558–10

Conversation No. 558-10

Date: August 9, 1971
Time: 5:44 pm - 6:18 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ellsworth F. Bunker and Henry A. Kissinger; the White House
photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 558-9 (cont.)



John D. Ehrlichman

Stephen B. Bull [?] entered at an unknown time after 5:44 pm.

Request for a call from George P. Shultz

Bull [?] left at an unknown time before 5:47 pm.

Vietnam
-US
-Kissinger
-Negotiations
-Bunker
-Nguyen Van Thieu

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 5:44 pm.

Refreshments

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 5:47 pm.

Vietnam
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Telephone call to Bunker
-People's Republic of China [PRC] trip
-Possible impact
-Peace
-Telephone call to Kissinger
-PRC
-North Vietnam

The President talked with Shultz between 5:47 pm and 5:48 pm.

[Conversation No. 558-10A]

[See Conversation No. 7-79]

[End of telephone conversation]

Foreign policy
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 558-10 (cont.)


-Vietnam
-Bunker’s conversation with Thieu
-US and PRC
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-USSR
-India
-Kissinger
-Meeting with Indian Ambassador
-Possible military action
-Indira Gandhi
-Invitation from the President

An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time after 5:48 pm.

-India-Pakistan relations
-Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan
-Sheik Mujibur Rahman
-Indian Ambassador
-Pakistan announcement
-Trial
-Awami League
-East Bengal
-Awami League
-East Pakistan
-News service
-Expulsion
-Vietnam
-Elections
-Thieu
-Nguyen Cao Ky
-Mutual disdain
-Previous election results
-Communists
-Poll
-Lt. Gen. Duong Van Minh
-Ky
-Thieu
-Bunker’s conversation with Thieu
-South Vietnam government
-Minh
-US Congress
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 558-10 (cont.)


-Analogy to Greece
-Minh
-Lower house elections
-Timing
-Thieu’s position
-Minh
-Observers
-Congress
-Committee for Peace and Freedom
-Richard M. Scammon
-Military situation
-Level of activity
-Casualties
-US
-Weekly numbers
-Type of fighting
-Defensive compared to offensive
-South Vietnamese
-South Vietnamese
-North Vietnamese
-North Vietnam
-Possible offensive
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-Possible political action
-US action
-Cambodia
-Laos
-North Vietnamese infiltration of supplies
-[Ho Chi Minh Trail]
-1970 compared to 1971
-Cambodia
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-US aid
-Thieu
-I, II Corps
-Reorganization
-Tank battalion
-Reserves
-II Corps
-Troop ceiling
-Thieu
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 558-10 (cont.)


-Forthcoming election
-Prospects for political survival
-1972
-Cambodia
-Thieu
-Possible military action
-Timing
-Forces
-Size
-Divisions
-Prospects for 1972
-US withdrawal
-Possible impact on South Vietnam
-Bunker’s conversation with Thieu
-I Corps
-South Korea forces
-Withdrawal
-Impact on southern provinces
-I Corps
-Unknown person
-Delta
-Quang Nam
-Quang Hi [?]
-Negotiations
-Kissinger
-David K.E. Bruce
-William P. Rogers
-Bunker's Assessment
-North Vietnam
-PRC
-Election
-Casualties
-Economy
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Thieu
-Le Duc Tho
-Possible arrival in Paris
-Timing
-Meaning
-President’s instructions to Kissinger
 29

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 558-10 (cont.)


-Publication of record
-Xuan Thuy
-Le Duc Tho
-PRC
-Statement
-Thieu
-US withdrawal
-US military assistance
-US Congress
-Stockpile
-Military services
-Congress
-Helicopters
-Tanks
-M-48's
-USSR
-North Vietnam
-Laos
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-World War II comparison
-Germany
-M-48's
-Negotiations
-Seven points
-Possible settlement
-Publication of record
-Nine points
-PRC
-Forthcoming trip
-Vietnam
-Kissinger
-Friends
-New York
-Invitations
-Lectures
-Vietnam
-Bunker
-Graduating class of 1916
-Support
-Kingman Brewster, Jr.
-Kissinger
 30

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 558-10 (cont.)


-Trip to Peking
-Clark M. Clifford
-Article
-PRC trip
-Seven points
-Negotiations
Publication of record

Bunker’s wife [Carol C. (“Laise”) Bunker]
-Health
-Lunch
-Bunker

President's appreciation for Bunker's and Bruce's work
-Kissinger
-Memoirs

Bunker and Kissinger left at 6:18 pm.