879–5

Conversation No. 879-5

Date: March 14, 1973
Time: 11:10 am-12:25 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

Public relations
-John D. Ehrlichman's recommendations
-Congress
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Presentation to veterans

Veterans legislation
-Donald E. Johnson
-Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW]
-Lobbying
-Programs
-Vietnam veterans
-Meetings with President of non-VFW veterans
-Problems
 -4-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Unions
-Selection of participants
-Blacks
-Ordinary people
-President’s appearances
-Vocational educational centers
-Forbes Air Force Base
-Topeka, KS
-Veterans hospitals
-Meeting with Jobs for Veterans group
-Press coverage
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Focus of attention
-Employment
-Excess
-Opportunities

POW reception at White House
-Date
-H. Ross Perot
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Knowledge of details
-Perot
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Regional television [TV] dinners
-Publicity
-Show for President and POWs
-Press coverage
-Private party
-Exploitation
-Briefing by Haldeman
-William P. Rogers, Kissinger
-Wives
-Photograph opportunity
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Press coverage
-Disadvantages
-Press anger at non-admittance
-Hope
-Work with Les Brown
 -5-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Organization of show
-Raquel Welch
-Ann Margret
-Davis
-Attendance by President

Subcabinet
-Briefing
-Format
-General background
-Ehrlichman
-President’s appearance
-State Department

President’s schedule
-Trader Vic’s
-Omissions
-Role of government speech
-State of the Union radio addresses
-Max M. Fisher
-National Association of Broadcasters [NAB]
-TV networks
-Station managers
-Conflict
-Clay T. (“Tom”) Whitehead
-Attendance at Bohemian Grove
-Rose Mary Woods
-Secret Service
-Press attention
-Lowell Thomas [?]
-Herbert C. Hoover event at Waldorf
-Wealthy audience
-Raymond K. Price, Jr. [?]

POW reception at the White House
-Ziegler
-Press attendance
-Entertainment
-Hope
-Press pool before reception
 -6-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Private party
-Press coverage
-Handling of press
-Ziegler
-Reception line
-Hand shakes
-Vulnerability to press
-Exclusion of press
-Receiving line
-Early arrivals
-Tour of White House
-Music
-Organization
-Dinner
-Waiters
-Music
-Marine Corps Band
-Strolling Strings of the Air Force Band
-Entertainment

White House social events
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Lucy A. Winchester
-Stephen B. Bull
-Complaints
-Entertainment
-Invitation list
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s work
-Rex W. Scouten
-Loyalty
-Constance M. (Cornell) (“Connie”) Stuart

Visit by Nguyen Van Thieu
-Accommodations
-Cyprus shores [?]
-Private house
-Camp Pendleton
-Security
-Demonstrations
-Organization by Jane Fonda
 -7-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Camp Pendleton
-VIP residence
-Staff accommodations
-San Clemente
-El Toro Marine Corps Air Station
-Camp Pendleton
-Location
-Demonstrations
-Washington, DC
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Handling
-Washington, DC
-San Clemente
-Schedule
-Dinner
-Mrs. Thieu
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-William Rogers
-Adele (Langston) Rogers
-Foreign ministers

President’s schedule
-Latin American trip
-Africa
-William Rogers’s trip
-Thieu visit
-Wife
-Foreign minister
-William Rogers
-William Rogers
-Attendance
-Adele Rogers
-Kissinger
-Attendance
-Thieu’s dinner for President
-President’s lunch for Thieu
-Mrs. Thieu
-Mrs. Nixon
-William R. Codus
-Activities
 -8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)



John Ford dinner
-President’s schedule
-Head table reception
-Size
-Table hopping
-Dress
-Location
-Beverly Hilton
-Century Plaza


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

-Mrs. Nixon’s schedule
-Helicopter
-Dress
-Arrangements for dinner
-Rita De Santis

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


President’s statements
-Speech
-Substitute for press conference
-Ehrlichman
-Format
-Substance
-Preparation
-Cabinet meeting
-Effectiveness
-Compared with press conference

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 11:10 am.

