Secret White House Tapes

472–13

About this recording

472–13
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Henry A. Kissinger
March 23, 1971
Conversation No. 472-13

Date: March 23, 1971
Time: 1:10 pm - 2:12 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

President’s schedule
-Meeting with Haldeman and Henry A. Kissinger
-John A. Scali
-Meeting with editors
-James L. Buckley

Supersonic Transport (SST)
-Upcoming vote
-William E. Timmons
-Tally
-President’s previous meeting with Republican leaders
-Margaret Chase Smith
-President’s arguments

Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 1:10 pm

-House and Senate members
-Concerns about re-election
-Winston L. (“Win”) Prouty
-White House support
-President’s role
-Position

Howard K. Smith
-Comment
-President’s interview

Scali
-Possible appointment
-Kissinger’s previous meeting with Scali
-Possible meeting with the President
-A check
30

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Areas of responsibility
-Domestic, foreign issues, and television
-Scope
-Government reorganization
-Revenue sharing
-Blacks
-Riots in city
-Agriculture Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Economy
-Role
-Previous conversation with Kissinger
-Knowledge of State and Defense Departments
-Leaks

President’s schedule
-Possible meeting in California
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Foreign policy
-Press
-A poll
-Delay
-Reasoning

President’s interview with H. K. Smith
-Telephone poll by White House
-New York overnight ratings
-Competition
-National Broadcasting Company [NBC] movie
-Doris Day
-Carol Burnett
-Possible national audience
-West Coast showing
-Timing
-Telephone poll by White House
-Rating compared with share
-Haldeman’s view
-Advertisements, March 22, 1971
-Benefits for American Broadcasting Company [ABC]
-Ratings
-John F. Kennedy interview
-Meaning
31

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Telephone poll by White House
-Approval ratings
-Questions and answers
-Age distribution
-Political affiliation
-Further calls
-Questions
-Importance Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Congressional response
-Mark O. Hatfield
-President’s credibility
-College students
-Robert A. Taft, Jr.
-Length
-William E. Brock, III
-Length
-President’s demeanor
-Southeast Asia
-Blacks’ response
-Robert J. Brown’s poll
-National Insurance Association head
-Comments on housing
-National Bar Association head
-Vietnam
-Cities
-Maurice Dawkins of Opportunities Centers
-Integration
-Housing
-National Business League president
-Housing
-President’s appearance
-Robert Walker [?], head of National Medical Association
-Domestic policy
-Revenue sharing
-Open housing
-Integration
-A judge [[Forename unknown] Newman?]
-Equal opportunity
-Higher education
-Housing
-Peace
32

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Judge William B. Thompson of Washington, DC Superior Court
-Housing
-President’s handling of questions
-Importance
-Bob Flanigan’s [?] response
-Vietnam
-Vic Morris’s [?] response
-George’s [Surname unintelligible] response Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-President’s demeanor
-President’s credibility
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-J. William Fulbright
-John B. Anderson’s [?] response
-George Will’s response
-President’s credibility
-Richard A. Moore’s response
-Laos
-Format
-Compared with “fireside chats”
-President’s interaction with H. K. Smith
-Questioning
-President’s personality
-Jane G. (Swift) Moore’s response
-Vice-Presidential question
-Camera angle
-William H. Carruthers
-ABC
-Carruthers
-Preparation for interview
-Head of Paramount Television’s conversation with Kissinger
-Response
-Camera angles
-Work with ABC crew
-President’s appearance
-Mark I. Goode’s response
-Camera angles
-Lighting
-Future interviews
-R. A. Moore’s response
-President’s credibility
-Future interviews
-Possible interviewer
33

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Educational television
-Audience size
-Metromedia
-Audience size
-Congressional response
-Hatfield
-Brock
-Hugh Scott and Robert P. Griffin Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Hatfield
-Position on Vietnam
-Brock
-President’s demeanor
-Kissinger’s response
-Format
-Telephone poll
-Viewers
-Ages
-Approval ratings
-Clifford M. Hardin’s response
-Format, issues covered
-James D. Hodgson’s response
-Length
-People’s demeanor
-Issues covered
-Hardin
-Cabinet officers’ responsibilities
-John A. Volpe’s response
-President’s schedule
-President’s answers to questions
-Congressional response
-Hatfield
-Taft
-Brock
-Taft
-Republicans
-Donald H. Rumsfeld’s response
-Questions
-President’s performance
-Pace
-H. K. Smith
-President’s performance
-John D. Ehrlichman’s response
34

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



Congress
-Support for Administration
-President’s view
-Haldeman’s view
-Attitudes of members toward President
-Southern Democrats
-John C. Stennis
-Republicans Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Role

President’s interview with H. K. Smith
-Future interviews with other networks
-Audience
-ABC’s audience
-Competition
-Movies
-Public opinion
-News coverage
-Laos
-Future interviews
-Use of networks
-Audience
-Forthcoming statement on troop withdrawals
-Reiteration of President’s comments
-Rowland Evans
-Previous breakfast with Kissinger
-Articles on Laos

President’s schedule
-Possible March 24, 1971 breakfast with George Meany
-Charles W. Colson, George P. Shultz
-Publicity
-Laos
-Asia
-Middle East
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Economy
-Kissinger, Shultz
-Colson
-Timing
35

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Possible meeting with executive council [of American Federation of Labor-Congress
of Industrial Organizations [AFL-CIO]?]
-President’s view

Meany
-Support for SST
-Possible call from Hodgson
-Possible breakfast with President Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)

