720–4

Conversation No. 720-4

Date: May 5, 1972
Time: 8:55 am - 10:09 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Peter J. Brennan.

[Conversation No. 720-4A]

[See Conversation No. 23-164]

Rose Mary Woods entered at 8:56 am.

[End of telephone conversation]

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 8:58 pm.

Henry A. Kissinger
-Location
-Meeting with the President
-Time

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:14 am.

Tricia Nixon Cox
-Interview with Barbara Walters
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon's report
-Walters's demeanor
-Tricia Nixon Cox's appearance
-Walters's questions
 3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Anti-war hecklers
-George S. McGovern's appeal
-Tricia Nixon Cox's handling
-Tricia Nixon Cox's appearance
-Tricia Nixon Cox's self-assessment
-Personal strength
-Manner
-Comments on the President's job
-Manner

Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Meeting with the President

Nixons' travel
-Mrs. Nixon
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Funding
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower's public appearances
-Woods's opinion
-Mrs. Nixon
-Democrats


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 10m 49s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


Forthcoming letter to Francis E. Meloy, Jr.
-Retirement of Donald L. Jackson
-Dictation

Kissinger entered at 9:14 am.

Kissinger's previous speech in New York
-Response
 4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Soviet Summit
-Asia Society
-People's Republic of China [PRC] trip
-Foreign Affairs Council
-Audience
-Columbia University/Time-Life sponsorship
-Kissinger statement on Vietnam
-A heckler
-Hedley W. Donovan
-Applause

Vietnam
-Press reports
-President's talk with Brennan
-Effect of President's televised speeches
-Lyndon B. Johnson comparison
-Kissinger's Asia Society audience
-Statement
-Response
-Donovan

Woods's schedule
-New York

Kissinger's schedule
-Speeches

Woods's schedule
-Camp David
-Visit
-President's trip
-Departure time

Woods left at 9:15 am.

Soviet Union
-Kissinger's meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-The President’s instructions
-Mrs. Nixon
-Irina N. Dobrynin

Vietnam
-North Vietnam offensive
 5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-US response
-Planning
-Orders to Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Kissinger's schedule
-President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board [PFIAB] meeting
-Meeting with Haig and Moorer
-Leak on blockade
-Dan Rather’s report
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-John A. Scali
-Haldeman
-John D. Ehrlichman

Haldeman entered at 9:21 am.

-Rather
-Ehrlichman
-Richard A. Moore
-Charles W. Colson
-Scali
-News reports
-Rather
-Wall Street Journal
-Rather report
-Source
-Melvin R. Laird
-Moorer
-State Department leak
-Robert Keatley [?] report
-Terms for settlement
-Source
-William H. Sullivan
-Cable about cease-fire
-William P. Rogers
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Haig
-Rogers
-Department of Defense [DOD] briefing
-Soviet arms
-Speculation
-President’s previous remarks
-Settlement
-Blockade
 6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Bombing
-Sources
-Marvin L. Kalb report
-Sources
-Rather report
-Sources
-Haig
-Press
-White House staff
-The President’s instructions
-Moorer
-Plans
-Kissinger meeting with Moorer
-Attendees
-Time
-President's review
-Haldeman
-Notes

Haldeman left at 9:30 am.

-State Department involvement
-Timing
-Rogers
-U. Alexis Johnson
-Blockade
-Advantages
-Disadvantages
-Bombing
-Disadvantages
-Peace demonstrations
-Blockade
-Commitment
-Soviet response
-India's response
-PRC response
-Bombing
-Targets
-Dissent
-Blockade
-Advantages
-Alternatives
-Ground action
 7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Latest reports
-Weakness
-Kontum
-North Vietnam casualties
-North Vietnam attacks
-US response
-US landing in panhandle
-Effect
-US bombing
-Effectiveness
-Blockade
-Effectiveness
-Bombing
-Impact
-Haiphong
-Hainan
-President's instinct
-Su Nan [Sp?]
-William J. Porter walkout
-Kissinger backgrounder
-Talk with Henry Hubbard, Jerrold L. Schecter, and Max Frankel
-Blockade
-Kissinger's view
-Public support
-Advantages
-Decisiveness
-Effect on forthcoming election
-End of war
-Bombing
-Advantages
-John B. Connally's advice
-Advantages
-Soviet response
-Cancellation of Summit

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 9:30 am.

-Soviet Summit

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 10:09 am.

-Timing with North Vietnam offensive
-Public perception
 8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Hue
-Kontum

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 9:30 am.

-Bombing
-Timing

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 10:09 am.

