537–4

Conversation No. 537-4

Date: July 5, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:03 pm and 6:15 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

Certification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment
-Ceremony
-”Young Americans in Concert”
-The press
-Photo and film shots
-Race
-Young Americans group
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-Reaction to the White House and to the presidency
-The President’s arrival from Camp David by helicopter
-Photographs
-Refreshments
-Accommodations
-Washington Hotel
-Reaction of young people to staying in hotels
-Group’s forthcoming trip to Europe Conv. No. 537-2 (cont.)
-Concert
-Possible public performance in Washington, DC after trip
-Constitution Hall
-John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opening
-Inaugural concert
-Young people
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Significance of ceremony
-Compared to formal signing ceremonies
-Public service jobs bill
-Ceremonial events
-Compared to Eagle Scouts
-William H. Carruthers
-Effectiveness
-Unnamed person’s reaction
-Robert L. Kunzig
-Procedures for the Twenty-sixth Amendment
-Kunzig
-John J. Gilligan
-Ohio ratification
-Delivery of certification document to the General Services
Administration [GSA]
-Pick-up by unnamed GSA clerk
-Credit, press coverage
-Ceremony
-Press coverage
-Television networks
-Witnesses
-Race
-The President’s meeting with Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Black constituents
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-Youth group
-Signing ceremony pens
-Parker brand

[The President talked to the White House operator at 4:28 pm]

[Conversation No. 537-4A]
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
[See Conversation No. 6-139]

[End of telephone conversation]

[Pause]

Young people
-Visibility
-Media coverage
-President’s Commission on Campus Unrest
-Establishment in June 1970
-Dr. G. Alexander Heard
-Changes since 1970
-1970 statement about crisis in the university system
-Commencement addresses
-Anti-Vietnam War protests
-Decline
-Attention paid by students, press

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 4:29 pm

Certification ceremony for the Twenty-sixth Amendment
-Press coverage
-Robert Pierpoint
-Mexican girl
-Reaction
-Spirit of event
-Eighteen-year-olds
-Attitude towards presidency
-The President’s remarks
-Distribution of signing ceremony pens
-J. Bruce Whelihan
-East Room setting
-Press room
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-The President’s birthday call to Julie Nixon Eisenhower in Athens, Greece


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 9s ] Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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-”Young Americans in Concert”
-Black youth
-Singing
-Comparison to Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-National Archives event, July 3, 1971
-Army Chorus
-Youths
-Television networks
-Coverage of event
-Herbert E. Kaplow
-Attitude towards children
-Jewish families
-Bar Mitzvahs

Jews
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Henry A. Kissinger, Leonard Garment
-Reaction to case
-Compared to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg espionage case
-Morton H. Halperin
-Alger Hiss

Blacks
-Espionage
-Activism compared to Communism
-Angela Y. Davis
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Jews
-Espionage

National Broadcasting Company [NBC] special on the Pentagon Papers
-Max Frankel and news panel
-James J. Kilpatrick, Jr.
-Questioning
-Frankel’s performance Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-Benjamin C. Bradlee
-Ken Crawford [?]
-Kilpatrick


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Privacy]
[Duration: 11s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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-Kilpatrick

Values
-The President’s remarks at certification ceremony
-Strength, wealth
-Idealism
-Practical application
-Youths
-Haynes B. Johnson
-Washington Post article
-Basic needs
-Discretionary needs
-Higher, spiritual needs
-Path for the future

Pentagon Papers case
-The President’s July 6, 1971 Kansas City appearance
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-Possible statement
-William P. Rogers’ role
-Polls
-Public opinion
-Ellsberg’s revelation of the documents
-Public exposure to issue
-Supreme Court decision
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:28 pm