President’s schedule
-Breakfast with Meany
-Shultz, Kissinger, and Hodgson’s attendance
-Publicity
-Hodgson
-Shultz
-Topic

H. K. Smith interview
-Position of H. K. Smith
-Selection for interview with President
-ABC advertisements
-Ratings
-Effect
-ABC
-Format
-Length
-Haldeman’s view
-Congressional response

Congress
-Support for the President’s policies
-President’s view
-Revenue sharing
-Laos
-President’s television appearances
-Republicans

President’s schedule
-Quadriad meeting in California
-Another meeting in California

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 1:10 pm
36

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



Federal Communication Commission [FCC]
-Letter from Leslie C. Arends

The President’s schedule

FCC
-Letter from Arends
-Peter M. Flanigan Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 2:12 pm

Kissinger’s briefing
-Gerald R. Ford, Arends and Anderson

Melvin R. Laird’s schedule
-A 3:00 meeting
-Democrats and Republicans

Kissinger’s briefing
-Time

Vietnam
-A possible meeting in California with General Nguyen Van Thieu
-Kissinger’s view
-Rationale
-Implications
-President’s view

President’s interview with H. K. Smith
-President’s comments on Laotian operation (Lam Son)
-Coverage
-John W. Chancellor
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] radio
-News lead
-President’s statement on troop levels
-Call to Kissinger by Laird
-President’s visibility

President’s schedule
-California trip
-Presentation of Medal of Freedom to Samuel Goldwyn
-Goldwyn’s health
37

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Effect on movie community
-Goldwyn
-Career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Vietnam
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Morning report
-Forthcoming Washington Special Action Group [WSAG] Conv.
meeting
No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Military situation
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] withdrawal
-Press coverage
-Casualties
-President’s statement in H. K. Smith interview
-Commentators’ response
-Chancellor
-Military situation
-Kissinger’s view
-US role
-South Vietnamese performance
-Bunker
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Kissinger’s role
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Laird
-Abrams
-Visits to family in Thailand
-General William C. Westmoreland’s advice
-Military strategy
-Tchepone
-Abrams
-Role
-Kissinger’s view
-South Vietnamese performance
-A cable
-Strategy
-Problems
-Kissinger’s view
-Tchepone
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-US military command
-Haig’s view
38

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Kissinger’s view
-Replacements
-Abrams
-Performance
-Role in air strikes
-Information
-Strategy
-Political effects Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Laos operation
-Kissinger’s view
-Effects on President
-Kissinger, Bunker
-Tchepone
-South Vietnamese performance
-Kissinger’s view
-Withdrawal
-Photographs
-President’s comments
-President’s interview with H. K. Smith
-Coverage of US, North Vietnamese forces
-Distortion
-Kissinger’s view
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-ARVN troops
-Fear of invasion
-Casualties
-Air strikes
-Effect on North Vietnam
-Abrams’s plans
-US troop withdrawal
-Thieu
-Bunker
-Us Air Force
-North Vietnam’s situation
-Possibility of an offensive
-US troop withdrawals
-Level
-Military
-Thieu
-President
-Bunker, Thieu
-Announcement
39

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Defense Department
-William P. Rogers
-Laird
-Timing
-Kissinger
-Level
-Timing
-South Vietnam Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Election
-Nguyen Cao Ky
-Bunker
-Networks
-Military equipment
-Laird
-Economic aid
-US troop withdrawals
-Negotiations
-Bunker
-North Vietnam
-Timing
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Enemy casualties

Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Politburo
-Soviet policy on Vietnam
-Domestic considerations
-Strategic Arms Limitations Talks [SALT]
-Vietnam negotiations [?]
-Timing
-Effect of Party Congress’ meeting

Vietnam
-Enemy forces
-Intelligence information
-US command
-Need for coordination
-President’s view
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Enemy forces
-After-action assessment
-Strategy
40

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Effect
-Possible time limit
-President’s comments
-Effect
-Congress
-Enemy forces
-Intelligence information
-President’s decision Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Strategy
-Moorer
-US forces
-Role
-Kissinger’s assessment
-Polls
-Justification for operation
-US troops
-I Corps
-Possible North Vietnamese Army invasion
-Tanks
-Material
-Hue
-Timing
-Enemy supplies
-Bunker
-South Vietnam
-Political situation
-Forthcoming call to Bunker
-Laos operation
-Effect
-ARVN and South Vietnam
-US newspapers and television
-Junior officers

President’s interview with H. K. Smith
-Evaluation
-Brock, Hodgson, Hardin, Hatfield
-Length
-Content
-Differences of opinion
-Hatfield and George S. McGovern
-Taft
-President’s demeanor
41

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



Liberals

1970 election
-Economy
-Stock market
-Effect
-Burns and the money supply
-Stock market Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
-Effect
-Interest rates

Liberals
-Kissinger’s efforts

President
-Leadership
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Call to President, Kissinger
-”The Establishment”
-President’s policies
-Column, March 22, 1971

President’s interview with H. K. Smith
-Cambodia
-PRC
-New York Times
-Hatfield
-Taft

Vietnam
-Laos operation
-Effect compared with Cambodian operation
-Enemy supplies
-North Vietnamese forces
-President’s credibility
-President’s critics
-Compared with Cambodian operation
-Public opinion
-Effect
-Hue, Da Nang
-Thieu
42

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Possible effect on peace negotiations
-North Vietnamese

Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-Previous call to Kissinger

Haldeman and Kissinger left at 2:12 pm
Conv. No. 472-13 (cont.)
Secret White House Tapes |

472–13

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