860–15

Conversation No. 860-15

Date: February 21, 1973
Time: 4:02 pm - 5:30 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Edgar A. Poe, Garnett D. (“Jack”) Horner and Ronald L. Ziegler.

Poe
-Presidency of Gridiron
-White House Correspondents Association [WHCA]

Photographs
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John D. Ehrlichman entered at 4:06 pm.

Invitation to WHCA dinner
-Gridiron
-President's attendance
-Entertainment
-Music compared with comedy
-Julie Andrews
-Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Young groups
-Japan
-Cell group
-Black group
-Recognition
-Pam Powell
-Inaugural show
-Youth
-Andrews
-Acceptance
-Gridiron
-Drum and Bugle Corps
-Entertainment
-Young people
-Appeal
-Country music
-President’s viewpoint
-Young people

Horner, Poe and Ziegler left at 4:08 pm.

Taxes
-Energy
-Study
-Telephone calls
-George P. Shultz
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-Capital gains
-Treasury Department

President’s schedule
-Counsellors
-Meeting
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Meeting with Ehrlichman

Domestic Cabinet officers
-Congressional relations
-Meetings
-Urban League
-Whitney Young
-Vernon Jordan
-Cooperation with administration
-Symbolism

Welfare demonstration
-Riots
-Size of crowd
-Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO] employees
-Professional social workers
-Government payroll
-Blacks
-Young, middle-age
-Young Men’s Christian Association [YMCA], Urban League,
Post Office
-New York
-Busses
-Unemployed
-Middle-class blacks
-Homeowners
-Children in school
-Cars
-Protest compared to rioting
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Government jobs
-Hiring of blacks
-Balance
-Professional blacks

Jordan
-Meeting with President and Cabinet
-President's appearance
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Prejudice
-Domestic Council meeting
-President's attendance
-Photographs

Dairy question
-Earl L. Butz
-Milk producers
-Temporary action
-Publicity
-President’s news summary
-Budget
-Farmers
-Funds
-Budget cuts
-OEO
-Blacks
-President's constituency
-President’s press conference
-Farm statistics

Energy
-Ehrlichman’s report
-Congressional Advisory Group
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Ernest F. (“Fritz”) Hollings
-Regular meetings
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-Cross sectional character
-John J. Rhodes
-Bipartisan nature
-Advice
-President's appearance at a meeting
-Purpose
-Need for Congressional advice
-Citizens' groups
-Message
-Timing
-Deregulation
-Gas prices
-Position
-Recommendations
-Henry A. Kissinger, Shultz, Ehrlichman, Charles J. DiBona
-John B. Connally
-Political problems
-Deregulation of gas
-Russell B. Long
-Problems
-DiBona
-Systems analyst
-Political experience
-Connally
-Political judgment
-Meeting at Camp David
-Dinner
-President’s attendance
-Timing
-Connally
-Kissinger’s attendance
-Middle East
-International aspects
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Shortcomings
-Inflexibility
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Kissinger
-Lack of knowledge
-Meeting at Camp David
-Urgency
-President's schedule
-Work with energy groups
-Arrangements
-Dinner

Taxes
-Shultz
-Minimum tax
-Artificial accounting lawsuit abuses
-Tax reform
-President’s recommendation
-Reduction of tax rate
-Effects on wealthy
-Capital gains tax
-Changes
-Treasury Department support
-Rationale
-Political problems
-Simplification
-Standard deduction
-Tax preparation
-Lawyer
-Costs
-Municipal bonds
-Tax on interest
-John N. Mitchell
-Foreign source income tax
-Property tax relief for elderly
-Credit for private school tuition
-Property tax relief for elderly
-State initiative
-Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations [ACIR]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Opposition
-President’s support
-Pension reform
-Shultz
-Depreciation and job development credit
-Shultz's opposition
-Estate gift tax
-Political impact
-Estate planning
-Memorandum from John N. Alexander
-Opposition
-Tax package
-Minimum tax
-Revenue
-Elderly
-Parochial aid
-Foreign corporations
-Political effects
-Alexander
-Long
-Estate tax
-Treasury Department

