Secret White House Tapes

697–2

About this recording

697–2
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Henry A. Kissinger
  • White House operator
  • John C. Stennis
March 30, 1972
Conversation No. 697-2

Date: March 30, 1972
Time: 9:38 am - 11:10 am
Location: Oval Office

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

The President's schedule
-James E. Stewart
-Meeting
-Clark MacGregor
-Campaign
-Contributor
-Donald Jackson
-Resignation
-American Cancer Society meeting
-Joan Crawford
-Ann Landers
-Drugs
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Heroin
2

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Meeting with MacGregor
-James O. Eastland
-Charles W. Colson
-MacGregor
-Colson
-Kleindienst awareness
-Lawyer
-Eastland
-Talks with MacGregor
-Charles McC. Mathias, jr.
-Hiram L. Fong
-Close hearings
-Acting Attorney General versus confirmation
-Robert C. Mardian
-Talk with Eastland
-MacGregor and Kleindienst
-Talk with Colson
-MacGregor
-Kleindienst confirmation
-John N. Mitchell
-Mardian
-Eastland
-White House role
-MacGregor versus Eastland
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Campaign
-Talks with Kleindienst
-Acting Attorney General
-White House role
-Eastland
-Haldeman's talk with Kleindienst
-MacGregor's talks with Republicans
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Paul J. Fannin
-MacGregor
-Close hearings
-Votes
-Witnesses
-Sub-committee
-Edward M. Kennedy
3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-Hugh Scott
-MacGregor and Colson
-Justice Department versus the White House
-Mitchell versus the White House
-John D. Ehrlichman
-San Diego
-White House
-Kleindienst
-Mardian
-Kleindienst confirmation
-Democrat Convention
-Eastland
-Vote
-The President
-Eastland
-Colson
-MacGregor
-Talk with Kleindienst
-Eastland
-Mardian
-Mitchell
-Eastland
-Votes
-Mitchell
-Kleindienst
-MacGregor
-White House
-Commitment
-Vote
-MacGregor
-Sub-committee
-Vote
-Kleindienst
-John L. McClellan
-Republicans
-Scott
-Witnesses
-Ehrlichman
-Scott
-Haldeman
-Talk with Kleindienst
-Talk with Mardian
4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-John B. Connally
-Continue hearings
-Comments
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Contributions
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Humphrey


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 36s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

ITT case
-Flanigan
-Letter
-Ervin
-Off the record conversation

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 9:58 am.

The President's comments on the People’s Republic of China [PRC] at reception
-Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Alsop
-Mrs. Alsop
-Kissinger
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Alsop

William V. Roth, Jr.
-Judge Stephen J. Roth
-Delaware
-ITT case
-Politics
-Republicans
5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

Connally
-Press coverage
-Kissinger’s Texas trip
-Houston
-Dallas
-Taft Schreiber

Joseph Alsop
-Party
-Polls
-Liberals
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak
-David S. Broder

Cancellation of John C. Stennis meeting with the President
-MacGregor
-Melvin R. Laird
-Stennis
-Talk with the President
-Laird
-Possible Senate speech
-Troops in Europe
-Laird and Stennis plan
-Forthcoming Soviet summit
-Stennis
-Talk with the President
-Summit
-Bargaining position
-War powers
-Troop levels
-Joseph Alsop
-Laird
-William P. Rogers
-Leonid I. Brezhnev

The President’s forthcoming telephone call to Stennis
-Kissinger

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:58 and 10:10
am.

[Conversation No. 697-2A]
6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)



[See Conversation No. 22-47]

[End of telephone conversation]

Dinner for Hussein ibn Talal [Hussein, King of Jordan]
-Haldeman
-Kissinger's attendance
-Meetings
-Toasts
-George Washington
-Abraham Lincoln
-Hussein
-Publicity

Kissinger's schedule
-Texas
-Timing
-PRC
-William F. (“Billy”) Graham
-Comments
-Howard Linsell [sp?]
-Christianity Today

PRC
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-John A. Scali
-Rogers
-Communiqué
-Rogers
-Communiqué
-Objections
-Press coverage
-Conservatives

The President talked with Stennis between 10:10 and 10:12 am.

[Conversation No. 697-2B]

[See Conversation No. 22-48]

[End of telephone conversation]
7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)



Stennis
-Meeting with the President
-Kissinger
-Laird
-MacGregor
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Defense Department
-Investigation
-Cost overruns
-Personnel compared to hardware
-Soviets
-Europe
-Defense cuts
-Summit
-Bargaining
-The President's contacts with Brezhnev
-Rogers
-Laird
-Kissinger's talks with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-MacGregor
-Richard B. Russell


