Secret White House Tapes

654–1

About this recording

654–1
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • WILLIAM S. WHITE
  • UNKNOWN
  • Peter M. Flanigan
  • White House operator
January 24, 1972
Conversation No. 654-1

Date: January 24, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:55 pm and 6:09 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Secret talks
-Questions from press
-Public talks

John N. Mitchell
-Recent conversation with the President, January 24, 1972
-Mitchell’s previous conversations with Lee R. Nunn and Richard B. Ogilvie

[The President talked with William S. White between 4:59 pm and 5:02 pm.]

[Conversation No. 654-1A]

[See Conversation No. 19-54]

[End of telephone conversation]

Wilbur D. Mills
-The President’s recent conversation, January 24, 1972
-Mills’s health
-Dr. W. Kenneth Riland
-Return to Congress
-Timing
-Riland
-The President’s conversation with Abbie L. (Daigh) Mills and Wilbur Mills’s
granddaughter
-Ages
-Value
2

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


The President’s schedule, January 24, 1972
-Conversation with Frank T. Bow
-Meeting with Frank L. Rizzo


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 25s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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-Rizzo’s view of Democrats
-Rizzo’s view of blacks
-Rizzo’s opinion of Administration’s view
-Federal money
-John D. Ehrlichman


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 5s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
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The President’s schedule
-Haldeman’s suggestions for possible meetings
-Peter M. Flanigan
-January 26, 1972
-Trip to People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Changes to departure date
3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Guam
-Hawaii
-Accommodations
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-[Forename unknown] Roth house
-Location
-Press
-Marine base on Oahu
-Commander’s [Brig. Gen. Victor Armstrong’s] house
-Location
-[Edwin W. Pauley’s?] house
-Coconut Island
-Landing
-Honolulu
-Commander’s house
-View
-Beach
-Security and communications considerations
-Signing of economic report
-PRC trip
-Background reading for the President
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Cabinet meeting
-Leaders meeting, January 26, 1972
-Cabinet and Congressional leaders breakfast meeting, February 8, 1972
-State of the World message
-Avoiding news
-Lincoln Day
-Press conference, February 10, 1972
-Trip to PRC
-Departure, February 17, 1972
-Bipartisan meeting
-Cabinet, leaders and governors
-Volunteers and Congress on American Business
-Construction industry committee, January 28, 1972
-Meeting place
-Labor Department
-Cabinet Room
-The President’s possible attendance
-Possible value
-Charles W. Colson’s work
4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Size
-S. Zalman Shazar
-Presentation to the President

An unknown woman entered at an unknown time after 5:02 pm

-Flanigan

The unknown woman left at an unknown time before 5:18 pm.

-Shazar
-Presentation to the President
-Encyclopedia Judaica
-Yitzhak Rabin
-Israeli and American publishers
-Pope Paul VI
-[Elizabeth, Queen of England] Elizabeth II
-Kissinger
-Rabin
-Press coverage
-Value
-Extent of White House invitations to Jewish groups
-Jewish War veterans

Flanigan entered at 5:18 pm.

Flanigan’s schedule
-Meeting with Terence Cardinal Cooke

Campaign and aid to parochial schools
-Catholics
-John B. Connally’s views
-Administration effort to get votes
-Voting preferences
-Religion
-Edmund S. Muskie
-The President’s conversation with Connally
-1968 election
-Richard J. Cardinal Cushing
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Cooke’s talk with Flanigan
5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Muskie
-Bishops’ resolution
-Cooke’s work
-Protestants

Flanigan
-New position with administration
-Connally
-Difficulty
-Sensitivity
-Peter G. Peterson
-William P. Rogers
-Connally
-Kissinger
-Need to work as insider
-Constituency
-Connally
-Confidence
-Responsibilities in international economic matters
-Staff
-Relations with Cabinet department and White House

