869-007a

Conversation No. 869-7

Date: March 6, 1973
Time: 8:35 am - 9:57 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Hugh Scott, Gerald R. Ford, Roy L. Ash, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Tom C.
Korologos, Richard K. Cook, William E. Timmons, John D. Ehrlichman and Ronald L. Ziegler.
The White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

Greetings

Seating

Schedule

Foreign ministers

Administration's programs
-Public awareness
-Termination
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Expansion of programs
-Criticism of administration budget cuts
-Special revenue sharing
-Headstart program, school lunch program, Office of
Economic Opportunity [OEO]
-Public awareness of administration's actions
-Public statements about program cuts
-Effects on Congressional Republicans

Senate Republicans
-Attitudes
-Split
-Compared with House Republicans
-Ford
-Support for President's vetoes, programs
-Statements
-Harold E. Hughes, Senators
-Senate compared to House
-Scott and Ford as leaders, spokesmen
-Compared with Birch E. Bayh, Jr., Carl T. Curtis
-Work with Senators compared with Representatives
-Discouragement, disorganization
-Meetings with President
-Amount of time
-Compared with House republicans
-[Unintelligible name], John Sherman Cooper

Senators
-Malaise
-Republican support
-1972 compared with 1973
-Scott's dealings
-Social interaction with White House
-Failure to support vetoes

House of Representatives
-Problems
-Conservative trend
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Compared with Scott
-Liberalism
-Carl B. Albert
-Republicans
-Support for President's fiscal policies
-Press conference
-Freshmen
-Approach
-Ford's opinion
-Paul W. Cronin
-Bradford F. Morse
-Support for President's programs

Senate
-Freshmen
-Congressional seat
-Security compared to senior Congress members
-Support for vetoes
-Political effect

Congressional relations
-President's vetoes
-Scott
-Public perception
-Work with House compared to Senate
-Senate
-Irresponsibility
-Support for administration
-Foreign aid and trade issues
-Scott’s role
-Vetoes
-Support
-House
-Work with Administration
-Ted Stevens [?]
-Vetoes
-Trade
-Cooperation on trade and aid to North Vietnam
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-deal making
-Senate
-Positive votes
-Cooperation on vetoes
-Appearance of irresponsibility on spending
-Compared to House during President’s tenure
-Aid to North Vietnam
-Need for support

Vetoes
-Support
-Number of bills
-Overrides
-Number
-Opponents' strategy
-Flood control bill
-Support in House
-Number sustained
-Overrides
-Vocational rehabilitation
-Rural water and sewer bill
-Number of votes for sustaining
-Senate
-Vocational rehabilitation
-Vote on override
-Senate
-Passed
-House
-Concurrence
-Administration defeat
-Morale
-Rural Environmental Assistance Program [REAP] [?]
-Senate
-House
Vocational Rehabilitation
-Modifications of bill
-Ford's strategy
-Scott's strategy
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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-Republicans in Senate, House
-Public relations [PR]
-Votes
-Scott's vote
-Antihijacking bill
-Senate vote
-Federal police force
-Antihijacking bill
-Lone dissenting vote
-Margin of vote
-Vocational rehabilitation veto
-Scott's position
-Senate
-Past vetoes
-Dwight D. Eisenhower [?]
-Draft of workers into armed services
-Robert A. Taft and Harry S Truman
-Position of Senate
-Compared to Congress in 1973

Spanish
-Thomas Kuchel's comment
-Manolo Sanchez
-Spanish swear words
-Translation

Vocational rehabilitation
-Votes in House
-Ford's count
-Authorization
-House version
-Albert H. Quie
-Spending provisions
-Mandatory compared to discretionary
-Ehrlichman
-Quie
-Education and labor committee
-Ranking member
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Vote in House
-Sustaining President's veto
-Ford’s opinion

