832–10

Conversation No. 832-10

Date: January 3, 1973
Time: Unknown between 4:19 pm and 5:05 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Vietnam War
-Bombing of North Vietnam
-Hospital and airfield
-Call from Spiro T. Agnew
-Defense Department
-Punishment of pilots
-Kissinger's conversation with Melvin R. Laird
-Inadvertence
 -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Negotiations
-Tone
-Political points
-International commission
-Independent monitors
-Four-power commission
-Bombing of North Vietnam
-Press coverage
-Punishment of pilots
-Compared to Da Nang rocket attacks
-Pham Van Dong

Kissinger's meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Leonid I. Brezhnev summit
-Nuclear treaty
-Vietnam War
-Settlement
-Moscow Communist Party chiefs
-Brezhnev’s commitment
-Moscow
-Tricia Nixon Cox’s visit
-Vietnam War

Vietnam negotiations
-Possible failure
-October 1972 agreement
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Funds cut off proposal
-Conditions
-Option two

Kissinger’s meeting with Dobrynin
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Berlin
-Josef V. Stalin
-Martin J. Hillenbrand
-Disloyalty
-Message to Bonn
-Departure
-1972 campaign
 -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Ambassador to Germany
-Businessman, lawyer
-[David] Kenneth Rush
-Foreign Service
-Disloyalty

Congressional relations
-Kissinger’s meetings on Vietnam
-Republican Congress members
-Mansfield
-Telephone call
-Funds cut off
-Carl B. Albert
-Congressional leadership
-William S. Mailliard
-Number
-Kissinger’s statements
-The President’s instructions
-The President’s bipartisan Congressional leadership meeting
-Peace with honor
-Congress’s motives
-Publicity
-Access
-The President’s meetings
-Albert
-Mansfield
-Gerald R. Ford
-Hugh Scott
-Mansfield
-Republican leadership

The President's bipartisan Congressional leadership meeting
-Talking points
-Preparation
-Schedule
-Vietnam settlement
-Honorable peace
-Cease-fire
-Prisoners of War [POWs] release
-Paris negotiations
 -11-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Future developments
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Serious negotiations
-Future actions
-Bombing of Hanoi
-No comment

Bombing of North Vietnam
-Hospital
-Punishment of pilots
-Press commentary
-Double standard
-Compared to Cambodia
-Laird
-Published list of targets
-Advantages
-Civilian targets
-Ziegler
-Report
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Moorer’s report to Kissinger
-Air Force pilots

Vietnam negotiations
-Option two
-Viability
-Bombing of North Vietnam
-POWs release
-Problems
-Press coverage
-Destruction
-Support of Congress
-Funds cut off
-Domestic strain
-Option one
-Thieu’s agreement
-Future problems
-Compared to Option two
-Abandonment of past positions
-Vietnamization
 -12-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Thieu’s preference
-Achievement for US
-Thieu’s response
-October 8, 1972 agreement
-Bombing of North Vietnam
-Compared to October 8, 1972 agreement
-Thieu’s acceptance
-Kissinger’s conversation with South Vietnamese ambassador
-Early settlement
-Possible overthrow of Thieu
-Bombing
-Impact in US
-Compared to May 8, 1972 decision
-Invasion by North Vietnam
-POWs release
-Viability
-Thieu
-October 26, 1972 cease-fire announcement
-Compared to October 8, 1972 agreement
-Consequences for Thieu
-Possible overthrow
-Option two
-International control agreement
-South Vietnam government’s acceptance
-Signing procedure
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Option two
-Vietnamization
-Bombing
-POWs
-Domestic effect
-1972 election
-Press relations
-Congress
-Bombing for POWs
-Mining
-Bombing below 20th Parallel
-Residual force
-Bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong
-POWs
 -13-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Bombing below 20th Parallel
-Effects
-Press relations
-October 26, 1972 agreement
-Kissinger meeting with Thieu
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Kissinger’s travel
-Hanoi
-Seoul
-Allies
-Bangkok
-Vientiane
-Hanoi
-Saigon
-Timing
-Bombing halt
-Haig’s trip to Saigon
-Thieu’s reaction
-The President’s announcement
-Participants
-Congress
-Possibility of failure
-Thieu’s signature
-Thieu’s possible actions
-Resignation
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Option two
-Domestic and foreign challenges
-Golda Meir’s visit
-Middle East initiatives
-Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China [PRC], Latin America
-Defense Department, State Department
-Reorganization
-John D. Ehrlichman
-George P. Shultz
-Europe
-Dobrynin
-Gromyko
-Hillenbrand
-Effect on foreign policy
 -14-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Soviet Union, PRC
-Congress
-Press relations
-Option one
-Risks
-Collapse of South Vietnam
-Compared to Option two
-Unsatisfactory settlement
-Lack of Congressional support
-Limitations
-Bombing below 20th parallel
-Mining
-Residual force
-Viability
-Kissinger’s view
-Loss of war
-Mining
-South Vietnam offensive operations
-Collapse of Thieu’s government
-Kissinger’s support
-Antiwar opposition
-Soviet Union, PRC
-May 8, 1972 objectives
-Earlier settlement
-Advantages for Thieu
-Thieu’s reaction
-The President’s action in October 1972
-1972 election
-Kissinger’s conversation with South Vietnamese ambassador
-Congress
-1973 Inauguration
-Settlement
-Controversy
-Difficulty
-Timing
-Option one
-Compared to option two
-North Vietnam’s objectives
-Halt of military operations
-POWs
 -15-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 832-10 (cont’d)

-Political recognition of North Vietnam
-Opportunity for Thieu
-Thieu
-Thailand
-Indonesia
-Negotiated solution compared to “budget”
-Future of South Vietnam
-Communists
-US goals
-May 8, 1972 speech
-South Vietnamese resistance
-North Vietnamese reaction
-Return of POWs
-Survival of Thieu’s government
-Option two
-Domestic problems
-The President’s schedule
-Kissinger’s schedule
-The President’s statement
-Bipartisan Congressional leadership meeting
-Press release
-Ziegler
-Kissinger’s return to Paris
-PRC and Soviet Union position
-Robert S. Elegant
-Dobrynin
-European security conference
-Middle East
-Nuclear treaty
-Kissinger’s meeting
-PRC

The President’s schedule
-Haig
-Departure

Kissinger left at 5:06 pm.
 -16-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)