840-012a

Conversation No. 840-12

Date: February 3, 1973
Time: 12:12 pm - 1:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

Henry A. Kissinger's trip to People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Announcement
-Surprise
-Reporters’ questions
-Ziegler's answers
-June 1972 trip
-Shanghai Communique
-Vietnam
-Hanoi trip

The President’s telephone call to Rose Mary Woods

Woods’s call to Coy Stennis
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Coy Stennis’s health
-John C. Stennis shooting
-Prayer breakfast
-Press conference
-Stennis’s condition
-Assailants
-Drugs
-The President’s telephone call to Coy Stennis
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon

News summaries
-Telephone calls
-Roy L. Ash
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger

Woods left at 12:14 pm.

The President's meeting with Kissinger

Kissinger's press conference
-\"Today\" show

Ziegler's talk with Barbara Walters
-Columns

The President talked with Charles Colson between 12:15 and 12:16 pm.

[Conversation No. 840-12A]

[See Conversation No. 43-18]

[End of telephone conversation]

Kissinger entered at 12:16 pm.

Reports on Stennis’s health
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Operation
-Age
-Gen. Walter R. Tkach

Kissinger’s trip to Hanoi
-Reasons for exclusion
-Distraction from purpose
-North Vietnam decision
-Private meeting with North Vietnamese
-Herbert G. Klein
-Rules on press coverage
-Interviews
-Photographs
-Release restrictions
-Joint agreement
-Control of American reporters
-Klein
-Role on trip
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-North Vietnam
-Denial of press coverage
-Announcement release procedure
-Cables
-Dealing with North Vietnamese
-Le Duc Tho
-Murrey Marger
-Foreign Information Bureau official
-Mayor of Haiphong
-Press coverage
-Reuters
-French Agency
-Winston Lord
-Compared to China trip
-Klein

Announcement
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Origins of statements
-Joint statement

Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Press coverage
-Privacy
-Later reviews
-Exploitation
-Defense Department [DOD] policies
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Wives
-Releases
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew at Clark Air Force Base
-Philippines
-Ferdinand E. Marcos
-Exploitation
-Kissinger’s role

Missing in Action [MIAs] and POWs in Laos
-Note to North Vietnamese
-North Vietnamese reply
-Difficulties in locating
-Radio signals
-Administration position
-Families
-North Vietnamese position
-Motives
-Pathet Lao

Laos
-Settlement
-Agreement
-Cambodia cease-fire
-Timing

Bombing
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Cambodia
-Laos
-Reports
-Questions from press
-J. William Fulbright
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield’s position
-Laos cease-fire

Cambodia settlement
-Negotiations
-Lon Nol
-Le Duc Tho
-Unilateral statement
-Cease-fire
-Agreement with US
-Chinese influence
-Norodom Sihanouk
-Statement
-Laos

Vietnam settlement
-Quang Tri
-Cease-fire violations
-South Vietnamese [?] marines
-Losses
-Tanks
-Artillery shelling
-International monitoring groups
-Critics of the President
-Duration
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Kissinger’s trip to Hanoi
-Importance
-Press relations
-Ziegler
-Camp David
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)




Ziegler left at 12:30 pm.

Manolo Sanchez entered at 12:30 pm.

Refreshments

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:20 pm.

Press in Hanoi
-Ziegler
-Compared to Peking trip
-Control
-Restrictions
-Marder
-Le Duc Tho
-Washington Post
-The President’s hostility
-Marder
-Tour of North Vietnam
-Mayor of Haiphong
-Information Bureau, Foreign Ministry
-Politbulo
-French press
-Tass
-Reuters
-Klein
-Role on trip
-Presence at meetings
-Presence at banquets

Edward R. G. Heath visit
-Relationship with the President
-Northern Ireland
-Rhodesia
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-British role

Great Britain
-Global standing
-Strategic thinking
-State Department
-Sir Robert Thompson
-Alastair Buchan [?]
-American-British cooperation

France
-Civil service
-Quality
-Economics
-Foreign policy
-Journalists
-Eurocentricity
-Elections

Germany
-Defense minister
-Helmut H. W. Schmidt
-Finance minister
-Shift in cabinet
-Parliamentary procedures
-Willy Brandt
-Heath
-Intelligence
-Global thinkers

The President’s conversation with Heath
-Car
-Post-war Europe
-European leaders
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-World view
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)




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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National security]
[Duration: 17 s]

GREAT BRITAIN

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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


-Italians
-Bruno Krisky
-Austria
-Qualities
-World War I statesmen
-Jan Smuts
-World War II statesmen
-Dutch statesmen
-World Court
-Danish statesmen
-European leaders
-Provincial outlook
-The President’s meeting with George P. Shultz
-Heath’s world view
-1970 meeting with the President
-Global strategy
-European leaders
-Burke Trend
-Retirement

