Secret White House Tapes

799–19

About this recording

799–19
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • John D. Ehrlichman
  • UNKNOWN
  • White House operator
  • Tricia Nixon Cox
October 16, 1972
Conversation No. 799-19

Date: October 16, 1972
Time: 11:42 am. - 12:54 pm
Location: Oval Office


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

The President's schedule
-Use of the President for news coverage
-Television [TV]
-The President's recent appearance before National League of Families of
American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Possibility of questions challenging the
President's Vietnam War policy
-The President's statement on amnesty
-News coverage
-The President’s statement on opinion leaders
-News coverage

John D. Ehrlichman entered at 11:44 am.

Congressional relations
-Water bill
-Draft for the President
22
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Quorum problems
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Possible return of congressmen
-News coverage
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT] II announcement
-Timing
-Kissinger

Announcements
-The President's radio speech
-Location
-Camp David, Oval Office, Executive Office Building [EOB], Residence,
Treaty Room, Map Room, Theater
-Announcement
-Timing
-SALT II
-Camp David trip
-Philadelphia trip
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Rumsfeld’s location
-Chicago
-Clarence D. Ward
-SALT II
-Conference on European Security and Cooperation
-Kissinger
-State Department
-SALT II
US – Soviet Union trade agreement
-Radio speech
-US – Soviet Union trade agreement
-Timing
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.


Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 11:44 am and 12:49 pm.

[Conversation No. 799-19A]

Haig's schedule

William L. Safire
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)


[End of telephone conversation]

The President’s schedule
-Camp David
-Philadelphia

News coverage
-Kissinger

Radio speech announcement

Congressional relations
-Social Security bill
-Possible signature
-Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]
-Possible veto
-Payroll taxes
-Budget impact
-Possible signature
-Water bill

-Veto
-Timing
-Senior citizens
-Environmentalists
-Seventy-one bills for presidential action
-Ehrlichman’s view
-Water bill veto
-Timing
-News coverage
-The President’s radio speech
-SALT II
-Congress
-Social Security legislation
-Ehrlichman’s advice
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-George P. Shultz, Weinberger, Charles W. Colson, Elliot L. Richardson
as advisers
-Arthur S. Flemming
-Clark MacGregor
-John B. Connally
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-The President's October 17, 1972 meeting

Philadelphia revenue sharing signing ceremony
-Independence Hall
-Number of guests
-Courtyard
-Liberty Bell
-Press, cameras
-Declaration of Independence Room
-Benjamin Franklin
-Public viewing
-Frank L. Rizzo
-Supporters
-Weather forecast

Media relations
-Ehrlichman's October 15, 1972 interview on American Broadcasting Corporation
[ABC]
-Daniel L. Schorr's interview request
-Ehrlichman’s refusal
-Schorr's brother's involvement with George S. McGovern's campaign
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-George Herman interview
-House Resolution [HR] 1

Congressional relations
-Social Security
-Water bill
-Possible lawsuit
-Withholding of funds
-Constitutional authority
-Labor-HEW
-Veto
-George H. Mahon
-Continuing resolution
-Product safety bill
-Signature
-Independent product safety agency
-Executive branch
-Second term plan
-Executive, judicial, legislative salaries
-Commission
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Time frame
-Appointment by Agnew, [Warren E. Burger], [Carl B. Albert]
-Pay Board
-George H. Boldt appointment
-The President’s view
-Cabinet
-Congressional staffs
-General Schedule [GS] salaries
-Cost of living increases
-Circuit Court boundaries revision

Watergate
-John W. Dean's October 16, 1972 talk with Donald H. Segretti
-Segretti's conversation with lawyer
-Disclosure of information
-Statement
-White House involvement
-Affidavit
-Legal action against Washington Post
-Sullivan v. New York Times Co.
-Time Inc. v. Hill
-The President’s involvement
-Public reaction
-Theodore Roosevelt
- [Roosevelt v. Newett]
-Unknown person
-Time
-Segretti
-Allegations
-Time Inc. v. Hill
-Film [The Desperate Hours]
-Supreme Court decision
-Tom C. Clark, Earl Warren, Abe Fortas, John M. Harlan
-Position of public figures
-Libel
-Deposition
-Timing
-1972 election
-Democratic lawsuit
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Lawsuit against Washington Post
-Veracity of charges
26
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Washington Star
-Public reaction
-Plea
-Summary judgment
-1962 legal action
-Election
-Possible Segretti suit
-Dean
-Post-1972 election action
-Disbarment proceedings
-Lawsuits
-Maurice H. Stans's suit against Lawrence F. O'Brien, Jr.
-Washington Post
-Building dedication ceremony
-Ziegler
-Job, performance
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Peter Lisagor

The President's comments to National League of Families
-May 8, 1972 decision by the President
-Reaction
-Opinion leaders
-Media, business, universities
-The President's position on amnesty
-Casualties
-Prisoners of war [POWs], missing in action [MIAs]
-Audience reaction
-Fate of POWs
-Amnesty issue
-McGovern October 15, 1972 statement
-Veterans
-Conditions


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5m 58s ]
27
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