**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 8s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


Kissinger's schedule
-Previous meeting with religious conservatives
-PRC
-Graham
-Dallas and Houston
-Connally
8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-Chicago
-West Coast
-Media
-Regional television
-Los Angeles
-George Putnam
-San Francisco
-Pacific Union Club
-Richard P. Cooley
-David Packard
-Pacific Union Club
-Bohemian Grove
-Timing
-Texas
-San Francisco
-Chicago
-Trip to Japan
-Ottawa
-San Francisco
-Timing
-Los Angeles
-Orange County, California
-San Diego
-Schreiber
-Dorothy Chandler
-Pasadena and Glendale, California
-Marilyn B. (“Missy”) Chandler

The President's previous meeting with the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control
and Disarmament
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-John J. McCloy
-Gen. Lauris Norstad
-William Scranton, II
-Jack Ruina of Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]
-Nuclear test ban
-Verification
-Arms Control and Disarmament Agency [ACDA]

New York establishment
-Democrats
-Economy
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-Kennedy
-Muskie
-Council on Foreign Relations [CFR]
-Possible meeting with the President
-Private compared to public
-Dinner
-Media
-Possible meeting with Congressmen and Senators
-Topics
-The President’s meetings with world leaders
-World situation
-The PRC initiative
-Soviet summit
-Alsop's comments to Kissinger
-Division of America
-Influence
-Dinner
-Balance of power
-George W. Ball
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Clergymen
-Ball
-Alliances
-British
-Allies
-1950's
-Meeting with the President
-Previous dinner
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Meeting with the President
-Questions
-Location
-New York City
-Questions

Kissinger's schedule
-Meeting with Dobrynin
-Meeting with the Chinese
-Forthcoming trips to the PRC by Senators and Congressmen
-Arthur K. Watson
-Scott
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-Paris
-Timing
-Watson
-Michael J. Mansfield and Scott
-State Department
-Watson
-Schedule
-Marakesh
-Watson’s subordinate
-Backchannels
-State Department

Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-Bombing
-Weather
-Fire support bases
-Surface-to-air- missiles [SAM] sites
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] performance
-Possible bombing of SAM sites
-Meeting in Paris
-William J. Porter
-Kissinger's schedule

PRC
-Scott's visit
-Timing
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with the PRC representative in New
York [Huang Hua?]
-Vietnam
-Norodom Sihanouk

Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Timing
-Laos comparison
-Long Tien
-North Vietnamese
-Supplies
-Possible counterattack
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-Air strikes
-Timing
-DMZ
-B-3
-SAM
-Gun ships

Kissinger's call to Stennis

Soviet trip
-Dobrynin's meeting with Kissinger
-Brezhnev's letter to the President
-Tone
-SALT
-Poland
-Stopover
-Vietnam
-Attack
-Possible effect
-Brezhnev's letter
-The President's instructions
-Possible bombing

Vietnam
-Possible bombing
-Timing

Kissinger left at 10:42 am.

PRC
-Scott and Mansfield
-State Department
-Rogers
-Leaks

Kissinger
-J. William Fulbright
-Possible meeting with the Foreign Relations Committee
-Recorder at meeting

ITT case
-Colson and MacGregor
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-White House involvement
-Colson
-Vacation
-Camp David
-White House versus Justice Department
-Kissinger example
-John C. Whitaker
-Ehrlichman
-Kleindienst
-Talk with Haldeman
-MacGregor
-Votes
-Eastland
-Mardian
-Mitchell
-Close hearings
-Eastland
-Kennedy
-Witnesses
-Eastland
-MacGregor
-MacGregor
-Haldeman’s conversation
-Colson
-Meeting with MacGregor
-Confirmation
-Colson and MacGregor
-Mitchell
-Colson's office
-Leaks
-Leaks
-Meeting with the President
-Meeting with Haldeman
-MacGregor
-Votes
-Committee
-Outcome
-Meeting with Haldeman
-Eastland
-Calls to MacGregor
-Eastland
-White House staff
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

-Mardian

The President's schedule
-Gridiron dinner
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Edgar A. Poe
-Florida
-Rogers
-Toasts
-Warren E. Burger
-Rogers
-Florida

ITT case
-MacGregor
-Kleindienst
-Meeting with Haldeman
-Republicans
-Sub-committee
-Eastland
-Acting Attorney General
-Mitchell
-Justice Department
-MacGregor
-Colson
-Confirmation
-Filibuster
-Vacation
-Plans
-Kissinger
-Meeting with MacGregor
-Content
-The President's meeting with Kleindienst
-Colson
-Mitchell
-Previous problems
-Supreme Court nominations
-Success


**********************************************************************
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 6m 24s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10

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


ITT case
-Haldeman's meeting with MacGregor
-Kleindienst
-Rule
-Colson
-Involvement
-Leaks
-MacGregor
-Votes
-Wallace H. Johnson
-Haldeman
-Haldeman's talk with MacGregor
-Eastland
-Colson
-Vacation

Haldeman left at 11:10 am.
Secret White House Tapes |

697–2

This recording is currently not available on millercenter.org. To listen to it, please email Mike Greco at mdg4u@virginia.edu

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