Secret White House Tapes

679–8

About this recording

679–8
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Timothy G. Elbourne
  • John D. Ehrlichman
  • Henry A. Kissinger
  • Stephen B. Bull
  • Alexander M. Haig
  • John V. Brennan
  • Vernon Coffey
  • Sarah Coffey
  • Karen Coffey
  • Vernon C. Coffey
  • White House photographer
March 7, 1972
Conversation No. 679-8

Date: March 7, 1972
Time: 10:57 am - 12:31 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

Florida trip
-Rest
-The People’s Republic of China [PRC] trip

The President talked with Timothy G. Elbourne between 10:57 am and 10:58 am.

[Conversation No. 679-8A]

[See Conversation No. 21-9]

[End of telephone conversation]

William P. Rogers
-The President’s view
-The President’s remarks at Andrews Air Force Base, February 28, 1972
-The President’s meeting with Mao Tse-tung
-Chou En-lai
-Newsweek
-Press clippings
-State Department

The President’s schedule
-John B. Connally meeting
-Time
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Meeting on economic issues
-Wage Board and Price Commission
-Rogers meeting
-The President’s view
-Haldeman
-Possible line
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Backgrounder
-Haldeman’s view

Rogers
-PRC trip
-Mao Tse-tung meeting
-Rogers’s attendance
-Press
-Marshall Green
-Stewart J. O. Alsop [?]
-Kissinger
-State Department
-Stewart Alsop [?] and Kissinger
-Columnists
-Understanding of totalitarian society
-Role of foreign minister
-Kissinger
-The President’s view
-John A. Scali
-Work with Congress
-Press conference
-Haldeman’s view
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Kissinger

International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Television coverage
-Dita Beard memorandum
-Press
-Beard’s doctor


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 12s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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The President’s schedule
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Meeting

1972 campaign
-High School poll
-Detroit Free Press


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 37s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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-Votes
-Dixville Notch, New Hampshire
-News shows
-Democrats
-Edmund S. Muskie
-George S. McGovern
-Republicans
-The President

American Broadcasting Company [ABC] news documentary
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-PRC trip
16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Timing
-Kissinger

Rogers
-Kissinger
-Shanghai Communiqué
-Scali
-Marvin L. [?] Kalb
-Ziegler, Richard A. Moore
-Talk with Haldeman

Schools
-Neil H. McElroy Commission
-Report
-Multiracial experience
-Blacks
-Mexicans
-Jews
-Catholics
-Christian Scientists

ITT case
-Strategy
-Charles W. Colson
-Big business
-Press reports
-Coverage
-White House involvement
-Campaign
-Beard
-Memorandum
-Lobbyists
-Compared to Congressional staff

Television publicity for the PRC trip
-ABC news documentary
-Mrs. Nixon
-Possible perception
-Report to the nation
-Rogers
-Television appearances
-Kissinger
17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Rogers
-The President
-Marvin L. Kalb
-Herbert G. Klein
-Television
-Haldeman’s view
-Timing
-PRC trip
-Rogers
-Television appearance
-Sunday talk shows
-New Hampshire primary
-Florida primary
-Kissinger
-PRC
-Paul N. (“Pete”) McCloskey, Jr.
-John N. Ashbrook

Rogers
-Previous talk with Haldeman
-Stewart Alsop [?] article
-State Department
-PRC trip
-Columnists
-Kissinger
-Rogers’s meeting with Chou En-lai
-State Department’s view
-Taiwan, Republic of China
-Japan
-Korea
-Soviet Union
-Connally’s view
-Haldeman’s view
-Forthcoming US-Soviet summit
-Plenary session
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Compared to Mao Tse-tung
-Planning sessions
-Kissinger
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Meeting with the President
-Planning sessions for PRC trip
18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Marshall Green
-State Department
-Session on biological warfare
-Loyalty
-White House

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman at an unknown time between 10:58 am and 11:35
am.

[Conversation No. 679-8B]

Request for Ehrlichman to come to the Oval Office

[End of telephone conversation]

Buchanan
-Possible resignation
-Shelley A. (Scarney) Buchanan
-Kissinger, Ehrlichman and Haldeman meeting
-Buchanan’s career potential
-Editorial writer
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat
-Chicago Tribune
-Richard Blumentahal [?]

Ehrlichman entered at 11:35 am.

The President left at an unknown time between 11:35 and 11:41 am.

-Meeting with Haldeman
-Possible resignation
-Shelley Buchanan

The President re-entered at an unknown time between 11:35 and 11:41 am.

-Resignation of staff members
-The President’s view
-Possible resignation
-Haldeman’s view
-Role in PRC trip
-Shanghai Communiqué
-Toasts
19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Take-off speeches
-Hawaii
-Guam
-Arrival statements
-Alaska
-Writing skill
-Arrival statement
-Staff as consultants
-The President’s view
-Speechwriting
-Press relations
-Possible resignation
-Lack of substantive work
-News summaries
-Press conferences
-Memoranda
-Ehrlichman

Kissinger entered at 11:41 am.

