852–7

Conversation No. 852-7

Date: February 7, 1973
Time: 10:23 am-12:21 pm
 -8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


Location: Oval Office

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

Henry A. Kissinger's departure

John C. Stennis's health
-Status
-Consciousness
-Hand-shaking
-President's visit
-President's conversation with Gen. Walter R. Tkach
-Stennis's chances of survival
-President's travel plans
-California, Florida
-Tkach's view of Stennis's prospects
-Upcoming report

Speeches
-Revisions
-Delay
-John D. Ehrlichman's view
-International monetary situation
-Devaluation
-Completion
-Television [TV]
-Devaluation
-Ehrlichman
-George P. Shultz

International monetary situation
-Ehrlichman
-Shultz
-Announcement of devaluation
-Use of TV
-Devaluation
-Japan
-Revaluation
 -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Percentage
-Negotiations
-Trade bill
-Shultz’s ability to announce

US economy
-Condition

Ehrlichman entered at 10:25 am.

Trade and monetary situation
-Negotiations
-Public impressions
-State of the Union economic message
-Shultz
-Cable to Kakuei Tanaka
-Paul A. Volcker
-Testimony
-Devaluation
-Trade message
-Wording
-Protecting American jobs, goods
-US competitiveness
-President’s Phase I speech, August 15, 1971
-President’s message to Congress
-Wording
-Amount of revisions
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Discussion of monetary problem
-Meeting with President
-Shultz
-Solutions
-Tax meeting
-Shultz
-Ehrlichman's briefing

Tax policy
-Treasury Department’s plan
 -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Ehrlichman’s view
-Criticisms
-William E. Simon
-Shultz
-Disappointment
-Treasury Department’s bureaucracy
-Lack of imagination
-Capital gains tax
-Changes
-Equitable rates
-Disadvantages for President and friends
-Anger
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with Russell B. Long
-Shultz
-Political implications
-Rich voters
-Long's views
-Importance of issue
-“Phony issue”
-Republican congressional leaders
-Compared to Barber P. Conable, Jr.
-Eradication of mortgage deductions
-Constituents
-Loopholes
-Parochial schools and elderly real estate taxes
-Long's views
-Political implications of issues
-Support for President
-Meeting with President
-Shultz
-Ehrlichman’s briefing
-President's meeting with Mills and Long

An unknown woman entered at an unknown time after 10:25 am.

Stephen B. Bull's location

President's schedule
 -11-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)



The unknown woman left at an unknown time before 11:23 am.

President's schedule
-Radio address
-Long

Watergate resolution
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Amendments
-Delays
-Vote in Senate
-Filibuster

Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:25 am.

President's schedule
-Cabinet breakfast
-Radio address
-Meeting with E. D. Kenna
-Long
-Possible meeting
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
-Meeting with President
-Senate confirmation
-Weinberger’s confirmation
-Swearing-in ceremony
-President’s departure
-Meeting with Long
-Telephone call from Ehrlichman
-Shultz
-Trade legislation
-Working of invitation

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:23 am.

President’s schedule
-Meeting with Long
 -12-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Shultz’s possible attendance
-Political discussions
-Subjects
-Welfare
-Energy
-Tax issues
-Delays in decisions
-President’s trip to California
-Shultz’s role
-Welfare, energy
-Cabinet
-C. B. Rogers Morton
-Position on loopholes
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with Long
-Shultz’s knowledge

International trade and monetary situation
-Shultz
-Excitement
-Importance
-Public attitudes
-Devaluation
-TV
-Radio talk
-Volcker
-Arthur F. Burns
-Balance of payments
-Importance of issue
-Devaluation of dollar
-Impact
-Volcker, Burns
-Alarmism
-Stock market
-Trade bill
-Balance
-Protection of jobs
-Trading partners
-Europe
 -13-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Responsibility
-Shultz, Burns
-US responsibility
-Compared to Europe, Japan, Germany
-Importance of issue
-Volcker
-Trip to Japan
-Shultz
-Possible trip to California
-Devaluation announcement
-Washington, DC
-Volcker’s trip to Japan
President’s schedule
-Amount for trade problems
-Shultz
-Length of meetings
-Compared to John B. Connally
-Possible trip to California
-Tax decision
-Trips to California, Florida
-Roy L. Ash
-Meetings followed by press briefings
-Shultz
-Kissinger's trip
-Shultz
-Decisions
-Details
-President’s approval
-Tax position
-Guidance
-Length of meeting with the President

Tax policy
-Commitments
-Property taxes for the elderly
-Treasury Department officials
-Details
-Political implications
 -14-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Deductibles
-Percentage
-Political advantages
-Decision paper for Treasury Department

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 10:25 am.