Patricia R. Hitt and Michael P. Balzano, Jr.
-Problem
-Letter to Ehrlichman from Patricia Hitt
-President’s role
-Ehrlichman and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s meeting with Balzano
-Length
-Balzano
-ACTION
-Patricia Hitt’s letter
-State Department job
-Robert J. Hitt
-ACTION director
-Return to California
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Robert Hitt
-Return
-President's decision
-Balzano
-Job in administration
-ACTION
-Dissertation
-Knowledge
-Motivation
-Patricia Hitt’s job
-William Rogers
-President’s influence
-Letter to Ehrlichman
-Skills, knowledge
-ACTION compared with State Department
-Robert H. Finch’s role
-Rose Mary Woods’s role
-President's role
-Patricia Hitt’s meeting with Ehrlichman
-Woods
-Work with Hitt
-Balzano
-Cutbacks in ACTION
-Peace Corps
-OEO
-Woods
-President’s role
-Florida
-Call to Woods
-Ehrlichman’s meeting
-President's message
-OEO
-Cutbacks
-Need for Balzano
-Hitt’s abilities
-State Department, Peace Corps
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Government work
-Finch

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:06 pm.

Meeting with Kissinger

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:30 pm.


Taxes
-Message
-Ways and Means Committee
-Staff
-Negotiations
-Shultz’s talks with Wilbur D. Mills
-Questions and answers
-Backgrounders and briefings
-Statement
-Shultz
-Opening statement
-Consultation
-Reforms
-Value of issue
-Parochial school
-Minimum tax
-Congress
-Chowder and Marching Society event
-Ehrlichman
-Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen
-Feedback on budget cuts
-Wall Street Journal
-Support for President
-Budget

Congressional relations
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Ehrlichman’s recommendations
-Social events with Congress members
-Evenings at the White House
-Worship services
-Vietnam loyalists
-Reception
-Freshman Republicans
-William E. Timmons
-Breakfast
-Gerald R. Ford
-Value
-Haldeman
-Meeting with Ehrlichman, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Value of events
-Loyalists
-Leaks
-Chowder and Marching Society
-Wednesday Club
-Freshmen
-Social events
-Meetings with staff
-Marina Von N. Whitman
-Evening at the White House
-Exposure
-Maurice H. Stans
-New strategy
-Contributors
-Stage and State dinners
-Mood
-Republicans
-Freshman
-Worship service

President’s schedule

Haldeman entered at 4:40 pm.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Church service
-Evening at the White House
-Meetings

Congressional relations
-Freshmen
-Capitol Club
-William E. Timmons
-Bull
-Meetings with President
-Difficulties
-Value
-Timmons
-Meetings with staff
-Whitman, Cole, Ehrlichman, Haig

Kissinger entered at 4:44 pm.

Stans
-List of people
-Contributors
-Commitments
-Meetings with President
-1972 election
-Inauguration
-Max Fisher
-Ambassadorship
-Netherlands
-Wife

Timmons
-Briefings for Republicans
-Mistake

Vietnam
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-Congressional votes
-Kissinger’s role
-Meeting with Congressional groups
-Freshman
-Leaders
-Frequency
-Chowder and Marching Society

Congressional relations
-Coordination
-Richard K. Cook
-Kissinger’s briefing
-Chowder and Marching Society
-Value of staff meetings
-Coordination
-Timmons
-Democrats
-Plans

Energy
-Kissinger’s role
-Need for work
-Flanigan
-Interest
-Dogmatism
-Kissinger’s role
-Meeting with Shultz, Ehrlichman, and DiBona
-Camp David
-Scheduling
-Dinner
-Schedule
-Congress
-Briefing papers for Kissinger
-Connally
-Advice
-Political judgment
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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(rev. Nov.-09)
Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-Deregulation of natural gas
-Conflict of interest
-DiBona
-Connally
-Camp David meeting
-Kissinger’s briefing
-Discussion
-Complexities

PRC
-President’s meeting with Connally
-Announcement
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]

Robert Elliot
-Article
-Hong Kong
-President’s meeting
-Breakthrough
-Hong Kong
-PRC representatives [?]
-Airport
-Kissinger meeting
-Television [TV], news media [?]
-New York Times article
-Possible role with administration

Energy
-Camp David meeting
-Briefing papers
-DiBona
-Foreign policy aspects
-Purchasing shift
-Study by DiBona
-Flanigan
-Recommendations
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-Oil imports
-Iraq, Libya cuts
-Saudi Arabia, Gulf States, Iran, Algeria
-Subjects for discussion

Ehrlichman and Haldeman left at 4:58 pm.

