556–1

Conversation No. 556-1

Date: August 6, 1971
Time: 9:42 am - 10:00 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
[The conversation was in progress when the recording began]

Vietnam negotiations
-Possible publicity
-Possible settlement
-Condition
-North Vietnam
-Acceptance of Nguyen Van Thieu
-Timing
-Vietnamese election
-Possible publicity
-Philip C. Habib
-Xuan Thuy
-David K.E. Bruce
-Channels
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters

Pakistan
-Frank F. Church statement
-Massacre
-Public opinion

Vietnam negotiations
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Possible release
-Timing
-Relationship to possible settlement

US-People's Republic of China [PRC] relations
-Unknown person
-Totalitarianism
-Adolf Hitler
-Benito Mussolini
-Communists
-Pragmatism
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 556-1 (cont.)


-Francisco Franco
-Greece
-Philosophical opposition compared to diplomatic relations
-PRC
-Barry M. Goldwater

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Summit
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Letter
-Possible publication
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Channel
-Aleksei N. Kosygin

PRC
-Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward R.F. Cox
-Possible trip to Peking
-Possible commerce with US
-Boeing Corporation

USSR
-Kissinger's call to Gerard C. Smith
-[Kama River truck plant contract with Mack Trucks, Inc]
-Summit

[Pause]

Busing
-President's position
-Liberal’s
-Mood of country
-Increasing conservatism

President's popularity
-Visit to New York
-Reception
-Forthcoming presidential election
-Nelson A. Rockefeller's assessment
 3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 556-1 (cont.)


US foreign relations
-Kissinger’s forthcoming briefing
-Five power concept
-Hugh S. Sidey
-Asia
-Reassessment of policy
-Combat [French journal]
-Foreign commentary
-US-Soviet relations
-Peking

National defense
-Budget
-Anti-ballistic Missile [ABM] limitations
-Smith's proposal
-USSR reaction
-Domestic political reaction
-Conservatives
-Possible impact on Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 59s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman?] at an unknown time
between 9:42 am and 10:00 am.

[Conversation No. 556-1A]
 4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 556-1 (cont.)


President's schedule
-Girls Nation meeting
-Press coverage
-News focus
-New Hampshire

[End of telephone conversation]


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 28s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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


[Pause]

Vietnam negotiations
-Habib
-Leaks
-Bureaucracy
-William P. Rogers
-Habib
-Possible publicity
-Compared to PRC trip announcement
-Effect on PRC

President's schedule
-Trip to Maine

Kissinger left at 10:00 am.
 5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)