President’s schedule
-The barber
-Forthcoming trip

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm

Pentagon Papers case
-Melvin R. Laird

Vietnam War
-Opponents of the President’s policies
-The war as issue during 1972 campaign
-Gerald R. Ford’s reaction
-Democratic candidates
-Effectiveness as issue
-Scripps Howard News Service
-The President and Republicans
-Opponents
-Kansas City appearance by the President
-Press conference
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Lives compared to First Amendment rights
-Charles W. Colson
-Congress
-Press attitude
-Martin S. Hayden’s editorial
-Television appearance
-Presentation of issue
-The President’s efforts to end the war
-Necessity of secrecy
-Cambodia, Laos
-Decrease in US casualty figures
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-Forthcoming Kansas City appearance
-Hayden’s attendance
-Allusion to channels of foreign policy
-The People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Europe, Middle East Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-Number of the President’s meetings with heads of state
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Confidential nature
-Josip Broz Tito
-Record
-State Department
-Head of state dinners
-France, Germany, England
-Italy
-Romania
-Thailand, Belgium
-The Pope
-Confidentiality of meetings
-Warren E. Burger’s recounting of anecdote about Benjamin Franklin
-Sealing of the minutes of the Constitutional Convention for forty years
-John Adams, Thomas Jefferson

Pentagon Papers case
-New York Times
-Editorial
-Stewart J. O. Alsop
-Frankel’s veracity
-Neil Sheehan’s involvement
-Kilpatrick’s questions
-Sheehan’s involvement
-Leak of information
-John N. Mitchell
-Colson
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Request for private report
-Laird
-Public opinion
-Delays
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-Limitation of access by the New York Times, Washington Post
-Rich Smith [?]
-Access preference to the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times
-Don Ervin, Aldo B. (“Elbow”) Beckman
-Beckman’s father-in-law
-Release of information
-World War II
-Chicago Tribune Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Kennedy’s administration
-Los Angeles Times
-Laos
-1962 accords
-Ho Chi Minh Trail
-Timing
-The President’s conversation with Haig
-Security clearances
-Limitations on non-governmental contractor personnel clearances
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] briefings for President in 1961-68 period
out of office
-Denial by Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
-McGeorge Bundy, Research and Development [RAND] Corporation
-Haldeman’s need for clearance while handling Fairchild account for the J.
Walter Thompson Agency
-Limitation of outsider clearances in the future
-Benefits
-Need for confidentiality
-Effect on Rogers

Schedule
-Reverend John J. McLaughlin

The President’s July 6, 1971 Kansas City speech
-Topics to be covered
-Comparison to Rochester, New York and Birmingham, Alabama remarks
-Foreign policy
-Confidentiality of meetings with foreign leaders
-Helsinki
-Allusion to ongoing negotiations
-SALT
-Television coverage
-Filming of Kansas City appearance
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-Camera set-up, lighting
-Timing in relation to availability of film to networks
-Topics
-Foreign policy emphasis
-Kissinger

Ziegler left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-News summary
-Television commentary on the President’s July 3, 1971 National Archives
speech
-Dan Rather
-NBC
-Kaplow
-Bicentennial
-Bicentennial Commission
-Need to strengthen membership
-Staff
-Distribution of film of event

Speeches
-The President compared to Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Public perceptions
-Frequency of radio talks

The President’s television appearances
-Certification ceremony’s effectiveness
-Other events
-Decision to forgo July 1 press conference
-Pentagon Papers as focus
-Louis Harris poll, George H. Gallup poll
-Foreign policy
-Kissinger
-Domestic policy issues
-John B. Connally

Connally
-Possible effectiveness as Secretary of State
-Haldeman’s conversation with Connally
-Connally’s morale
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Economic policy
-Hobart Rowen and other columnists
-Commentary about possible changes
-Arthur F. Burns
-Connally
-Albert E. Sindlinger’s comments about effect on the stock market

Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National Security]
[Duration: 2m 44s ]


INDIA-PAKISTAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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An unknown person [Bull?] entered at an unknown time after 4:28 pm

President’s schedule

The unknown person [Bull?] left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm

Items requested by the President

Pentagon Papers
-Statements feasibility

Presidential approval poll
-Effect of Pentagon Papers case and recent events
-Gallup poll
-Chapin
-White House poll
-Gallup poll
-Harris poll
-Colson
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-Press conference
-Patrick J. Buchanan’s analysis
-Impact of Pentagon Papers case

Vietnam veterans’ demonstration
-John F. Kerry

The President and Haldeman left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)