International economic matters
-Organization and responsibilities
-Kissinger and National Security Council [NSC]
-Peterson’s previous record
-Kissinger and NSC
-Duties
-Relations with State Department and Connally
-Flanigan
-Expropriation, trade
-Broker role
-Kissinger
-Connally
-Connally
-Administration policy
-The President’s schedule and knowledge
-Connally’s concerns
-Trade
-Expropriation
-Foreign loans
6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Export-Import [Ex-Im] Bank
-East-West trade
-Soviet Summit
-Peterson
-Politics
-Kissinger
-Conflicts
-US policy toward underdeveloped nations
-Connally
-Staff
-Socialist countries
-Japanese and European examples
-Flanigan’s new position
-Difficulty
-Compared with Richard V. Allen in job
-Connally’s confidence
-Kissinger’s confidence
-Visibility of job
-Future role outside White House
-State and Treasury Departments
-Coordination with Kissinger, [Peterson], Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Value
-Coordination with other duties
-Frederic V. Malek
-Work with US Ambassadors
-The President’s recent appointments
-Somalia
-Maurice H. Stans
-Unknown country
-Unknown person
-Disposition of former duties
-Flanigan’s view
-Flanigan’s previous talk with Haldeman
-Peterson’s previous position
-Commerce Department
-Confirmation
-Ehrlichman’s view
-Work with Connally
-Connally’s confidence
-Connally’s views on US policy
-The President
7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-State Department
-Peterson
-Connally’s efficacy
-Treasury Department staff
-Connally’s efficacy
-Visits of businessmen to White House
-Peterson’s views
-Time required
-Donald McI. Kendall and Thomas Watson
-Time required
-Ehrlichman
-George P. Shultz
-Herbert Stein
-1972 election
-Contact at White House
-Ehrlichman
-Domestic policy
-Staff meeting
-Ehrlichman, Shultz and Stein
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Robert H. Finch
-Soviet Union [?]
-Rumsfeld
-Domestic Council, Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
-Colson
-Trade associations
-Division of labor
-Staff
-Peterson
-Recruiting at White House
-Financing of operation
-Departments
-Congress
-Foreign Relations Committee
-White House
-Allen
-Tenure
-Possible role
-Flanigan’s view
8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 14s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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


Allen
-Possible ambassadorship
-Marital status
-Children
-Background
-Portugal

Ambassadors
-Ridgeway B. Knight
-Career

Allen
-Value
-Forthcoming campaign
-Ambassadorial position
-Contact with businessmen
-Present role
-Peterson
-Request to see Haldeman
-Haldeman’s staff
-Present role
-Allen
-Peterson
-Knowledge
-Congress

Businessmen
-Contact with White House
-Points of view
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-View of Administration, Congress, regulatory agencies
-Making distinctions
-Allen
-Tenure

Knight
-Tenure in Portugal

Allen
-Possible Ambassadorship position
-Portugal
-Talks with Flanigan
-Forthcoming campaign work

Portugal
-Appeal of ambassadorship
-Government
-Conservatism
-Beauty of country
-Mozambique and Angola

Wiley T. Buchanan, Jr.

Jerome H. Holland
-Sweden
-Dr. Ralph J. Bunche’s former position at United Nations [UN]
-Availability
-Football career
-Cornell University
-Rogers’s view
-Meetings with the President
-Sweden

Edward M. Korry
-Rogers’s view
-Overseas Private Investment Corporation [OPIC]


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


[National Security]
[Duration: 14s ]


INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9

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-Views of Irving Kristol and William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Conservatives
-OPIC
-Possible Ambassadorial post
-Ceylon [Sri Lanka]
-Rogers’s view
-Flanigan’s, Kissinger’s and Haldeman’s possible influence
-Appointment by John F. Kennedy
-Economic matters
-State Department
-Memoranda to the President
-Ethiopia
-State Department’s Africa department
-Writing
-Chile
-US policy
-Kissinger’s view
-1972 election
-OPIC
-Bradford Mills
-Duration of Korry’s job
-Connally
-Possible study
-Raw materials
-Compared to other ambassadors
-Mills
-Possible role with Flanigan
-Forthcoming meeting
-Relationship with the President
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)



Ambassadorial positions
-West Germany
-William P. Clements, Jr.
-Charles D. (“Tex”) Thornton
-Unknown charge d’affairs
-Kissinger’s view
-Richard M. Paget
-Walter N. Thayer
-Frederick R. Kappel
-Age

Willy Brandt
-Political orientation
-[David] Kenneth Rush’s view
-Relations with businessmen
-George C. McGhee

Ambassadorial positions
-Paget
-Consulting firm
-Purchase by First National City Bank
-Roy L. Ash Council
-Possible call from Connally
-Relations with Connally
-Ash Council
-Connally’s view
-Patrick E. Haggerty

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:18 pm and
5:47 pm.]

