876–4

Conversation No. 876-4

Date: March 12, 1973
Time: 9:30 am - 10:29 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

France’s election
-Gaullists
-Results
-Computer projections
-Communists and Socialists
-Washington Post articles by Jonathan Randall
-Compared to New York Times I[?]
-Distortions
-Gaullists
-Losses of deputies
Compared to reporting on winning of majority
-Significance
-Reasons
-Impact of unity between Communists and Socialists
-Message to Georges J. R. Pompidou
-President’s congratulations
-Hot line

People's Republic of China [PRC]-US relations
-Liaison office
-Announcement by President
-Press conference
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Format
-Advanced notice
 -3-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Release of John T. Downey
-Publicity

Vietnam
-Press coverage
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Cease-fire
-Criticism
-Cambodia
-Casualties


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 6s]

INTELLIGENCE

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
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Vietnam
-Cease-fire
-Cambodia
-Casualties
-Weaponry
-Defeat
-US Air Force attacks
-B-52 strikes
-Chup Plantation
-Civilians
-Daily report
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Infiltration
-Cease-fire violations
-Response by US
 -4-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Delay
-Release of Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Message to North Vietnam
-B-52 strikes on Ho Chi Minh Trail
-Aid to North Vietnam
-Baltimore Sun editorial
-Criticism of President
-Justifications
-National conscience
-Congressional votes
-Anti-war advocates
-George S. McGovern
-McGovern
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Gridiron
-Statements during 1972 campaign
-Criticism of President
-POWs
-Impression on public
-Book on Vietnam War
-President’s memorandum to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Robert G. K. Thompson
-No Exit from Vietnam
-Publisher
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Joseph Alsop
-Nicholas P. (“Nick”) Timmesch
-Thompson
-Knowledge of war
-Timmesch
-Kissinger’s conversations
-Alsop
-Laos
-Laos and Cambodia
-North Vietnam’s withdrawal
-B-52 strikes
-Massive basis
-Frequency
-Impact on US aid to North Vietnam
 -5-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Necessity
-South Vietnam
-Fighting with North Vietnam
-Growing strength
-Press reports
-Washington Post
-[First name unknown] Lippman [?]
-Distortions
-Cambodia
-Thompson's book
-Insights
-US troop commitments
-Ngu Dem Diem
-Overthrow
-Comments on US will
-Consequences of withdrawal
-Impact on role of US in world
-US policy
-President’s November 3, 1969 speech
-Demonstration of will
-Peace settlement
-Criticism
-Paul Warnke’s speech
-Conversation with Gen. Alexander M. Haig and Kissinger during 1972
Campaign
-Distortions
-1969 negotiations
-South Vietnam’s viability
-US troop withdrawal
-Press relations
-Distortions
-Administration’s response
-Impact on 1974 election in Vietnam
-South Vietnam’s viability

Governor of Bermuda
-President’s acquaintance
-Assassination
-Suspects
 -6-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Condolences
-Telegram
-Edward R. G. Heath
-Protocol
-Elizabeth II [Elizabeth, Queen of England]

President Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru
-Death
-Condolences

Argentina
-Presidential, legislative elections
-Peronista victory
-Military coup
-Alejandro Lanusse
-Peronista government
-Nationalism
-Anti-Americanism

Latin America
-Extremist politics
-State Department’s assessment
-Future trends
-Right-Wing leaders
-Left-Wing programs
-Argentina
-US responsibility
-Right, Left-Wing coalition
-Isolationism
-Jingoism
-International Communist influence
-Left-Wing
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR], People’s Republic of
China [PRC]
International economy
-Common float
-Great Britain
-Success
-George P. Shultz
 -7-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Helmut (“Hal”) Sonnenfeldt

Foreign policy
-Middle East
-Summit with USSR
-Meeting between Kissinger and President
-Philosophical discussion
-Briefings for President
-Hermann Kahn
-Ability
-US role in world
-Abilities
-Centrist
-Daniel Joseph Boorstin
-Historian
-Smithsonian Institution
-Meeting with President
-Conservative point of view
-Rand Corporation, Brookings Institution
-Policy planners from State Department and Defense Department
-Problems with using research groups
-Request for money
-Robert S. Elegant
-[First name unknown] Hoffman
-Liberalism
-Talk with Kissinger
-France’s election
-Paper on European-American relations
-Position on European Unity
-Midwest university representative
-Chicago
-Compared with “Old Establishment”
-Kahn, Hoffman
-Boorstin
-US role in world
-Support for President
-Meetings with small groups of thinkers
-Kahn
-Necessity of discussions
 -8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Need for a philosophy and formulation of goals
-French election, monetary issues
-Remainder of President’s second term
-Long range thinking
-John B. Connally
-Charles H. Percy
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Intelligence
-Knowledge of foreign policy
-Skepticism, enthusiasm
-Speech in Europe
-European federalism
-Compared to New York State
-Alliance for Progress
-Organization of American States [OAS]
-Failure
-State Department’s reaction
-Africa
-Token gestures [?]
-Latin America
-Japan
-Importance
-Southeast Asia
-India-Pakistan
-Casualties at partition
-Japan
-Importance
-Insularity in policies
-Nationalistic attitudes
-Comparison to [PRC]
-Economic power
-Realpolitik compared to sentimentality
-Future role
-Leadership
-Kakuei Tanaka and Eisaku Sato compared to Chou En-lai
-Respect for US
-Diplomacy
-Hirohito [Emperor of Japan]
-State visits
 -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Involvement in other parts of the world
-Siberia, Southeast Asia
-Impact on PRC, USSR
-Ties to US compared to PRC
-Economic activities in Asia
-Impact on US
-Compared to European Economic Community [EEC]
-North Vietnam, Siberia, PRC
-Impact on PRC, USSR
-Overextension
-Imbalance
-PRC
-Deal with Mao Tse-Tung, Chou En-lai
-Ties with US
-Letters from president
-Delay
-Kissinger's trip to New York
-Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-President’s announcement of appointment
-Meeting with Kissinger
-North Vietnam’s infiltration
-US-USSR summit
-USSR
-North Vietnam’s infiltration
-Loss of tanks in PRC
-Anatoly F. Dobrynin
-Warning to Dobrynin
-Potential North Vietnam offensive
-Equipment source
-Impact on relations with US