Europe
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Great Britain
-European Economic Community [EEC]
-NATO
-British role
-Heath, Trend


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National security]
[Duration: 1 m 14 s]

NATO

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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

National Security Council [NSC] meetings
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Melvin R. Laird
-Richardson
-Relations with JCS

Kissinger’s schedule
-Trip to PRC
-Vacation
-Ziegler
-Barbara Walters
-Ziegler
-Taping show
-Marvin L. Kalb
-Response to program with Kissinger
-Walters’ interview with Kissinger
-Congressional reaction
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Kissinger's meeting with Egyptians
-Maximum audience
-Meeting with Ziegler
-Congressional leaders
-Trip to PRC
-Senators
-Economic commitment
-Vacation
-Meeting with Egyptians
-The President’s meeting with Agnew
-Kissinger's visit to San Clemente

Middle East
-Importance
-Meeting with Egyptians
-Israelis
-Compared to South Vietnamese
-Thieu
-Elections effect on negotiations
-Settlement
-Timing
-Permanent
-Kissinger’s meeting with Egyptians
-Kissinger’s counterpart [Hafiz Ismail ?]
-Egyptian Foreign Ministry
-Possible meeting place
-Moscow
-London
-Compared to Le Duc Tho meeting
-Cairo
-Oil
-Arabs
-Settlement
-Egypt
-Separation of issues
-Sovereignty
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Possession of territories

Kissinger’s meeting with Soviets
-Middle East position
-Nuclear treaty
-British goals
-Poseidon sale
-Soviet Union’s reaction

Great Britain
-Heath
-Military power
-Fleet
-Poseidon
-Skybolt
-Reasons for cancellation
-Robert S. McNamara
-John F. Kennedy
-Meeting with Harold MacMillan
-Polaris Sale
-Royal Air Force
-Skybolt
-Suez Canal
-1956 invasion
-American policy
-World War II
-Adolf Hitler
-Sacrifices

World War II
-Hugh R. Trevor-Roper
-Allies surrender policy
-Unconditional surrender policy
-Error of policy
-Germany as barrier to Soviet Union
-Threat of Soviet Union
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-US military superiority
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Illness
-Concessions

Soviet-US relations
-Arms parity
-European will
-American will
-Soviet Union
-Problems
-Motives
-Bureaucracy

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks [SALT]
-Richardson
-Paul H. Nitze
-Military Representative
-Gordon L. Allott
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Gen. Edward Rowny
-Kissinger’s telephone call
-Nitze
-Antiballistic missile [ABM] position
-U. Alexis Johnson [?]
-Compared to Gerard C. Smith
-Arms Control Disarmament Agency [ACDA]
-Appointment of director
-Budget
-Nitze
-Philip J. Farley
-Jackson
-Johnson as negotiator
-Farley

ACDA
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Budget
-Compared to White House staff
-Personnel
-Hiring policy
-Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr.
-Farley
-Director traits
-Farley
-Keeny
-Need for new people
-General Advisory Committee
-John J. McCloy
-NATO
-Vietnam

Vietnam settlement
-Kissinger’s TV appearance
-Explanation of foreign policy
-The President’s meeting with Republican Congressional Leaders
-Heath dinner
-McCloy
-Press coverage
-Failure to explain to American public
-Effect on North Vietnamese

ACDA
-General advisory committee
-Replacement for McCloy
-Harold M. Agnew
-Los Alamos Laboratory
-Support for the President
-Staffing
-William W. Scranton
-William C. Foster
-J. P. Ruina
-Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Reaction to SALT
-Test ban
-Gen. Lauris Norstad
-Alvin Weinberg
-Claudia A. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson
-Interest

Appointments
-Clare Booth Luce
-The President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board [PFIAB]
-Dr. Edward Teller
-Claudia Johnson
-United Nations [UN] office
-Shirley Temple Black
-John A. Scali

UN
-Dinner with Heath
-Racial problems
-Africans
-Suez Canal
-Treatment of the President
-Scali
-George H. W. Bush
-Secretary of State
-Secretariat
-U Thant
-Pakistan ambassador
-Haile Selassie
-The President of the UN
-Twenty-fifth anniversary
-Scali meeting with Kissinger
-Briefing
-Kurt Waldheim
-American public’s attitude toward UN
-Hijacking
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sep.-09)
Conversation No. 840-12 (cont’d)



-Right of liberation
-Vietnam
-Eviction of Republic of China, Taiwan

Kissinger’s trip to New York
-Timing
-Theater
-Hockey game

Kissinger left at 1:20 pm.