[Conversation No. 654-1B]

[See Conversation No. 19-55]

[End of telephone conversation]

Ambassadorial positions
-Haggerty
-Connally’s views
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Talk with Flanigan
-Age
-Compared with Paget
-Scholarly inclination
-Paget
-Wilson Allen Wallis
-As scholar
-College presidents supporting the President
-William J. McGill
-Flanigan’s view
-Columbia University
-Chancellor, University of California at San Diego
-Performance at Columbia
-West Germany
-Importance
-Rush
-Bonn
-Rush’s view
-State Department

[The White House operator talked with the President at 5:47 pm.]

[Conversation No. 654-1C]

[See Conversation No. 19-56]

[End of telephone conversation]

Ambassadorial positions
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Qualifications
-Reader’s Digest
-Profitability
-Mail rates
-Usefulness to the President
-Committee for a New Prosperity
-Relations with publishing industry
-Lewis’s support for the President
-New York
-California residents
-Henry Salvatori
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Desired post
-Italy
-Possible post
-West Germany
-Ostopolitik
-Salvatori’s conservatism
-Brandt
-View of businessmen
-Franklin D. Murphy
-Qualifications
-Publishing business
-President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board [PFIAB]
-Relations with Kissinger
-Medical profession
-Possible view of Brandt
-Nobel Prize
-Connally’s views
-Wallis
-Selection process
-The President’s forthcoming talk with Connally
-Paget
-Haggerty
-Paget
-Business connections
-Qualifications
-Personality
-Company
-Cresap, McCormick and Paget
-First National City Bank
-McKenzie and Company
-Booz, Allen & Hamilton

Stein
-Compared to Paul W. McCracken
-Wife, Mildred Stein
-Recent conversations with Haldeman
-Press
-Conversations with [Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Call to television station
-Intelligence
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


Marina von N. Whitman
-Children
-School
-Stein’s view
-Age
-University of Pittsburgh
-Council of Economic Advisors CEA] staff
-Price Commission
-Husband, Robert F. Whitman
-Position
-Foundation for the Humanities
-Children
-Stein
-Talk with Flanigan
-Haldeman
-Sidwell Friends School
-Sidwell Friends School
-Rogers
-Haldeman’s son’s experience
-Father, John von Neumann
-Intelligence
-Death
-Mathematician
-Comparison with Albert Einstein
-The President’s view
-Children
-Intelligence
-Sidwell Friends School
-Haldeman’s son’s experience
-Liberal intellectualism
-Scholarships
-Von Neumann
-Rogers’s influence
-Stein
-Adele (Langston) Rogers
-Rogers C. B. Morton
-Adele Rogers
-Forthcoming call from Flanigan
-Instructions from the President
-Marina Whitman
-Foreign economics
15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Possible foundation grant for research
-The President’s interest
-Haldeman’s experience
-William Rogers’s call
-Age
-Von Neumann
-Death
-Age
-Relationship with daughter
-Cancer Research
-Robert Whitman
-Book on Christopher Marlowe
-Grant
-Foundation for the Humanities

National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities
-Nancy Hanks
-National Endowment for the Arts
-Ronald S. Berman
-National Endowment for the Humanities
-Conservatism
-Academic qualifications

Women in administration
-CEA
-Supreme Court
-CEA
-Breakthrough
-Marina Whitman

Marina Whitman
-Appearance
-Qualifications
-William Rogers
-Adele Rogers
-Flanigan’s forthcoming call
-Children
-Adele or William Rogers’s call to Sidwell Friends School
-The President’s role in suggesting Marina Whitman
-Importance of appointment
-Von Neumann
16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)



Paget
-Possible ambassadorial post
-West Germany

The President’s schedule
-Shipbuilder conference announcement
-Timing

Flanigan
-New post

Robert S. Ingersoll
-Ambassador to Japan
-The President’s comments
-Ingersoll’s and Shultz’s reaction
-Shultz
-Background


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 21s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16

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


Skiing

Flanigan left at 6:05 pm.

Flanigan
-Willingness to take new post
-Compared to White House staff
-New post
-Benefits
17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)


-Contact with businessmen
-Future role
-Undersecretary positions
-Cabinet

The President’s schedule
-Vietnam peace plan speech, January 25, 1972
-Length
-The President’s preparation
-Bipartisan leaders
-Kissinger briefing
-The President’s departure
-The President’s TV appearance
-News
-Announcements
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Kissinger’s Vietnam negotiations in Paris
-Publicity
-Announcement and briefing
-Foreign policy statement

Haldeman left at 6:09 pm.
Secret White House Tapes |

654–1

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