Vetoes
-House supporters
-Letters from President to loyalists
-Senate supporters
-Letters
-Reasons for vetoes
-Vocational rehabilitation veto
-Ash’s statement
-Record of spending compared with Congressional [?] recommendations
-President's message
-Length of statements
-Background material for supporters
-Reduction of volume
-Timmons's office
-Need to reduce volume to Congress members
-Senators
-Time for study
-Compared to judges
-Vocational rehabilitation
-Spending compared to appropriations
-Administration proposals
-George P. Shultz
-Mandatory spending
-Problems with budget
-Action if defeated
-Budget
-Tax increases
-Study material on vetoes
-Impact on budget
-Administration proposals
-Compared to Democratic proposal
-Scott's speech
-Veterans medical benefits
-VA hospitals
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Dependants of veterans
-Administration answer to critics
-Increases in spending
-Veterans
-Health Maintenance Organizations [HMOs]
-Cancer
-New approaches
-Domestic spending
-Change in priorities
-Monthly spending
-Food stamps
-Civil rights
-Emphasis on gains and increases
-Albert's appearance with Ford on television [TV] show
-Vocational rehabilitation
-Possibility of loss
-Publicity
-White House statements on vetoes
-Support for Ford
-Danger spots
-Comestic Council
-Risks
-List of President’s vetoes
-Ford, Scott
-Republican unity
-Statement on bills
-Ziegler
-Timing

Votes in Congress for week
-Veterans hospital, national cemetery, Veterans drug program
-Federal Highway Bill

Veterans bill
-Vietnam veterans
-Support from President, Congress
-Compared to World War II veterans’ benefits
-\"Professional veterans’\" support
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Appropriations for Vietnam veterans
-Support from President
-Rights under GI Bill of Rights
-Reemployment, education
-Congressional relations
-Administration’s support for Vietnam veterans
-Compassion
-Administration’s record on veterans
-Education, home loans, medical care, employment
-President’s support for a bill
-Veto
-Vietnam veterans
-Health care for dependents
-Problem
-National health insurance plan
-Vietnam veterans
-Support of veterans’ organizations
-Position on Veterans Administration [VA] services
-President's veto
-Compared with vocational rehabilitation
-Publicity
-Statement of speech
-House of representatives

Republican Congress members
-Increased contact
-Senators
-Social contacts at White House
-Evenings, dinners, church services
-Exceptions
-Paul N. (\"Pete\") McCloskey, Jr., Donald W. Riegle, Jr.
-Vetoes
-Curtis
-Supporters
-House of representatives
-Freshmen
-Visit to White House after first vote
-Problems
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Reward for support
-Senate
-Telephone calls for supporters
-Timmons


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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Congressional candidates
-Marlow W. Cook, Henry L. Bellmon
-President’s encouragement
-1974 election
-Wallace F. Bennett
-Norris Cotton
-Age factor
-Milton R. Young
-Decision to run
-William B. Saxbe
-President’s support for Republican candidates
-Bellmon, Cook
-Ohio seat
-Senate committee assignment
-Saxbe
-Support from President
-Talks with George H. W. Bush and William E. Brock, III
-Bellmon, Cook
-Ohio state politics
-Brock
-John S. Andrews
-Study
-Republican state committee chairman
-Robert A. Taft, Jr.
-James A. Rhodes
-Appeals to Democrats to switch parties
-Dan Daniel of Virginia
-Timing
-Mills Godwin
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-David E. Satterfield, III
-Thomas N. Downing
-G. V. (“Sonny”) Montgomery
-Mississippi
-Clarence J. (“Bud”) Brown, Jr.
-Recruitment
-Unknown person from Tennessee [Dan Kuykendall?]
-Qualities
-Problems
-Robert H. Michel
-Conflict
-Desire to be candidate
-Brock
-Qualities
-Taft, Jr.
-Leadership
Republican National Committee [RNC] leadership
-Ford, Scott, Timmons’s role
-Bush
-Qualities
-Work with Scott and Ford, candidates

President’s appearances in Congressional campaigns
-Effectiveness in campaigns
-1970 election
-1972 election
-1974 election
-President’s appearance in key states
-Brock, Ford, Brown, Wilson, Michel
-Discussions with RNC and White House
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Preparations
-Support for candidates
-Association with administration’s policy successes
-Belmon, Cook
-Preparation
-Timing
-Gubernatorial election
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Opponent of Milton J. Sharp
-Primary

