ troop withdrawal
-Time schedule
-Conditions
-Release of Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Visit by Haig
-Laird’s view
-Abrams
-Kissinger’s position
-Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin
-President’s position
-Haig’s role
-Bunker and Thieu
-Peace proposal
-Condition
-Time schedule

SALT
-Dobrynin
-Letter to Aleksei N. Kosygin from the President
-Letter from Kissinger
-Response
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-Gerard C. Smith
-President’s view
-Press reports
-State of World message
-SALT section
-Kissinger
-Rogers
Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:05 am and
11:30 am]

[Conversation No. 456-5C]

Call to Haldeman

[End of telephone conversation]

[The President talked with Haldeman at an unknown time between 11:05 am and 11:30 am]

[Conversation No. 456-5D]

Leak in State Department
-SALT section of speech
-Ziegler
-Effect on State of World message
-Haldeman’s investigation

[End of telephone conversation]

Berlin negotiations
-Public relations
-Leak to media
-Timing
-President’s role
-President’s position
-Conclusion
-Timing
-Message to [David] Kenneth Rush
-The President’s role
-Timing
-Public relations
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SALT
-Proposal
-Smith and Rogers
-New York Times editorial
-Letter to Kosygin from the President
-Smith’s reaction
-Rogers’ reaction
-President’s view Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Laird
-Smith
-Credit for negotiations’ success
-Antiballistic Missile [ABM]
-Laird
-Kissinger’s conversation with Laird
Dobrynin
-Letter to Kosygin from the President
-Editing
-Changes
-Multiple Independently-Targeted Reentry Vehicles [MIRVs]

General Joseph Maurer
-Civil War record
-General William T. Sherman
-General Ulysses S. Grant
-Lincoln
-Vietnam
-Military objectives
-ARVN troops

Vietnam
-New York Times article
-Laos action
-ARVN troops
-Tchepone
-Ho Chi Minh Trail
-Rationale
-Thieu’s position
-President’s view
-ARVN troops
-Press accounts
-Rowland Evans
-Administration public relations
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-The President
-Laird’s statements
-Administration position
-Bombing
-ARVN
-Air strikes
-Military situation
-North Vietnamese supplies Conv. No. 456-5 (cont.)
-Possible locations
-Possible statement
-Supplies
-Surface-to-Air Missile [SAM] sites
-Rationale

Maurer

Kissinger left at 11:30 am