Vietnam
-US bombing
-Release of Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Ho Chi Minh Train
-Opposition in Congress
-Money, budget
-Laos, Cambodia
-Cease-fire violations
 -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Provocation
-Ho Chi Minh Trail
-Impact on North Vietnam
-Khe Sanh
-President’s critics
-Thomas Grey (“Tom”) Wicker
-Change in mood
-Compared to President’s trip to PRC
-Unintelligible name
-Floundering
-Gridiron dinner
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler
-Speech by Spiro T. Agnew
-Hugh S. Sidey
-Conversation with Kissinger
-President’s experience in Vietnam
-Mollification
-Hugh Breslin [?]
-Support for President
-North Vietnam’s infiltration
-Aid to North Vietnam
-Aid to Vietnam
-Congressional relations
-State Department and Defense Department roles
-Elliot L. Richardson
-William P. Rogers
-Compared to role in Anti-Ballistic Missile [ABM] Treaty
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]
-Leverage
-Memorandum
-Committee chaired by Rogers
-Jurisdiction
-William E. Timmons’s role compared to Rogers
-Richardson’s, Rogers’s responsibilities
-North Vietnam’s infiltration
-US report to International Commission of Control and Supervision [ICCS]
-Rogers’s recommendation
-Delays
-Impact on US actions
 -11-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Avoidance
-US bombing
-Aid to Vietnam
-Congressional relations
-State Department’s role
-John Foster Dulles
-Key Congressional figures
-Kissinger, Ziegler [?]
-Meeting with Kissinger, President [?]
-Burden of work
-Kissinger’s role
-Middle East
-SALT
-US-USSR summit
-President
-ABM issue
-Bryce Harlow’s role
-Role of President and Kissinger
-Timmons
-Work with Congress
-Comparison to Clark MacGregor
-Rogers and Richardson
-Work with Congress

Middle East peace negotiations
-Kissinger’s talks
-Rogers’s knowledge
-Rogers’s statement
-Private talks
-Israel and Egypt
-Egypt’s response
-Value
-Kissinger’s talk with Yitzhak Rabin
-Golda Meir’s response
-Interim agreement compared to general principles, United Nations
Security Council Resolution 242 [1967]
-US pressure
-Meir
-Dealings with US
 -12-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-General principles
-Hussein Ibn Talal [King of Jordan
-Settlement
-Interim agreement
-Egypt
-Rabin
-Compared to Moshe Dayan
-Character
-Intelligence
-Problems
-Dayan
-Abba Eban
-Ambassadorial posting in US [?]
-Cabinet posting [?]

President's administration
-Foreign policy planning
-President’s discussions with Kissinger
-President’s schedule
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Howard K. Smith’s article
-President’s news summary
-Comparison with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration
-World War II, Great Depression
-Success in PRC, USSR, Vietnam
-Landslide presidential elections
-Warren G. Harding
-Corruption
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Vietnam War victory
-Re-election
-President’s critique
-Franklin D, Roosevelt
-1936 victory
-Congressional results
-Supreme Court packing attempt
-1938 election
-Congressional results
-Decline of popularity
 -13-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Impact of WWII
-Divestment of presidential power
-Domestic programs
-Special revenue-sharing
-State, local government spending
-Opposition from liberals
-Foreign policy mistakes
-Overreach
-Complacency
-Postwar period
-Campus unrest
-Inflation
-President’s legacy
-Peacemaker
-Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency
-USSR, PRC
-Compared to peace in Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Revolutionary compared to nation-building leaders
-George Washington
-Dr. Achmed Sukarno
-Kwame Nkrumah
-French Revolution
-President as peacemaker
-Trip to PRC, SALT agreement, Vietnam settlement
-New structure of peace
-Need for vision, skill, permanence
-Compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Support of intellectual elite
-Press
-Walter Lippman
-Support for Herbert C. Hoover
-Chicago Tribune
-Iron Cross
-Lack of opposition
-Decision making
-Opening with PRC
-Opposition
-Foreign policy establishment
 -14-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-Institutionalization
-Need for President and Kissinger to stay in office

Foreign policy
-Middle East
-Settlement
-Progress
-Ongoing “games”
-PRC, USSR, Japan, Europe
-USSR
-Summits
-Trip plans
-President’s reception in Russia
-Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin
-Gridiron dinner
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Letter
-Kissinger's trip to PRC
-Chou En-Lai's trip to US
-UN
-PRC liaison office
-State dinner invitation
-USSR visit
-USSR visit
-Scheduling conflict
-Conference on European Security and Cooperation
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Date
-Weather in San Clemente
-Gromyko’s attendance
-\"3-corner game\"
-Delicacy of diplomacy
-Files
-Destruction
-Compared to John F. Kennedy administration
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-Bay of Pigs
-Sensitivity of conversations
-Nuygen Van Thieu
 -15-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-2010)
Conversation No. 876-4 (cont’d)


-PRC, USSR
-Disposition
-President’s library
-President's possession
-Pentagon Papers case
-Damage
-McGeorge Bundy
-North Vietnam’s knowledge
-Foreign government’s concerns about US leaks

North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] [?]
-Kissinger's discussions with someone
-President’s telephone call to Kissinger

Kissinger left at 10:29 am.