Secret White House Tapes

476–7

About this recording

476–7
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Ronald L. Ziegler
April 9, 1971
Conversation No. 476-7

Date: April 9, 1971
Time: 8:52 am - 9:58 am
Location: Oval Office

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

President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Haldeman’s schedule
-Williamsburg
-Media coverage
-American Broadcasting Company [ABC], Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Shirley Taylor
-Mamie G. D. Eisenhower
-Reaction
-Congress
-Carl B. Albert
-Withdrawal
-Pace
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Support for April 24, 1971 demonstrations
-Washington Post
-Hugh Scott
-Scott
-Withdrawal from Vietnam issue
-Impression about President’s plan
-Secrecy of plan
-Robert C. Byrd
-Robert P. Griffin
-Withdrawal from Vietnam
-Timing
-Griffin’s view
-Timing
-Accountability
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s statement
-Clark MacGregor
-Support for President

Economy
-George P. Shultz
-Retail sales indicators
-Los Angeles Times
-Stock market
-Retail sales
-Apparel
-Home furnishings
-Automobiles
-Clothing
-Sears, Roebuck & Company
-Shultz
5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Compared with Vietnam
-Possible role of Administration
-Credit
-Administration’s legislative program
-Administration’s possible response
-Congress

Legislative program Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Revenue sharing
-John D. Ehrlichman and Shultz
-Haldeman’s conversation with Ehrlichman
-Edward L. Morgan
-”Selling” job
-Ehrlichman
-”Production” job
-Packaging problem

President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-William L. Safire
-Length of speech
-Importance of brevity

Peter G. Peterson
-Briefing on Council on International Economic Policy, April 8, 1971
-[Name unintelligible]
-Comments
-Shultz

Revenue sharing
-Ehrlichman
-Response to questions
-President’s strategy
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Production problem
-Need for summarization
-Chicago Sun-Times
-Unknown journalist
-Definition

Ziegler entered at 9:00 am

President’s schedule
6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)




Preparation for Ziegler’s forthcoming press briefing
-Vietnam withdrawal
-Deadline
-Ziegler’s conversation with Henry A. Kissinger
-Scott
-Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.
-Ehrlichman Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Vietnam withdrawal
-Press understanding
-Questions and answers
-Need for simple explanations
-Press conferences
-President’s instructions for Kissinger, Ehrlichman, and Shultz
-Need for staff discipline
-Ziegler’s situation
-Possible meeting with senior staff members
-Methods of answering
-Robert B. Semple, Jr.
-Herbert G. Klein
-Klein’s methodology
-Repetition of few points
-Importance of brevity
-Termination of questions
-Ehrlichman’s briefing
-Calley case
-President’s possible role
-Lack of intervening in case
-Judicial process
-Review
-Ziegler’s conversation with Scott
-Vietnam negotiations
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Gerald R. Ford
-Timing
-Scott
-President’s conversation with Mansfield
-Scott
-Mansfield
-Melvin R. Laird
-William P. Rogers
-Mansfield
7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Ehrlichman
-President’s plan for American withdrawal
-Final date
-President’s unwillingness to discuss
-Jeopardizing plan
-Conditions
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-North Vietnamese military activity Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Negotiations
-Vietnamization
-US options
-Confidentiality
-Byrd
-Total withdrawal
-News story
-Scott and Byrd
-Inconsistency with April 7, 1971 speech
-Fixed date for withdrawal
-Effect on negotiations
-POWs
-Public pressure
-Max Frankel’s column, April 9, 1971
-Scott and Byrd remarks
-Fixed date for withdrawal
-Ziegler’s possible answer to queries
-Dependent on circumstances
-Scott
-Interpretations by senators
-President’s plan for withdrawal
-Discussion of fixed date
-Certainty of total withdrawal
-Fixed date
-President’s thesis of presentation
-Effect on negotiations
-Scott
-Fixed date
-President’s plan for total withdrawal
-Timing
-President’s conversation with Scott
-Fixed date
-Need for US flexibility
-Possible dates
8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Future election
-President’s accountability
-Reduction of US forces
-US goals
-Total American withdrawal
-North Vietnamese actions
-American forces
-Date question Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Vietnamization
-Fixed date
-Negotiations
-President’s future announcements
-Factors influencing date
-Negotiations
-POWs
-Residual force
-POW issue
-President’s public announcements
-Address on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Fixed date
-President’s conversations with senators
-Need for constant revaluation
-Fixed date constraint
-Future announcements
-Ziegler’s responses
-Scott
-Washington Post
-Dan Rather
-CBS
-Possible US moves
-”Doves”
-Frankel
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Story on White House Staff
-Kissinger and Haldeman
-Laos
-President’s Vietnamization policy
-Washington Post editorial
-Vietnamization
-General William C. Westmoreland
-1967 speech
-President’s policies
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Reluctant credit to President
-Withdrawal
-Casualties
-Plan for total withdrawal
-Discussion of fixed date
-US goals
-Negotiations to end war
-POWs Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-North Vietnam
-Possible fixed date
-President’s plan
-Factors influencing date
-President’s plan
-Ziegler’s possible answers
-Period of time versus fixed date
-Laird
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak column
-Ford
-Calley case
-Calley case
-Ziegler’s conversation with Ford
-President’s decision
-President’s conversation with Ford
-Ford’s reaction
-Democratic caucus vote
-Draft extension
-Democratic caucus
-Draft extension
-Vote
-Ford
-Calley case
-Ford
-Congressional reaction
-Evans and Novak
-Ford and Laird
-Michigan Congressional caucus
-Ford
-President’s decision
-Rogers
-Laird
-Ford
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Ziegler’s call to Dan Akin [sp?]
-Pentagon
-Laird
-President’s conversation with Ford
-Ziegler’s possible responses
-Democratic caucus
-Draft extension
-Vote Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Compared with World War I, World War II
-Calley case
-President’s conversation with Ford
-Donald W. Riegle, Jr.
-Griffin
-Byrd
-Instructions to Ziegler
-Albert
-Mansfield
-Ford
-Byrd and Griffin
-Griffin
-Vietnam
-Scott
-Fixed date for withdrawal
-President’s plans
-Factors influencing date
-Criteria
-Vietnamization
-US withdrawal
-US objectives
-Factors influencing date
-South Vietnam
-POWs
-US objectives
-Haldeman
-Reaction
-Democrats
-President’s critics
-President’s speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Reaction of press
-Scott
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Questions to Ziegler
-Robert Pierpoint
-Scott
-Withdrawal
-Responsibility
-Reaction
-Muskie
-Endorsement of moratorium Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Staff
-Tricia Nixon
-Edward R. F. Cox
-[Harvard Law School] reaction to President’s speech on Southeast Asia,
April 7, 1971
-Reactions
-Kevin Taylor
-Salute
-Karl (“Skipper”) Taylor, Jr.
-S. Taylor
-Support for President
-Hopes for children
-Sincerity
-Withdrawal date
-S. Taylor
-Reaction on television
-President’s meeting with senators
-Withdrawal date issue
-Withdrawal of forces
-Summary of President’s plans
-Fixed date
-Factors influencing date
-Congress
-Chicago group reaction
-Businessmen
-New York businessmen
-President’s speech on Southeast Asia
-Reactions
-Unknown football player
-Tone
-Personalizing the war
-Casualty chart
-Kevin Taylor
-War in human terms
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Public reaction
-Appearance
-Salute
-Television
-Taylor family
-Scholarships
-Colin Kelly
-Franklin D. Roosevelt Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-West Point
-Father
-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
-Roosevelt
-Compared with Kevin Taylor
-Scholarships
-Ziegler’s forthcoming call to Scott
-Kelly
-Opportunity for Kevin Taylor
-Annapolis [US Naval Academy]
-Richard S. Schweiker
-Ceremony
-S. Taylor
-Public reaction
-Kelly
-Colonel [Forename unknown] Hocking [?]
-Schweiker