Refreshments

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 11:23 am.

-Treasury Department’s response
-Administrative problems
-Congress
-Rent relief
-Deductibles
-Political problems
-Computers

Presidential appointments and decisions
-Federal Trade Commission [FTC]
-Lewis A. Engman
-Deal with Ehrlichman
-Testimony to Congress
-Confirmation
-Administration’s expectations
-Agriculture Department
-President’s decision
-Audit of farmers’ tax returns
-Routine provision
-Federal statue
-Internal Revenue Code
-Agency right
-Democratic Congressman
-Purpose of audits
-Earl L. Butz
-Statistical use
-Right of access
 -15-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Political ramifications
-Audits
-Friends, opponents
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Commissioner candidate
-Interior Department
-Age
-Lawyer
-Recommendations
-Meeting with Ehrlichman
-Offer to unknown man
-Connally
-Candidate
-Political skill
-Problem
-Weinberger
-[First name unknown] Kirkpatrick
-Administration’s control
-Compared to Engman
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] Director
-William D. Ruckelshaus
-John N. Mitchell
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-District Court seat
-Connecticut
-Jack R. Miller
-IRS
-District Circuit Court
-Patent Court
-Postal Rate Commission
-Military Court of Appeals
-Attempt to see President
- -Patent Court
-Appointment
-Bryce N. Harlow [?]

National Security Council [NSC] leaks
-Pentagon Papers trial
 -16-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Statute of limitations
-Neil Sheehan
-New York Times
-Watergate

Pentagon Papers trial
-Conclusion
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Use of trial as political platform
-Anthony J. Russo, Jr. [?]
-Supreme Court decision

NSC leaks
-Jack N. Anderson, Neil Sheehan
-Les Whitten
-Arrest
-Anderson
-Attacks on Haldeman
-Washington Post

Indians
-Attacks on court house in Dakota
-Photograph
-Urban Indians
-Radicalism
-Radical movement
-American Indian movement
-“Fellow travelers”
-Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA]
-Alcatraz takeover
-Part Indian
-Unknown Phillips Petroleum executive
-Radicalism
-Tribal leaders
-BIA
-Appointments
-Interior Department
-Robert J. Hitt [?]
 -17-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Rogers C. B. Morton

Congressional relations
-Cabinet
-Nominating committee hearings
-Testimony
-President’s appreciation
-Briefing
-Ash
-Compared to Republican Congressional leaders meeting
-Timing
-Testimony
-Amount
-Shultz
-Chowder and Marching Society
-Social functions
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Visits to White House
-Budget
-Support for the President
-Clear signals from White House
-Veto prospects
-Gerald R. Ford
-Support for President
-Social visits
-Wives
-Reception
-Receiving line with President
-Donald H. Rumsfeld theory
-Breakfast


**********************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

-Campaigning in 1974
-Compared to 1970 campaign
-President’s support for Republican Party
 -18-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Credentials
-Pictures, tapes
-Development of winning candidates
-Target districts
-Clarence J. (“Bud”) Brown, Jr., Bob Holdson, William E. Brock,
III
-White House help
-George H. W. Bush

Campaigning
-Minority party
-President’s schedule
-Long, Mills
-Compared to Herman T. Schneebeli

End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************


Congressional relations
-Evening at the White House
-Reception for new members
-Wives
-Maurice H. Stans’s list
-Frederic V. Malek
-Congressional wives
-Receptions
-Chowder and Marching Society
-Brock
-Junior Senators
-Dinner parties
-Wives
-Invitation to White House
-Reception for Congressional wives
-Scheduling annually


**********************************************************************
 -19-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Campaign surplus
-Amount
-Stans
-Complaints
-Congressional Campaign Committees
-Amounts
-News summary
-Bush
-Follow up
-Robert L. (“Bob”) Wilson, Peter H. Dominick, Robert J. Dole
-Complaints about money
-Committee to Re-Elect the President [CRP]
-President’s support for candidates since 1972 Convention
-TV clips
-Visits to states
-Eisenhower
-Complaints
-Press Reports
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Campaigning for candidates
-Appreciation
Edward R. F. Cox
-Campaigning in Washington state
-Quality
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Impression

