Secret White House Tapes

501–29

About this recording

501–29
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Stephen B. Bull
  • Henry A. Kissinger
  • John A. Scali
  • Ronald L. Ziegler
  • Donald H. Rumsfeld
  • Robert H. Finch
May 19, 1971
Conversation No. 501-29

Date: May 19, 1971
Time: 4:38 pm - 6:10 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman. Conv. No. 501-26 (cont.)

Charles McC. Mathias Amendment
-Vote
-John G. Tower
-Democrats' strategy
-Possible support administration
-Michael J. Mansfield Amendment
-$50 million
-Potomac River announcement

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:38 pm.

President's schedule
-Henry A. Kissinger, Ronald L. Ziegler
-Kissinger's phone call regarding Mathias Amendment

Bull left at an unknown time before 4:44 pm.

-Donald H. Rumsfeld and Robert H. Finch

William P. Rogers and Kissinger
-Nature of relationship
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] agreement
-USSR
-John A. Scali and Ziegler
-Haldeman's conversation with Rogers, May 19

Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 4:38 pm.

SALT agreement announcement

Mathias Amendment
-Vote
-Kissinger's attempted call to John Sherman Cooper
56

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)




SALT agreement
-Announcement
-Wording
-Kissinger’s recommendation

Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:38 pm

Call from Cooper

Bull and Kissinger left at an unknown time before 4:44 pm.

SALT agreement
-Meeting with Legislative leaders
-Meeting with the Cabinet

Ziegler and Scali entered at 4:44 pm.

-Kissinger's briefings for media
-Number attending
-Washington Star
-Attendees
-Wire services, television
-Limits
-Television coverage
-Delivery of announcement
-Kissinger's briefing for media
-Delivery
-Selection of attendees
-Content
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Development of agreement
-President's role

Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 4:44 pm.

Kissinger's call to Cooper
-Cooper's May 19, 1971 votes
-Mathias Amendment vote

SALT
-Kissinger's briefing
57

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Points
-Meeting with Congressional leaders
-Announcement
-Wording
-Kissinger's briefing
-Nature of breakthrough
-Previous stalemate
-Announcement Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-Release to press
-President's presentation
-Kissinger's briefing
-Stalemate
-USSR
-Defensive weapons
-US position
-Comprehensive agreement
-President's previous press conferences
-President's role, USSR role
-Offensive and defensive weapons
-Negotiations
-Procedural questions
-SALT delegation
-Possible questions
-Timetable for agreement
-President’s foreign policy report
-President’s previous press conferences
-Development of agreement
-Kissinger’s previous briefings
-Scali
-Possible questions
-Congressional Leaders
-President’s role
-Aleksei N. Kosygin role
-Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions [MBFR]
-Kissinger's briefings
-Linkage to MBFR
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Role in negotiations
-Forthcoming NATO meeting
-Rogers
-Development of agreement
-Study of the issue
58

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-National Security Council [NSC]
-President's role
-USSR reaction
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-USSR role


******************************************************************************
Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 55s ]


PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA [PRC]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


-PRC
-President's speech to American Red Cross, May 19, 1971
-Kissinger's briefings
-White House activity
-Senate votes
-Mathias Amendment
-NATO, troop reductions
-Vietnam
-Cooper
-Development of agreement
-President's role
-Dobrynin
-Leader's meeting
-Kissinger's briefings
-Hubert H. Humphrey's speech, President's role
-Senate
-Mansfield Amendment
-J. William Fulbright
-President's role
-Development of agreement
59

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Gerard C. Smith
-Safeguard
-Vladimir S. Semenov
-Schedule
-Smith's role
-Attendees
-Chalmers Roberts
-Conservative columnists Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-James J. Kilpatrick
-William F. Buckley
-Richard (“Dick”) Wilson
-William S. White
-Kilpatrick, Buckley, Wilson
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer's and Smith's response
-Future
-Development of agreement
-Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-NSC
-Rogers
-Bureaucracy
-Knowledge
-Possible responses
-Rogers
-Smith
-Kissinger's briefing

Robert H. Finch and Donald H. Rumsfeld entered at 5:13 pm.

Kissinger's schedule
-Kissinger's previous trip to Palm Springs


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 17
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 46s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 17
60

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



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

Haldeman, Kissinger, Scali, and Ziegler left at 5:16 pm.

Finch's and Rumsfeld's trip
-Report
-President’s approval
-Josip Broz Tito Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-An unknown group
-Possible exchange program
-Tito's future visit
-Possible appearance by unknown group
-Carol (Crothers) Finch and Joyce (Pierson) Rumsfeld
-Talks with embassy wives
-Ambassador's wife
-State Department
-Rigidity of tradition
-Talks with embassy staff
-Interest in US
-Domestic programs
-Welfare
-Information from news magazines
-Response to President

Lyndon B. Johnson
-Travel
-Foreign policy
-Europe

Finch's and Rumsfeld's trip
-Response to US
-US economic policy
-Variety of perspectives articulated
-John B. Connally, George P. Shultz

US economic policy
-Variety of perspectives articulated
-Arthur F. Burns
-Treasury Department
-Paul W. McCracken and Council of Economic Advisors [CEA]
-Shultz
-Maurice H. Stans
61

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-US inflation
-Effect abroad

World economy
-Milton Friedman's article \"The Mark Crisis\"
-Willy Brandt
-Economic policies
-Impact Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National Security]
[Duration: 56s ]