Ziegler left at 9:48 am

-Robert A. Taft, Jr.
-Scott
-John Sherman Cooper
-Ziegler
-Klein

Staffing
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Establishment
-Thomas S. Gates, Jr.
-Draft
-Lists for appointments
-William J. Casey
-Instructions for Flanigan
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Eastern establishment
-Chicago group
-Education
-Northwestern University
-University of Chicago
-John J. McCloy and Gates
-Leonard H. Lavin
-Fundraising Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Norman Stein
-Instructions for Flanigan
-John A. (“Jack”) Mulcahy
-Elmer H. Bobst
-Henry E. Ford, II
-Gates
-David Rockefeller
-William S. Paley
-Attitude toward the President

Media
-Television
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Ziegler
-Tricia Nixon


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 17s ]

GREAT BRITAIN

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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Ziegler’s press briefing
-Public reaction to President’s April 7, 1971 speech
-Telephone calls, telegrams
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



President’s television appearances
-Ehrlichman
-Reaction
-Written text
-Order
-Effort involved
-Need for re-evaluation of methods
-Reading Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
-Haldeman’s, Rogers’ opinion
-Text/spontaneity
-Pattern
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Peroration
-Structure
-Delivery of text
-President’s April 7, 1971 speech
-Teleprompter
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Memorization
-Frequency
-Future appearances
-Future press conferences
-Audience
-Buchanan
-Cambodian speech of April 30, 1970
-Meeting with editors
-Speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-State of the Union address, January 22, 1971
-Press conferences
-Meeting with editors
-Television
-Radio
-Risks
-Frequency
-Schedule
-Jo Anne (Horton) Haldeman
-Interview with Howard K. Smith, March 22, 1971
-President’s exposure
-Frequency
-Interview with representatives of television networks, January 4, 1971
-State of the Union address
15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-J. A. Haldeman’s views
-Effect
-Planning
-Press conferences
-Television
-Editors

Haldeman left at 9:58 am Conv. No. 476-7 (cont.)
Secret White House Tapes |

476–7

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