665–3

Conversation No. 665-3

Date: February 3, 1972
Time: 10:53 am - 11:33 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ellsworth F. Bunker and Henry A. Kissinger.

President’s previous meeting with Kenneth B. Keating

President’s letter to Nepal
-Death of King [Mehendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva]
-Relationship with the US
-Bunker’s wife [Carol C. (Laise) Bunker]

King Mehendra’s health
-Illness
-News summary
-Skill at hunting

Crown Prince Birendra
-Age


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 14s ]


NEPAL


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)


Mrs. Bunker’s schedule
-Saigon
-King Mahendra’s death

Keating’s schedule
-Preparation for testimony
-Papers

US-India relations
-Keating’s previous conversation with Triloki Nath Kaul
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]

US foreign policy
-John B. Connally’s views

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 10:53 am.

Refreshments

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 11:25 am.

US-India relations
-The President’s and Keating’s experience
-US policy on India
-President’s previous conversation with Keating
-USSR and People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-US aid
-Amount
-United Nations [UN]
-PRC
-1962
-USSR
-Calcutta
-US policy
-Proposed relationship with India
-Advantages
-Possible concessions
 21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)


Bangladesh
-Indian Army
-Bengalis
-USSR, PRC
-West Bengal
-US interests
-Possible outcome

Vietnam
-Edmund S. Muskie’s speech, February 2, 1972
-Assessment
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
-President’s policy
-Morale
-News reports
-News summary
-New line
-Military situation
-Carrier
-B-52’s and A-1’s
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Show of US strength
-President’s forthcoming trip to PRC
-Communists’ morale
-Bombing
-Potential for devastation
-Morale
-Efficacy of interdiction
-Surface-to-Air Missile [SAM] sites
-Protective reaction
-SAM sites
-Kissinger’s upcoming conversation with Robert F. Ellsworth
-Shrikes [?]
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Accuracy of attack
-PRC trip
-Request to limit the attack
-Briefings
-PRC trip
-Protective reaction
-Definition
 22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)


-President’s instructions to Bunker
-Bunker’s forthcoming conversation with Abrams
-Briefings
-PRC trip
-SAM sites
-Number and location
-Laos
-B-52
-Giap Pass
-PRC trip
-Timing
-President’s request
-Protective reaction
-South Vietnam
-B-3 [?] front
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-PRC trip
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Moorer
-Timing
-I Corps
-Timing of possible attack
-Bunker
-Increase of planes and carriers
-Briefing, February 2, 1972
-Bombing
-Navy pilots
-Compared to US Air Force [USAF] pilots
-Accuracy of bombing
-B-3 [?]
-Laos
-Long Tieng
-Vang Pao’s forces
-Morale
-South Vietnamese army
-South Vietnamese army
-B-52s attacks
-Need for follow-up
-Number of casualties on the ground
-Abrams
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)


-Melvin R. Laird
-Bunker’s conversation with Gen. Hoang Xuan Lam
-Timing
-DMZ
-Gen. [Forename unknown] Nam
-US 9th Division
-Delta
-South Vietnamese 7th Division
-Conversation with Joseph W. Alsop
-Timing
-Cambodia
-Outcome of maneuver
-Abrams
-Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu’s actions
-Psychological aspect of upcoming offensive
-Unknown person
-B-52s
-Numbers
-Guam
-Moorer, Laird
-Kissinger’s upcoming conversation with Laird
-Aircraft carrier
-Delivery date
-Number of planes
-South Vietnamese army
-Offensive
-Aid
-Vietnamization
-Communists’ casualties
-Numbers
-Lam Son operation
-Lam Son
-Press reporting
-Cambodia
-34th Corps
-Sir Robert Thompson’s views
-Bunker’s tenure in office
-Request from the President
-G. McMurtrie Godley, William H. Sullivan
-Washington Post’s views
-New York Times
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)


-American “establishment”
-Reaction to Vietnam
-Bunker’s tenure in office
-Mrs. Bunker
-Offensive
-Upcoming Vietnam negotiations
-1972 election

Kissinger’s schedule
-Keating
-[Earl of Cromer] George R.S. Baring
-Foreign minister

Kissinger left at 11:25 am.

Vietnam
-Abrams
-Approximate force levels
-Negotiations
-Possible effect
-Residual force
-Potential numbers
-Gen. [Forename unknown] Leander’s letter to Abrams
-Request for divisions
-South Korean divisions
-Withdrawal in 1973
-Size of South Vietnamese army
-Popular forces
-Korean divisions
-Tran Kim’s Quang’s trip to Seoul
-Thieu
-Withdrawal
-Chief of Staff visit to Saigon
-Abrams
-Timing
-Type of military support
-Residual force
-President’s forthcoming troop announcement

Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr. entered at 11:27 pm.
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)


-President’s instructions to Haig
-Abrams
-Residual force
-Forthcoming announcement, April 1972
-Korean divisions
-Concerns
-Helicopters, logistical support
-Economic aid
-Congressional action
-Mrs. Bunker
-Bunker’s tenure
-Views of American people

Bunker and Haig left at 11:33 am.