EUROPE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


Finch's and Rumsfeld's trip
-Spain
-Future
-Yugoslavia
-Tito
-Unifying effect
-History
-Balkans, USSR
-Croats, Serbs
-Rumania
-Economy
-Compared to Yugoslavia
-Compared to West and East Berlin
-People
-President's previous trip
-Computer development needs
-Mrs. Finch's and Mrs. Rumsfeld's response
62

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Paris, Rome, Vienna, London
-Meeting with Pope Paul Vi


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 19
[National Security] Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
[Duration: 18s ]


VATICAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 19

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


-Mrs. Finch and Mrs. Rumsfeld
-Black dress
-Gifts
-Photograph
-Vietnam
-Gregorio Lopez Bravo de Castro
-US troop levels
-South Vietnam
-Needs
-PRC initiative
-Middle East


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
[National Security]
[Duration: 36s ]


EUROPE
63

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15

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


-East
-West trade
-John P. Humes Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-Congressional views
-Vietnam's effects
-Laws


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
[National Security]
[Duration: 52s ]


EUROPE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
******************************************************************************


-D. Kenneth Rush
-Berlin negotiations
-Efforts
-Professional history
-Previous law experience
-Union carbide
-Walter H. Annenberg's residence
-Juan Cortez[?], bullfighter
-Photograph with Nixon tieclasp
-Robert F. Kennedy
-Popularity
-Attendance by Finch and Rumsfeld at bullfight
-Gift to the President
-PRC and USSR
-Communications by Finch and Rumsfeld
64

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-President's reading
-Kissinger

Drugs
-Military
-Possible congressional investigation
-Draft extension, Volunteer Army
-Usage Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-Statement regarding importance
-Solutions
-Discipline
-Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster

[Unintelligible]

Finch's and Rumsfeld’s’ trip
-United Nations [UN] Amendment on drugs
-President's position
-Importance of US foreign policy


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 20
[National Security]
[Duration: 2m 3s ]


VATICAN

MOROCCO


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 20

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


-Spain
-Luis Carrero-Blanco
-Future
-President’s view
65

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-U.S. ambassadors
-Rush
-William Leonart
-Robert C. Hill
-Future
-New Hampshire politics
-A letter
Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 39s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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


-Leonard C. Meeker
-Humes
-Graham A. Martin
-Impression
-Dinner with Finch and Rumsfeld
-Meeting with staff
-Report to Rogers
-Kissinger
-Idar Rimestad
-Possible future congressional candidacy
-Wayne N. Aspinall
-Finances
-John D.J. Moore in Ireland
-Ann H(emmingway) Watson (Mrs. Arthur Watson)
-Children
-Meeting with President
-Ambassador's residence
-Need
-Lunch, food
-Chef
-Charles A.J.M. de Gaulle's funeral
66

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Stuart W. Rockwell
-Stay in England
-Annenberg
-Britannia
-Meeting with staff
-US embassies
-Annenberg Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-Staff
-Annenberg’s views
-Staff in Paris
-Two unnamed Princeton classmates of Rumsfeld's
-Arthur Watson's work
-R. Sargeant Shriver's work
-Holmes[?], Steigman[?], and Culley[?] [Forenames unknown]
-Holmes’ father, Julius C. Holmes
-Service under Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Policy statements
-Holmes’ work
-Career Foreign Service officers
-State Department knowledge of politics
-Edward M. Korry
-Compared with Finch
-John F. Kennedy
-Political knowledge
-Al [Surname unintelligible]
-Congressional race


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 18
[Privacy]
[Duration: 18s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 18

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


-Staff in London
67

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-A Conservative Democrat [name unintelligible]
-[Name unintelligible]
-British Parliament
-Ireland
-Parliament
-Population
-History
-Potato Famine Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-Future trips
-Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America
-Use in speeches
-A letter
-Hill
-Francisco Franco to Johnson
-Views on Vietnam War

[Unintelligible]


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 59s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12

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


Campaign practices
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Hill's information from Maine attorney general, James S. Erwin


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 5m 37s ]
68

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)




END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13

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


Politics
-Incumbency Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-William Howard Taft
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Herbert C. Hoover
-Johnson
-Vietnam War, economy
-Possible 1968 race
-Johnson
-Compared to Humphrey
-Critics
-Travel
-Reaction
-Television coverage
-Compared with coverage of the President
-President's schedule
-May 21, 1971 dedication of the Johnson Library

Finch's and Rumsfeld's trip
-Forthcoming press conference
-Kissinger
-Backgrounders
-Meetings with Rogers

Middle East
-Rogers’ work in Middle East
-Emphasis in Finch and Rumsfeld’s upcoming press conference
-Comment in May 20, 1971 Cabinet meeting
-State Department meeting
-Anwar el-Sadat
-Unknown staffer’s view
-Rogers’ statements in previous Cabinet meeting

US foreign policy
-Finch and Rumsfeld’s upcoming statements
-Vietnam
69

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-USSR
-PRC
-Europe
-President's travels, Johnson's travels
-Norse Capitals
-NATO
-Cooperation
-Western Europe Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
-World wars
-Deaths
-Peace
-Bipartisan nature of establishment
-Future


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 36s ]


EUROPE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14

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


Drugs
-Problem in military
-Finch's and Rumsfeld's efforts
-President's meeting with Arthur G. (“Art”) Linkletter
-Linkletter's speeches at schools
-Possible tour of military bases in Europe
-Linkletter's daughter
-Compared with alcohol
-Causes
-Diversion for military troops
-Need for community among troops
-Volunteer Army
70

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)




A memo from Rumsfeld regarding Special Trade Representative
-Peter M. Flanigan
-H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Future meeting with President

Finch and Rumsfeld left at 6:10 pm.
Conv. No. 501-29 (cont.)
Secret White House Tapes |

501–29

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