613–6

Conversation No. 613-6

Date: November 2, 1971
Time: 5:25 pm - 6:55 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, Clark MacGregor, Henry A. Kissinger,
Richard K. Cook and Ronald L. Ziegler; Stephen B. Bull and the White House photographer
were present at the beginning of the meeting.

Ford
-Schedule

[Seating arrangements]

Arends's district

Vietnam
-Troop withdrawal
-Political situation in House of Representatives
-October 19, 1971 vote
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Chart
-April 1, 1971 vote
-Draft bill
-Withdrawal deadline
-Democrats
-Republicans
-Procurement Bill
-Michael J. Mansfield Amendment
-MacGregor
-Schedule
-Rate
-Numbers
-Need for secrecy in meeting
-Negotiations
-Status
-Troop withdrawal
-Timing
-Announcement
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-North Vietnamese strategy
-US Air Force
-POWs
-Ceasefire
-South Vietnamese military capability
-Casualties
-POWs
-Hanoi
-Possible number
-Missing in action [MIAs]
-Negotiations
-Kissinger’s experience
-North Vietnamese strategy
-The President's cease-fire offer
-Military aid
-POWs
-Deadline
-Aid
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Political settlement
-Laos and Cambodia
-POWs
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Possible military operations
-Blockade
-North Vietnam
-Bombing
-Escalation
-Political situation in House of Representatives
-Possible action
-Rate of troop withdrawal
-Recent average
-Status of the war
-POWs
-1972 election
-USS Pueblo
-Negotiations
-Political situation in House of Representatives
-Timing of vote
-Negotiations
-Political situation in House of Representatives
-Speaker
-The President's forthcoming statement
-Timing
-Negotiations
-The President's opponents
-Historical record
-Activities
-Possible House action
-Conferees
-Political situation in House of Representatives
-Carl B. Albert
-Possible delay in action
-Lewis Deschler
-Pending legislation
-Mansfield Amendment
-Rhodesian chrome amendment
-Gordon L. Allott
-Military pay raise amendment
-Charles McC. Mathias
-Government employees comparability pay raise amendment

Rhodesian chrome
-State Department
 14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)



Vietnam
-Political situation in House of Representatives
-Pending legislation
-Rules Committee
-Appropriations bill
-Delay
-George H. Mahon
-Albert
-Otto E. Passman
-Foreign aid bill
-Timing

Foreign aid program
-Possible continuing resolution
-Albert, Mahon, Frank T. Bow, Ford
-House actions
-Timing
-Mansfield Amendment
-Mahon and Bow
-Allen J. Ellender and Mansfield
-Appropriations bill
-Passman's scheduling

An unknown person [Manolo Sanchez?] entered at an unknown time after 5:25 pm.

Refreshments

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 6:22 pm.

-Possible continuing resolution
-Dr. John A. Hannah
-Stuart Symington and Lowell P. Weicker
-Frank F. Church's views
-Humanitarian
-Israel
-Importance
-National security
-William P. Rogers
-Korea, Thailand
-Treaty obligations
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-South Vietnam, Thailand, Japan
-Mansfield amendment
-Possible continuing resolution
-Legislative strategy
-Senate vote, October 29, 1971
-Marshall Plan
-Robert J. Dole
-Administration efforts
-Football analogy
-George D. Aiken
-Previous votes on amendments
-Democrats on Foreign Relations Committee
-Edward M. Kennedy, Edmund S. Muskie, Hubert H. Humphrey, George S.
McGovern and Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson

Vietnam
-Republicans' support of, 1960-68
-Historical record
-Views of the President's congressional opponents
-Robert L. Leggett

Foreign aid program
-Popular opinion
-Marshall Plan
-Arends's vote in 1947
-Chicago Tribune
-Theodore Roosevelt
-Democrats' views

Vietnam
-Democrats
-Responsibility
-Actions
-The President's actions
-Reduction of forces, casualties
-Leggett's speech
-Democrats
-Humphrey, Muskie and Kennedy
-Ngo Dinh Diem's murder
-John F. Kennedy
-Troop withdrawal announcement
 16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Rate
-Forthcoming announcement
-Timing

Foreign aid program
-Arends’s possible action
-MacGregor
-Possible continuing resolution
-Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Possible Senate action
-Rogers
-Statement
-Forthcoming meeting with Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
-Bill
-Senate liberals
-Israel
-Aid
-Military compared to humanitarian
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Greece, Turkey, Israel and South Vietnam
-US allies
-Internal governments
-Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Timing
-November 15, 1971
-Handling
-Democrats voting for the President's program
-Forthcoming election
-The President’s endorsements
-Republicans
-Mathias
-MacGregor's possible meeting with Robert C. (“Bob”) Wilson
-Republican National Committee

House of Representatives
-Southern Democrats
-Budget

Busing
-Grand Rapids judge, Albert J. Engle, Jr.
-Order
 17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Father, Albert J. Engle
-Order
-John N. Mitchell
-Conversation with Ford
-Possible intervention
-Supreme Court
-Department of Justice
-White House response
-Mitchell and John D. Ehrlichman
-The South
-Order
-Suburban school districts
-Number
-Public opinion

Philip A. Hart
-Recall petition

Busing
-Possible Justice Department intervention
-Grand Rapids case
-MacGregor
-Possible constitutional amendment
-Democrats
-Forthcoming vote
-Grand Rapids case
-Mitchell
-Judge Engle
-Discontinuation of order
-Possible consequence

Vietnam
-POWs
-1972 election
-Negotiations
-Mansfield Amendment
-US options
-Bombing
-Cambodia and Laos
-POWs
 18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


Foreign aid program
-The President’s forthcoming conversation with Kissinger
-Announcement
-Timing
-Possible continuing resolution
-Timing of vote

Vietnam
-Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Timing
-Troop withdrawal
-Rate
-Impact
-Deadline

University of Michigan
-Football game previous week

[General conversation]

Arends’s possible conversation with Peter M. Flanigan
-Dean Burch

Ford, Arends, MacGregor, Cook and Ziegler left at 6:22 pm.