Vietnam settlement
-Kissinger’s meeting with Robert Thompson
-Chances of success for South Vietnam
-Bombing of North Vietnam [?]
-Impact [?]
-Economic aid to South Vietnam
-Amount
-Impact
-Communists
-Elections
-Cambodia
-Bombing
-Impact
-John F. Kennedy’s administration’s actions
-Strategy
-Entry
-Troop levels
-Alternative strategy
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Ngo Dinh Diem
-Vietnam
-Ho Chi Minh trail
-Advisors, helicopters
-Lyndon B. Johnson administration
-Advisors

Dominic Mintoff
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Dealings with PRC
-Malta
-USSR, Libya
-Sweden

PRC
-USSR
-Mao Tse-Tung’s statement to Kissinger
-President’s name in communiqué
-Significances
-President’s visit to Peking
-Daily Telegraph
-London
-Cringle [first name unknown]
-Robert S. Elegant
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Story on President’s visit to PRC
-Kissinger
-Mao’s call to Kissinger
-Kissinger’s conversation with Betty Lord
-Statements on women
-Mao’s wife
-Leader of Cultural Revolution
-Intensity
-Military situation
-Preparation
-Fighter planes
-Great Britain

President’s initiatives in foreign policy
-Significance

Briefings by Kissinger
-PRC
-Questions
-Hanoi
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
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Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-Aid to North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s answers to press
-President’s reasons for aid
-Aid as tool of foreign policy
-Significance
-Details of aid package
-Economics commission
-Congressional relations
-William P. Rogers
-Statement
-Defensiveness
-Administration’s response to Congress
-Past economic aid
-Peace with Japan, Germany
-Announcement
-PRC
-Hanoi
-Bombing damage
-Civilian destruction
-Press briefing
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Kissinger’s flight over Hanoi
-North Vietnam
-Evolution compared to revolution
-US interests
-Mansfield
-South Vietnam
-Cambodia and Laos

Kissinger’s conversation with Chou
-Norodom Sihanouk
-Friendship
-Mansfield

Mao’s conversation with Kissinger
-Comments on President
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
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Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-Communism
-Soviet Union [?]
-Japan
-Communique

Vietnam settlement
-Aid to South Vietnam
-Congress, press
-USSR, PRC participation
-North Vietnam
-Mao’s attitude
-Four states
-Chou
-Aid to Vietnam
-PRC’s support
-Lao’s ceasefire agreement
-Hanoi
-Message
-PRC’s role
-Vice foreign minister
-Peking, Paris
-Kissinger’s briefing for Congressional leaders
-President’s role in settlement negotiations
-Reports
Cambodia
-Military action
-France
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Casualties
-Estimate
-B-52 raids
-Laos
-North Vietnam’s reaction
-Difficulties
-Provisional government
-PRC recommendations
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-Lon Nol, Sihanouk
-New candidates
-Sisowath Sirik Matak
-PRC’s goals
-North Vietnam, USSR
-Neutrality
-Sihanouk
-Role
-Acceptability

Energy
-Kissinger’s involvement
-Flanigan
-Dogmatism

Middle East
-Rogers
-Joseph J. Sisco
-US actions
-Reactions with Arabs
-Crises
-Compared to USSR
-Libyan passenger plane
-Israel
-Kissinger message to Muammar Kaddafi and Anwar
-Rogers’s statement
-Call to Hafiz Ismail
-London
-Problems
-Ismail’s visit

Middle East peace negotiations
-Egypt’s position
-Stalemate
-Israel’s position
-Status quo
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Egypt’s concessions
-US pressure on Israel
-Avoidance of war
-President’s position
-Statements to both sides
-Commitment to permanent settlement
-Israel’s resistance
-Egypt
-Interim settlement
-US influence on Israel
-Egypt’s position
-Land
-Significance
-Sovereignty
-Exchange for security zone
-Police
-Bases
-Kissinger’s meeting with Ismail
-Meeting with President
-Rogers
-Meeting with Egyptians
-Knowledge of Kissinger’s meeting
-Timing
-Kissinger’s meeting
-Timing
-New York
-Announcement
-Rogers
-President’s involvement
-Sisco
-President’s meeting with Rogers
-Conference
-Scheduling
-Camp David meeting
-Instructions
-Conference
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 860-15 (cont’d)



-PRC

President’s meeting with Rogers
-Breakfast meeting
-Kissinger’s presence

Kissinger left at 5:30 pm.