-Lines of communication
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Instructions
-Abrams
-The President
-Kissinger
-Bunker
-Abrams
-Laird
-Moorer
-Abrams
-Laird
-Abrams
-Moorer
-[David] Kenneth Rush
-Bunker
-Laird
-Actions
-Motives
-US position
-Haig
-Moorer
-Connally
-Soviet reply to US message
-Bombing
-Soviet response
-Effect on bombing
-PRC summit
-Effect of Hanoi and Haiphong bombing
-Blockade
-Soviet goals
-Kissinger's assessment
 9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Foreign Affairs Council speech
-Hubert H. Humphrey, McGovern, Edward M. Kennedy
-Dealings with Soviets
-Connally's advice
-Escalation
-Issues in Vietnam
-Communist government
-Control of US policy
-US response
-Peace offers
-North Vietnam motives
-US long-term interests
-Soviet Summit
-Cancellation
-Connally's advice
-Public response
-Dwight D. Eisenhower’s cancelled trip to the Soviet Union
-Eisenhower’s cancelled trip to Japan
-The President’s trip while Vice President to Venezuela
-Bombing
-Soviet response
-Summit
-Comparison with blockade
-Connally's advice
-Avoidance of defeat
-Bombing
-Effectiveness
-Blockade
-Effectiveness compared with bombing
-Commitment
-Soviet Union response
-PRC response
-President's foreign policy
-Risks
-Legacy
-PRC
-Compared to Laos operation
-End of war
-President's efforts
-Dealing with Soviets, PRC, Europeans, and Japanese
-Alternatives to President
-Connally
-McGovern
 10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Humphrey
-Kennedy
-Ability to conduct foreign policy
-US stakes
-President's incumbency
-US foreign policy
-Rogers and Laird
-Disentanglement from war
-North Vietnam terms
-Kissinger’s view
-May 31, 1971 proposals
-Forthcoming election
-Effect on South Vietnam
-Blockade compared with bombing
-North Vietnam actions
-Break-off of talks
-Responsibility
-Porter
-Peace groups
-Press coverage

Forthcoming election
-Democrats
-Draft of Connally
-Possibility

Vietnam
-McGovern
-Impact on US foreign policy
-Humiliation
-Blockade
-Necessity
-Bombing
-Moorer
-Extent
-Civilian casualties
-Targets
-Petroleum, Oils, and Lubricants [POL] dumps
-Dikes
-Civilian casualties
-Forthcoming study
-President's familiarity
-Evacuation of civilians
 11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Destruction
-Impact
-Questions raised by Kissinger
-The President’s view
-Effectiveness
-Coordination with blockade
-Relationship to averting defeat
-Return of prisoners of war [POWs]
-South Vietnam performance
-Collapse
-Losses
-Kontum
-Provincial capitals
-Slow movement
-Quang Tri
-Capture
-Value
-Blockade
-Effectiveness
-Only sure option
-Peace terms
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-US dignity

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:30 am.

Forthcoming PFIAB meeting
-Delay
-Refreshments

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:09 am.

Vietnam
-Blockade and bombing
-Effect on South Vietnam
-Effect on North Vietnam
-Connally's comment
-Haig
-Trip to South Vietnam
-Haldeman
-Trip to South Vietnam
-Abrams
-Lt. Col. W.E. Depuy
 12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Kissinger’s view
-Assignment
-Bunker
-Responsibility to the President
-New assignment
-Replacement for Abrams
-Laird involvement
-Kissinger’s view
-Kissinger's call to Laird
-President's meeting with Laird and Rogers
-Johnson
-Cable from Bunker
-Kissinger’s view
-Contents
-Abrams
-Moorer
-Abrams
-Bunker
-Moorer
-Rush
-Laird
-President's meeting with Laird about the blockade
-Kissinger's instructions
-Secrecy
-Rogers and Cambodia comparison
-President's need for Laird's support
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] comparison
-President's decision on blockade
-Rogers
-Meeting with the President
-Time
-Day
-Kissinger's schedule
-Day
-President's speech
-President's meeting with Rogers
-Laird
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Briefings
-Congressmen
-Rogers
-John J. McCloy
-Announcement
 13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Jan-02)
Conv. No. 72-4 (cont.)
-Time
-J. William Fulbright
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Rogers
-Laird
-Kissinger's briefings
-Press
-Timing
-The President’s view
-Kissinger meeting with Dobrynin
-Manner
-Speculation
-Response to questions
-Chou En-lai

Kissinger left at 10:09 am.