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************


White House social affairs
-Events for Congressmen
-Gerald R. Ford
-Congressmen
-Inadequacy
 -20-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Wives
-State dinners
-Inconvenience
-J. William Fulbright
-Reception
-Purpose
-Ford
-Democrats
-Number invited
-New Congressional members
-Wives
-Visit to White House second floor
-Compared to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
administrations
-Third floor
-Oval Office
-Letters to constituents
-Importance
-Evening event
-Entertainment
-Congressmen
-Finance types
-Size
-Cabinet and sub-Cabinet
-Swearing-in
-Congressmen
-Stans's list
-Evening at the White House
-Cabinet
-Kissinger
-State dinner
-After dinner entertainment
-Administrative people
-Congressmen
-Mix of invitees
-Administrative assistants
-George H. Mahon, Robert C. Byrd
-Congressmen, Senators
 -21-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-White House staffers
-List of people
-Malek
-William E. Timmons
-Congressmen
-Elliot R. Richardson
-William P. Rogers
-Kleindienst
-Administrative people
-Necessity
-White House staffers
-Invitations
-Compared to Kissinger, Ash
-New list
-White House staff
-Congressmen, Senators
-Democrats, Republicans
-Seniority
-Sam Nunn
-Georgia

Congressional relations
-Wildcard attendees at leadership meetings
-Timmons
-Harlow
-Number invited
-Craig Hosmer’s conversation with Haldeman
-Complaints from current leaders
-Timmons
-Jack E. Kemp
-Teamwork
-President’s courting
-Harlow
-Governors
-Compared to President’s 1972 election showing
-Budget impoundment
-President's leadership
-Ford
 -22-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Questions for President
-Leak from leadership
-Frank E. (“Ted”) Moss
-Delay in Vietnam negotiations
-Saigon, Hanoi

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 11:23 am.

Press relations
-President's meeting with Mills
-Public announcement
-Subjects of discussion
-Legislative matters
-Tax
-Trade
-Visit to Stennis
-Publicity at hospital
-TV tape
-Wires

Watergate
-Ervin Committee hearings
-Administration's response
-Coverage
-Partisanship
-Bill of particulars
-Resolution
-Specifications
-Make-up of committee
-John G. Tower
-Administration's cooperation
-Watergate defendants
-Sentencing
-John J. Sirica
-Prejudice
-Appeals
-Senate investigation
-Threat of reversal
 -23-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Rights
-Senate investigation
-Appeals to Ervin
-Impact
-Injunction of Senate hearing
-Cooperation of administration with Congress
-No limitations
-Expansion of scope
-Other elections
-1960, 1964, 1968
-Barry M. Goldwater, Sr.
-1964 election
-Ervin Committee
-Ervin Committee
-Scope of investigation
-Non-partisanship
-Questioning of assistants
-Executive privilege
-Statement
-Charles W. Colson, Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Dwight
L. Chapin
-White House cooperation
-Executive privilege
-Administration's position
-Explanation
-Potential witnesses
-Protection
-Privileges
-Exceptions
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Chapin
-Donald H. Segretti
-Dual role of Presidential assistants
-Shultz
-Kleindienst [?]
-Kissinger
-Flanigan
-Assistant to the President
 -24-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Staff Director, Council of International Economic Policy
-NSC
-Cooperation with Congress
-Kissinger
-Ehrlichman
-FBI interview
-Senate committee
-Questions
-Press questions
-Ziegler's answers
-Administration's position
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Talk with Ehrlichman
-Cooperation with White House
-Limitations
-Separation of powers
-Scope of investigation
-Ziegler's statement
-Testimony of White House officials
-President's comments on executive privilege

Press relations
-Swearing-in of John T. Dunlop
-President's statement
-Shultz
-Confirmation
-Legislation
-House of Representatives
-Ash
-Veto
-Delays
-Cost of living
-Importance
-Congressional inaction
-State of the Union
-Questions
-Ziegler’s statement
-Future announcement
 -25-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)



-Kissinger's itinerary
-Bangkok
-Agnew
-Return from trip
-Timing
-Meeting with President
-President's schedule
-President's trip to California
-Stennis’s condition
-Prognosis
-Trip to Florida
-Easter recess
-Work
-Compared to Congressional vacation
-Trip to California
-Rumors
-Decision
-Congress
-Stennis’s condition

Cable
-Ehrlichman

Press and Congressional relations
-Criticism of President
-Frustration over Vietnam
-War
-Compared to peace
-Frustration over President's successes
-Press story
-Lead

Ehrlichman and Ziegler left at an unknown time after 11:44 am.

