653–7

Conversation No. 653-7

Date: January 24, 1972
Time: 10:34 am - 11:02 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Henry A. Kissinger.
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

Vietnam
-Peace plan speech, January 25, 1972
-Briefing
-Media
-Evening story
-Possible questions for Senators
-Kissinger’s briefing
-John A. Scali’s briefing on India-Pakistan War
-News summary
-Democrats’ possible reaction
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Washington Post
-Mansfield
-All-Indochina peace conference
-Negotiations
-Final guarantee
-Speech
-Briefing
-Need for accuracy
-Text
-Timing
 10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Scali
-Leaks
-Ziegler
-Leaks
-Scali
-Clark MacGregor
-Herbert G. Klein
-Charles W. Colson
-Briefing
-Scheduling
-Scali
-Leaks
-Intentions
-Scheduling
-Foreign policy considerations
-Kissinger
-Meeting with William L. Safire
-Ziegler
-Knowledge of possible questions
-Ability
-Scali
-Knowledge of possible questions
-Ziegler
-Questions from Kissinger’s staff
-Answers
-Possible questions
-Deadline
-Congress
-Administration position
-Ziegler
-Staff
-Scheduling
-Network pool
-Schedule
-Request for time
-Foreign policy considerations
-Nguyen Van Thieu’s speech
-Timing
-Kissinger’s talk with Thieu
-Effect on networks
 11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


-Kissinger’s breakfast meeting with Melvin R. Laird, January 25, 1972
-Laird’s possible conversations with John C. Stennis and Armed
Services Committee members
-Timing
-Kissinger’s briefing
-Elliot L. Richardson
-John B. Connally
-John N. Mitchell
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Robert H. Finch
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-William P. Rogers
-George W. Romney
-John A. Volpe
-Calls
-Romney
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Ronald W. Reagan
-William F. (“Billy”) Graham
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Graham
-Location
-Virgin Islands
-Communications problem
-Johnson
-Rockefeller and Reagan
-Johnson
-Timing
-Briefing of ambassadors
-State Department
-Marshall Green
-Cables
-Timing of notification
-U. Alexis Johnson
-Cables
-Text, schedule
-Kissinger’s forthcoming talk with Sir James Plimsoll
-William McMahon
-The President’s wire
-State Department
-Kissinger’s briefing
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


-Japan


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 8s ]


JAPAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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


-Letter to Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
-Paris
-Television people
-Value
-Schedule
-Writing press
-Schedule
-Content
-Peace proposal
-Background
-Post-speech briefing
-History of negotiations
-Highlights
-Channels
-Maj. Gen. James D. (“Don”) Hughes’s role
-Walters’s role
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Training missions
-Channels
-Release of documents
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


-Nine points
-Chronology
-US position
-The President’s efforts
-Criticism
-The President’s talk with Kissinger, January 23, 1972
-Kissinger’s meeting with Safire, January 24, 1972
-Secret meetings
-Possible reaction
-Administration handling
-Progress by Johnson Administration
-Exposure
-Possible reaction
-Politics
-Public reaction
-Thieu
-Safire’s work on section of speech
-Pentagon Papers and Jack N. Anderson Papers
-Klein’s view
-Public right to know
-Jacob K. Javits’s dinner
-Support of the President
-Kissinger’s attendance
-The President’s unknown previous speech [on Cambodia, April 30, 1970?]
-William Atwood of Newsday
-Relation with Adlai E. Stevenson II
-Robert H. Abplanalp’s visit
-Frank Storer [sp?] of Long Island
-Reaction to speech
-Abplanalp’s reaction
-Atwood’s column
-The President’s critics
-Javits dinner
-Secrecy issue
-Harrison E. and Charlotte Y. (Rand) Salisbury
-Views
-Tone
-Views of guests
-Haldeman’s point
-Agreement with Kissinger
-Kissinger’s defense of issue
 14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


-Trust of foreign governments
-Vietnam casualties
-US responsibility
-Tone of argument
-Unknown black person
-Kissinger’s view
-Double standard
-North Vietnamese
-South Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians
-Unknown woman’s [Charlotte Salisbury?] accusations
-Thieu government
-The President
-The American people
-Unknown man’s [Harrison Salisbury?] reaction
-The President’s forthcoming speech
-Safire
-Secrecy in negotiations
-Haldeman’s and Kissinger’s view
-Senate adoption of peace proposal
-Contrasted with administration proposal
-Peace deadline

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:37 am.

Waldheim’s arrival

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:02 am.

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Deadline
-North Vietnamese proposal

The President’s schedule

Kissinger’s forthcoming action

The President, Haldeman, and Kissinger left at 11:02 am.
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)