Delivery
-Executive Office Building [EOB]
 -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)



The unknown person left at an unknown time before 12:25 pm.

Presidential statements
-TV press conference
-Compared with address to Congress
-Necessity
-Control over content
-Address to Congress
-Ehrlichman’s evaluation of effect
-Domestic issues
-Crime speech
-Hard line [?]
-Vietnam

White House staff
-Political orientation
-Domestic Council
-Advice
-Softness
-Patrick J. Buchanan

Press relations
-Watergate, Donald H. Segretti
-Wounded Knee incident
-Repression and shield laws
-Press interest
-Buchanan
-Congressional consideration
-Bangladesh
-Foreign policy
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] negotiations
-Phase III
-Public interest

Congressional relations
-Importance
-President’s address to Congress
-Circumstances
-Topics of discussion
 -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Vietnam settlement
-Budget
-Inflation
-Clean environment
-Cease-fire
-Cambodia
-Amnesty
-Merit
-Compared with TV press conference
-Ehrlichman
-Effectiveness with public
-Response of Congress
-Applause

Press conference
-Vietnam
-North Vietnamese troop build-up
-Liberal hopes
-Joseph W. Alsop
-US defeat
-Future of South Vietnam
-Kissinger
-Public apathy
-North Vietnamese offensive
-POWs [?]
-South Vietnamese strength
-Alsop
-Analysis of North Vietnamese strategy
-South Vietnam’s survival
-Use of military force
-Domestic speech
-Necessity
-Ehrlichman’s opinion
-Scheduling

Congressional relations
-Congressional leadership meeting
-Pete V. Domenici’s reaction
-Ehrlichman’s report
-Work with groups by White House staff
 -11-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Chowder and Marching Society
-Haldeman’s meetings
-William E. Timmons
-Congressional leadership meetings
-Attendance
-Expansion
-Objections

Kissinger
Speech
-Work with President
-Audience
-Intelligence
-Format
-Text
-Personal touch
-POW wives

Press conferences
-Effectiveness
-Effect of hiatus
-Frequency, lulls
-Plans
-Alsop’s theory
-Flexibility of format
-Compared with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Frequency
-Danger of overexposure of President
-President’s appearances, meetings
-Federal womens’ awards
-Patricia R. Hitt’s meeting with President
-Gains
-Meeting with John J. McCloy
-Value
-Length

President’s schedule
-Meetings
-Value
-Executives
 -12-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Length
-Saturday events for Sunday news
-Activities
-Announcements
-Publicity
-News stories
-TV coverage
-Sunday newspapers

Watergate
-Problems
-Segretti case
-News interest
-Amount, duration
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Ziegler
-L. Patrick Gray, III
-Testimony
-Questions from Congress
-Opening of Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] raw files

President’s appearances
-Ehrlichman
-Veterans bill
-Consumer protection
-Congressional relations
-Publicity
-Veterans bill
-Speech

President’s schedule
-Activities
-Frequency
-Cabinet meetings
-Congressional leaders
-Frequency
-Publicity
-Domestic Council
-Value of meetings with President
-Cost of Living Council
 -13-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Small meetings with President
-Value
-Counselors
-Cabinet meetings
-Value
-Ehrlichman
-Morale of officers
-Camp David meetings
-Social events
-Wives
-Subcabinet officers
-Dinners
-Wives
-Arrangements, location
-Finalization of schedule
-Congressional leaders meeting
-Value
-Bipartisanship
-Dinner
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Breakfast meetings
-Eisenhower compared with President
-Social events
-Theater

Watergate
-Segretti case
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Source of problems
-Lack of Republican support
-John W. Dean, III
-Invitation to testify
-Republicans
-Appearance of nonpartisanship
-Public posture
-Need for support for President
-Kleindienst
-Lack of support
-Talk
-Ehrlichman, Dean
 -14-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)


-Justice Department
-John N. Mitchell
-Kleindienst
-Gray

Kissinger
-Speech
-Planning
-Response of audience

Haldeman left at 12:25 pm.