859–19

Conversation No. 859-19

Date: February 21, 1973
Time: 10:19 am - 10:46 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

Entertainment at Gridiron [?]
-Singers
-Dancers
 -17-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



-Comics
-President’s preferences
-Press relations

Dinners
-Entertainment
-President's appearances

Bob Clark
-Radio and Television Correspondents dinner
-Date
-Problems in arranging
-Herbert G. Klein
-President’s attendance

White House Correspondents Association
-Lodging
-Date of dinner

Nguyen Van Thieu
-Date
-Choices

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 10:26
am.

[Conversation No. 859-19A]

Date of Thieu meeting
-Correspondents dinner
-Timing
-Meeting with the President and Ziegler

[End of telephone conversation]

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
 -18-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



-Schedule items

The President talked with an unknown person after 10:19 am.

[Conversation No. 859-19B]

William F. (“Billy”) Graham
-Return call
-President's return call

[End of telephone conversation]

Clark
-Date of White House Correspondents Association dinner
-President's acceptance
-Other dates
-Problems in arranging accommodations
-Optional date
-Congress in recess
-Affiliate meetings
-Letter to Ziegler
-Scheduling conflicts
-Foreign travel

Kissinger entered at 10:26 am.

Thieu visit
-Date
-Troop withdrawals
-Troop withdrawals
-Thieu's preference on date
-Date
-Options
-Delays
-President’s press conference
-Troops
 -19-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



-Meeting in California
-Press conference in California
-President's press conference
-Location
-Washington
-California
-Timing with Thieu visit
-Date
-Troop withdrawals
President’s schedule
-White House Correspondents Associations dinner
-Thieu visit
-California
-Options

Thieu visit
-Meeting in San Clemente
-Thieu’s itinerary
-Visit to Washington, DC
-Meeting with President, Vice President
-President’s stay in San Clemente
-Head of State dinner
-Size
-Location
-San Clemente
-Washington, DC
-Talks with President
-Working dinner
-Vice President's dinner
-Blair House
-Anderson House
-San Clemente visit
-Optimistic dates

Ziegler left at 10:34 am.
 -20-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



Vietnam
-Thieu
-US support
-Demonstrations
-Control of visit
-White House dinner
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Host
-State dinner

Annual report
-Kissinger’s role

President’s press conference
-Date
-Completion of troop withdrawals
-Television [TV] coverage
-Trip to California
-Return to Washington
-White House Correspondents Association dinner
-Timing

William P. Rogers
-President’s telephone call
-Multilateral agreement
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Progress in talks
-Office
-Title
-Kissinger’s talk with Rogers
-Rogers’s reaction
-President’s call
-News summary
-Multilateral agreements
-News summary
-Questions
 -21-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



-Rogers’s statements
-Kissinger’s talk with Rogers
-PRC
-Rogers’s reaction
-Rogers’s knowledge
-US talks with PRC

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:34 am.

Harry S. Dent’s arrival

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:46 am.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Economic Commission
-Deal
-Kissinger’s talks with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Trade agreement [?]
-George P. Shultz’s role
-Frederick B. Dent
-Commerce Department
-Peter G. Peterson
-Shultz
-Dent
-Compared with Shultz

Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with the President

Report on Mao Tse-Tung
-Secretary
-Trustworthiness
-Memoirs, biography

Confidentiality
-Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Shultz
 -22-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



-Haldeman
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Hugh Scott
-PRC
-Strengths
-US relations with Japan
-President’s public statements
-John E. Moss [?]
-Statements
-President’s briefing to Congress
-Effects on talks with North, South Vietnam
-Division of labor

Gridiron dinner
-Kissinger
-Invitation
-George S. McGovern
-Democratic speaker
-President's attendance
-Press relations
-McGovern
-Comparisons with the President
-Applause
-Jokes
-Press reports
-White House Correspondents Associations dinner
-President's attendance
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Edmund S. Muskie
-1972 election
-McGovern
-President's Inauguration
-Refusal to attend
-President's attendance at John F. Kennedy's Inauguration
-Statements on Vietnam
-Kissinger's attendance
 -23-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



-Kissinger’s view on President’s attendance

Dent

Gridiron dinner
-McGovern’s attendance
-Advantages
-President’s attendance
-Disadvantages
-Rogers
-Attendance
-President's non-attendance
-McGovern

Kissinger left at 10:46 am.