1974 campaign
-President’s appearances on behalf of candidates
-Effectiveness
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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Trade bill
-Meeting
-Vote in house
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Release from committee
-Most Favored Nation [MFN] status for USSR
-Jewish emigration from USSR
-Jewish-American reaction
-President's talk with Golda Meir
-Jewish-American reaction
-Impact on USSR’s emigration policy
-Handling of problem
-President’s talk with Golda Meir
-Congress’s support for Jewish emigration
-President’s talks with Brezhnev
-Exit visas for Jews
-Trade issues
-Soviet sensitivity
-President, Henry A. Kissinger
-State Department
-Work with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Ford's approach
-Ways and means committee
-Vannik amendment
-Escape clause to bill
-President's discretion
-Bargaining position
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Taiwan
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson, Scott
-Support for President’s foreign policy
-Jewish lobby
-Financing of campaign
-Jewish community
-Influence
-Administration’s work
-Max M .Fisher
-Scott’s experience
-Spokesman
-Helpfulness, intellectualism
-Fisher, Taft Schreiber
-Private admission
-Conspiracy
-Kissinger
-Talk with Jacob K. Javits
-Work with Scott
-Javits
-Concern for Soviet restrictions on Jews
-President’s talks with Golda Meir
-Soviet treatment of Jews
-Soviet-Jewish emigration
-Proper approach
-Soviet initiative
-President’s, Kissinger’s viewpoint
-House Bill

Leadership meetings
-Format
-Ford, Scott
-“Wild card”
-Timmons
-Number attending
-Invitations
-Liberals
-Trade issues
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Barry M. Goldwater, Sr.
-New people
-Korologos, Timmons, study
-Chowder and Marching members
-Thomas G. Abernathy, [William M. Colmer]
-Mississippi
-White House dinner
-Appreciation for invitation
-Democrats, Republicans, Democratic Study Group
-Bellmon
-Wild card invitation
-Frequency
-Scott and Ford
-Whips
-Leslie C. Arends, Robert C. Byrd
-Bipartisan meetings
-Format
-Republican, Democratic leadership, White House staff
-Subjects of discussion
-Energy
-Trade
-Foreign aid
-Scheduling
-Republican leaders, bipartisan leaders, small group [wild card]
-Ford, Scott
-Weekly pattern
Wild card meeting
-Number
-Seating
-Importance
-Photographs
-Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins
-Bipartisan invitees
-Problems with vetoes
-House members attending
-Senate vote
-Senate attendees
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



President's meetings with Congress members
-Subjects of discussion
-Format
-Mixture of House and Senate members

Meetings with candidates
-Consultations with Bush and Brock
-President’s support
-Saxbe
-Meeting with President
-Reaction of Ohio Republican party
-Donald D. Clancy
-Cook
-Temperment
-Meetings with President
-Cook, Bellmon
-Problems
-Saxbe
-Ohio Establishment
-Timing

Leadership meeting
-Wild card
-Freshmen
-House
-Senate
-Petition circulated
-John G. Tower
-Coordination with Scott and Ford, Timmons, Korologos, Richard K. Cook
-Priority invitations
-Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.

Vietnam aid vote in Senate
-Results of a poll
-Need for public relations [PR] work
-Aid from other nations
-Shame
-Return of Prisoners of War [POWs]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
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Conversation No. 869-7 (cont’d)



-Otto E. Passman
-Aid as investment
-Other nations’ aid contributions
-Japan
-Germany
-USSR, PRC
-Aid to South Vietnam
-Problems
-Aid to North Vietnam
-Japan
-Aid to Vietnam

US bombing
-South Vietnam
-Destruction
-An Loc
-Quang Tri
-North Vietnam
-Destruction
-Extent
-Kissinger, Herbert G. Klein
-Visits to Hanoi
-Precision
-POW reaction

Andrei A. Gromyko [?]
-Conversation at reception after signing of settlement agreement
-Peace
-Willingness

Khartoum incident
-William P. Rogers [?]
-Murder of US officials
-US retaliation

Next meeting

Richard M. Helms [?]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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Conversation No. 869-8 (cont’d)




Senate
-Work with President
-Speeches

Scott, et al., left at 9:57 am.