PRC trip
-Connally
-Forthcoming talk with Kissinger
-Shanghai Communiqué
-Rogers
-State Department
-Secretaries of State
-Presence on trips
-Rogers’s efforts at previous summits
-The President’s meeting with Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Azores
-Kissinger’s efforts
-Connally



PRC Trip
-Rogers
-Status of PRC Foreign Minister
-Rogers possible meeting with Chou En-lai
-Secretaries Of State
-Andrei A. Gromyko
20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Politburo
-Chinese
-Rogers and Kissinger
-The President’s first meeting with Chou En-lai
-Rogers’s meeting with the PRC Foreign Minister
-US presence in Asia
-The President’s initial speech
-Chou En-lai
-Kissinger’s view
-Rogers
-Rogers’s statements
-Cabinet meeting
-US presence in Asia
-Africa
-Memoranda of conversations
-Timing
-John H. Holdridge
-Winston Lord
-Green


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security]
[Duration: 41s ]


PRC


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
*****************************************************************


-Rogers’s meeting with Chou En-lai
-State Department
-Chinese
-Time Magazine
-Hugh S. Sidey
-Kissinger
-Green
21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Shanghai Communiqué
-The President’s view
-Meeting with foreign leaders
-Latin America
-Leaks
-The President’s meeting with Mao Tse-tung
-Soviet summit
-Rogers
-State Department
-Previous talk with Haldeman
-Forthcoming meeting with the President

Issues facing the President
-Foreign policy
-Busing
-Welfare reform
-The President’s forthcoming meeting with Rogers
-Re-election
-ITT case
-John N. Mitchell

PRC Trip
-The President’s meetings with Chou En-lai
-Mao Tse-tung
-Ceremonies
-Rogers
-Shanghai Communiqué
-Meeting with Haldeman
-Kissinger
-Changes to the communiqué
-Politburo
-Drafting
-October draft
-Concessions
-Taiwan
-Forthcoming US-Soviet summit
-Foreign policy
-White House
-State Department
-Media
-State Department’s efforts
-Significance
22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-India-Pakistan war
-Rogers
-Press conference
-Taiwan
-Memorandum
-Report on foreign policy
-Kissinger’s view-Connally
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Meeting with Haldeman
-The President’s meeting with Pompidou
-Azores

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:41 am.

Forthcoming promotion ceremonies

Bull left at an unknown time before 12:02 pm.

Busing
-Constitutional amendment
-Congressional leaders
-Blacks

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Barbara E. Haig, Alonzo Fox, John K. Andrews, John V.
Brennan and Bull entered at 12:02 pm; the White House photographer was present.

Greetings

Photographs

Beard
-Doctor’s testimony

Haig’s work

Haig, et al., except Bull left at 12:04 pm.

The President’s schedule
-Vernon C. Coffey, Jr. and family

Bull left and Coffey, Sarah Coffey, Karen Coffey, Vernon C. Coffey, III, Craig Coffey,
Andrews, Brennan, and Brig. Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft entered at 12:04 pm; the White House
23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



photographer was present.

Greetings

Photographs

Haig

Coffey’s promotion

Presentation of gifts

Vacation

Coffey, et al. left at 12:09 pm.

The President’s advisors
-Soviet trip
-Buchanan
-William L. Safire
-The President’s consultation with advisors
-Ehrlichman’s experience
-Busing
-Leaks
-Moratorium
-Constitutional amendment
-Buchanan, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Safire, Lyndon K. (“Mort”) Allin
-Leaks
-State Department

PRC trip
-McGeorge Bundy’s view
-Rogers
-The President’s meeting with Mao Tse-tung
-Media reaction
-Media coverage
-Speculation

Cabinet
-Relationship with Presidents
-Abraham Lincoln
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-John Foster Dulles
-John F. Kennedy
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Harry S. Truman
-Dean G. Acheson
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Eisenhower
-Dulles
-Trips
-Rogers
-State Department
-Record of meeting
-Leaks
-Rogers
-Briefing by Kissinger

Busing

Kissinger left at 12:20 pm.

-Forthcoming paper
-Language
-McElroy Commission report
-Day care centers
-School districts
-Reorganization into multi-racial schools
-McElroy
-James S. Coleman
-George P. Shultz
-Governor of Virginia
-Haldeman
-The Presdent’s experience
-Athletics
-Nathaniel George
-William Brock
-Coleman
-Burden on schools
-Gerald R. Ford
-Letter
-J. Stanley Pottinger
-Edward L. Morgan
-Unknown lawyer
25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)




Campaign spending
-Regulations
-Elmer B. Staats
-Laws
-Republicans
-Veto

Social security
-Possible increase
-The President’s possible approval
-Shultz
-Legislation
-Clark MacGregor
-Possible Ehrlichman, Shultz, Ford, Leslie C. Arends, Robert P. Griffin, Hugh
Scott meeting


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 24s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9

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


1972 campaign
-New Hampshire primary
-Japanese Government lobbyists
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Connally
-Milk producers
26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 47s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10

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


General Motors [GM]
-James M. Roche
-Richard C. Gerstenberg
-Possible meeting with the President
-Shultz

Haldeman and Ehrlichman left at 12:31 pm.
Secret White House Tapes |

679–8

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