Press and media relations
-Amnesty
-The President’s comments to the National League of Families
-News coverage
-Ehrlichman’s recent CBS interview
-Edits
-Schorr
-Ziegler
-Job performance, temperament
-Press conference
-The President's meeting with Ziegler
-The President's backing for Ziegler compared to Lyndon B. Johnson and
George E. Christian
-Briefings
-Domestic policy
-Foreign policy
-Work with Kissinger, National Security Council [NSC]
-Difficulties
-Background
-Intelligence, aptitude, competitiveness, temperament
-Work with Haldeman
-Competitiveness
-Comparison with Herbert G. Klein
-Klein's relations with press
-Precision
-Understanding of the press
-Integrity
-Washington Post, New York Times, Time, Newsweek, CBS,
ABC, National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC]
-Post-1972 election access to White House
-Washington Star, Chicago Tribune, U.S. News and World Report

Appointments
-Intellectuals
-Kermit Gordon
-Pay Board
28
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Shultz
-William P. Rogers
-Charles W. Yost appointment to the United Nations [UN]
-Irena (Oldakowska) Yost
-Yost
-Democratic leanings
-Effectiveness of White House treatment
-Right compared with left
-New York Times advertisement
-Unknown person from Stanford University
-Yale University
-Government
-State Department
-Firings
-Kissinger
-The President's leadership
-Connally
-Possible appointment
-Position as Treasury Secretary
-Firings
-Position as Texas governor
-University education
-Duke University, Stanford University, University of California, Los
Angeles
-Elite schools
-Effect on character
-Businessmen
-Advertising agencies in New York
-The President’s conversation with Beurt Servaas
-Eastern establishment
-Jews
-Rev. Theodore S. Hesburgh
-R. Sargent Shriver
-Possible resignation
-Civil Rights Commission
-Length of term
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
-Staff
-[Howard A. Glickstein]

Budget
-Civil Rights Commission
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Cuts
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Defense Department
-Optional cuts by the President
-Amounts
-National debt interest, veterans benefits, Social Security
-Federal bureaucracy
-Weinberger
-Firing of low-level jobs

An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time before 12:45 pm.

-Firing of administrative, executive jobs
-CIA
-State Department
-Foreign Service
-Defense Department
-Civilians
-The Pentagon
-Seniority
-State Department
-Retirements
-Agriculture Department
-Frank C. Carlucci
-Kissinger's view
-CIA
-Study of proposals
-Types of cuts
-Kissinger
-Helmut (“Hal”) Sonnenfeldt
-Importance
-State, Defense
-Justice Department
-HEW, Housing and Urban Development [HUD], Agriculture Department,
Interior Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs
-Opportunity to cut
-1972 election's impact on cut choices

Vietnam War
-The President's appearance before National League of Families
-Mrs. Nellie Davis
-Bracelet
30
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Tricia Nixon Cox
-Ricardo Davis
-The President’s view
-Amnesty issue
-McGovern
-Canadian refuge

The President's second term
-Responsibilities
-Effect of a forthcoming campaign
-Discipline
-Media and press relations
-Left-wing press
-White House efforts in public relations
-TV
-Press conference appearances
-Treatment of opponents
-The President’s recent conversation with Kissinger
-Life editorial board endorsement of the President
-Support for McGovern
-Newspaper Guild
-Kissinger’s Time-Life contacts
-Time
-Jerrold L. Schechter
-Granting requests for interviews in news magazines
-US News and World Report
-New York Times
-Robert B. Semple, Edwin L. Dale, Jr.
-Ehrlichman’s refusal to return telephone calls to unknown person
-Washington Post
-Ziegler
-Carroll Kilpatrick
-White House access in post-1972 election period
-Invitations
-Social occasions
-Christmas parties
-Press conferences
-Lisagor, Edward B. Morgan
-Supporters
-Garnett D. (“Jack”) Horner
-Haldeman’s view
-Semple's future
31
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-New York Times
-New York Herald-Tribune
-Los Angeles Times
-Endorsement
-Los Angeles Times and Washington Post news service
-Segretti case
-Otis Chandler
-Chapin, Herbert W. Kalmbach
-The President's relations with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, Leonid I. Brezhnev,
Chou En-Lai
-Comparisons
-White House press, media contacts
-New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, Life
-Networks
-Schorr
-Marvin L. Kalb
-Kissinger’s request
-The President’s meeting with National League of Families
-Richard G. Valeriani

-News magazines

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:42 am and
12:45 pm.

[Conversation No. 799-19B]

[See Conversation No. 31-53]

[End of telephone conversation]

The press and White House access
-Klein, Ziegler, Kissinger
-Semple, Schechter
-Conversation with Ehrlichman
-Washington Post

The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox between 12:45 am and 12:47 pm.

[Conversation No. 799-19C]

[See Conversation No. 31-54; one item has been withdrawn]
32
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)


[End of telephone conversation]

POWs
-Note to Mrs. Davis from Tricia Nixon Cox
-Bracelet
- [Ricardo Davis]
-MIA

The President, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman left at 12:54 pm.
Secret White House Tapes |

799–19

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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