MacGregor

Vietnam
-Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Timing
-Foreign aid program
-Possible continuing resolution
-Troop withdrawal
-Rate
-Possible reaction
-Doves
-Ford and Arends
-Doves

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 6:22 pm.
 19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


Oval Office
-Rose Mary Woods
-Paintings

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:53 pm.

Vietnam
-Troop withdrawal
-Deadline
-Consequence
-POWs
-The President's conversation with Josip Broz Tito
-Hawks
-Recent meeting
-The President’s allies
-Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Timing
-Foreign aid
-Mansfield Resolution
-Negotiations
-Le Duc Tho
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman's possible action
-Negotiations
-Le Duc Tho
-Paris
-Senate's possible reaction
-US options
-Publicity
-US strategy
-North Vietnam
-Dilatory line
-USSR
-September 13, 1971 action
-US strategy
-Congress’s actions
-Timing
-Meetings
-Draft
-William J. Porter
-Liaison office
-POWs
 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Blockade
-The President’s forthcoming trip to PRC, USSR
-POWs
-1972 election
-North Vietnamese strategy
-Soviets
-Communist Party talks
-Transcript
-Summit
-The President’s reelection
-Previous US actions
-Cambodia
-Withdrawal
-Negotiations
-May 14, 1969 speech
-February 1969
-Bombing
-Possible US military action
-1972 election
-Bombing
-POWs
-Timing
-Options
-Bombing
-Blockade
-Timing
-1972 election
-Blockade
-USSR
-Bombing
-Negotiations
-Le Duc Tho
-Foreign aid program
-Possible continuing resolution
-Senate
-Xuan Thuy
-Prospects
-Mansfield Resolution
-The President's Senate opponents
-Actions
-Compared to the President’s 1952 comments
 21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Frequency of introduction
-Mansfield
-Pentagon Papers
-Ngo Dinh Diem murder
-Thieu
-Election
-John Kennedy, McGeorge Bundy, Dean Rusk, Roger Hilsman and Henry
Cabot Lodge
-Rusk
-Cables
-Harriman
-The President's opponents
-Demonstrations
-The President's press conference of September 16, 1971
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.'s trip to South Vietnam
-State Department
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-The President's September 16 press conference
-Significance
-Bureaucracy
-Reaction to the President’s successors

UN vote on Taiwan, Republic of China
-The President's statement
-The President's opponents' reaction
-US activities
-News magazines' coverage
-Edward Kennedy's speech
-US popular opinion
-Reaction to UN conduct
-The President’s reaction
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s statement
-Kissinger's previous trip to the People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Timing
-Foreign aid
-Continuing resolution

The President's successes
-Kissinger's staff meeting
-White House action
-Number of participants
 22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Press
-Bureaucracy

UN vote on Taiwan
-The President's statement
-Press reaction
-Ronald W. Reagan

The President's opponents
-Liberals

Possible Presidents
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Views regarding John W. Gardner
-Democrats
-Jackson
-Reagan

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Foreign aid program
-Possible continuing resolution
-Kissinger's previous trip to the PRC
-Backgrounders
-Alternatives
-The President's note to Tito
-Kissinger's forthcoming meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Content
-Tito
-POWs
-Thieu

Middle East
-Kissinger's negotiations
-Timing
-Dobrynin
-State Department
-The President’s possible handling
-Israel
-Phantoms
-USSR
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Diplomatic leverage
-The President's forthcoming conversations
-William P. Rogers and John N. Mitchell
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversations
-Dobrynin
-Mitchell
-Yitzhak Rabin
-Kissinger’s forthcoming recommendations
-Timing

World War I
-Australian casualties
-Gallipoli
-New Zealand
-World War II

Vietnam
-Casualties
-1970 election
-Senators
-Indiana
-George A. Murphy and Robert H. Finch
-Ralph T. Smith of Illinois
-John V. Tunney
-Murphy
-Finch and Reagan
-Murphy

The President's foreign policy
-International monetary policy
-UN vote, foreign aid vote
-Press reaction

Kissinger's schedule
-New York Times Editorial Board
-John B. Oakes
-Washington Star

The President's forthcoming trip to the PRC
-Kissinger's schedule
-1972 election
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 613-6 (cont.)


-Television
-Chicago

New York Times
-Pentagon Papers
-Oakes
-Kissinger's schedule
-William McMahon's comments
-Editorial Board
-Daniel Schwarz
-Abraham M. Rosenthal
-Kissinger's schedule
-Oakes

The President’s schedule
-Forthcoming state dinner for McMahon


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14
[National Security]
[Duration: 8s ]


AUSTRALIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14

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The President and Kissinger left at 6:55 pm.