Watergate
-New York Times
-Seymour M. Hersh
 -26-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Article on Gordon C. Strachan’s telephone call to G. Gordon Liddy and
Segretti
-Earlier article
-Reasons for publication
-Administration's response
-Ervin committee
-Hearings
-Public interest
-Ziegler's comments
-President's position
-Mitchell
-Lyndon B. Johnson bugging
-Senate actions
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Cartha DeLoach
-Lyndon B. Johnson bugging
-Statements
-Lyndon B. Johnson wiretapping
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Statement to President and Mitchell

White House social affairs
-Entertainment
-Black female singer
-New York
-Bill Berman
-Producer of White House entertainment
-Leonard Garment
-Lionel Hampton
-Band leader
-Evening at the White House
-Les Brown
-Guy Lombardo
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra
-Berman
-Agent role
-Clients
 -27-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Mike Curb
-Mike [last name unknown]
-Promoter
-Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM]
-Someone to produce shows

White House personnel
-Pam Powell
-Anne L. Armstrong
-Speeches
-Qualifications
-Possible jobs
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-East Wing
-Patricia R. Hitt
-Ehrlichman
-Colson
-Problem between Ehrlichman and Peter J. Brennan
-Under Secretary [?]
-Shultz
-Haldeman’s role
-Brennan
-Advantage to administration
-Malek, Ehrlichman
-Managerial tilt
-“Errand boys”
-George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, Walter J.
Hickel
-Claude S. Brinegar
-Donald F. Rodgers
-Cornell University
-Dealings with Brennan
-Loyalty to White House
-Haldeman’s role
-Malek
-Jerry H. Jones
-Cooperation
-Colson
 -28-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)



Public relations
-Polls
-Spending
-Questions
-George H. Gallup
-Robert Teeter
-Louis P. Harris
-Albert E. Sindlinger
-Opinion Research Corporation [ORC]
-Gallup
-Release
-Compared to ORC
-Harris, Sindlinger
-Independence
-Questions
-Release
-Compared to ORC
-Spending
-Ehrlichman
-Individual Congressmen
-Polls
-Harlow
-Colson
-Organizations
-National Association of Manufacturers [NAM]
-Jaycees
-General Federation of Women’s Clubs
-Business organizations
-Mailings lists
-Members writing to Congress
-Hugh Scott
-Support for cuts
-Constituent mail
-President’s request
-Support for President
-Shultz
-Congress
 -29-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-General interest compared to special interests
-Mail program
-Letters to Congress
-Taxes, prices, programs
-Spending
-Veto message
-Special message from President
-Letters to Congress
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Domestic Council
-Compared to peace issues and NSC
-Ehrlichman
-Kissinger
-Haldeman’s aid
-William J. Baroody, Jr.
-Colson
-Peace
-Robert H. Finch’s theory
-Democrats, “doves”
-Avoidance of issue
-Compared to Eisenhower, Korean War, 1956 Election
-South Carolina legislature
-Resolution
-Expression of thanks to President
-Finch
-Use of issue
-TV stories
-Vietnam
-Importance of issue
-South Carolina legislature
-President’s appreciation for resolution

Congressional relations
-Timmons
-Capitol Hill Club
-Dole
-President’s attendance at events
-Problems
 -30-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Lunch at Senate
-Waste of time
-President’s visits to Congress
-Haldeman’s dealings with Congressmen
-Administrative assistants
-President’s visits to Congress
-White House staff
-Chowder and Marching society
-Ford, Scott
-Leaks
-Compared to loyalist dinners
-Camp David
-Complaints
-Samuel L. Devine
-White House attention
-Self-confidence
-President as Congressman
-Importance of work
-Investigating committees

Watergate
-Ervin committee
-Republican members
-Tower
-Robert Griffin
-Marlow W. Cook
-Edward J. Gurney
-Publicity
-Interest by public
-Television
-Trial judge in civil suit
-Decisions
-Sirica
-Judge Charles R. Richey
-Release of depositions
-Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
-Colson
-Ehrlichman's statement
 -31-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


-Story on Watergate

Press relations
-Arrangement of story placement by President
-Watergate
-Ziegler
-Events in news
-Lyndon B. Johnson's death
-Inauguration
-Vietnam settlement
-Peace
-Press conference
-President's position
-Questions
-Connally
-Hearings
-Cooperation

White House social affairs
-Mike Curb singers
-Youth
-Purpose of singing
-Uplift
-Congress


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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 19s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
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[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
 -32-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 852-7 (cont’d)


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-Public attitudes
-Jewish women
-Van Cliburn
-Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern
-Garment
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Cliburn
-Lyndon Johnson
-Concert in the White House
-After dinner entertainment
-Length of concert
-Soviet Union
-State dinners
-Compared to Evening at the White House

Congressional relations
-Church services
-Number
-Children
-Adults
-Invitations
-Difficulties

Stennis’s health
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Tkach
-Death

Haldeman left at 12:21 pm.
 -33-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)