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Conversation: 022-131

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Start Date: 15-Apr-1972 11:05 PM

End Date: 15-Apr-1972 11:27 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kissinger, Henry A.

Recording Device: White House Telephone

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 04:54:09

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 05:16:17

022-131.mp3

NARA Description:

On April 15, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 11:05 pm to 11:27 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 022-131 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 22-131

Date: April 15, 1972
Time: 11:05 pm - 11:27 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Dinner for Latin American ambassadors

     Vietnam
          -Kissinger’s previous meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
               -Message from the North Vietnamese
                     -Reply to Kissinger’s message to Yuli M. Vorontsov
                           -Reply to Kissinger’s previous talk with Dobrynin
                                 -Content
                     -Transmittal by Soviets of message from North Vietnam to the US
                     -Contents
                           -Private and plenary meetings between North Vietnam and the US
               -Dobrynin’s response
               -American presidency
                     -Impact of Vietnam war
               -Private and plenary meetings
                     -Scheduling
               -Message from the North Vietnamese
                     -Contents
                           -Politburo
                                 -Foreign Minister
                                      -Moscow
                           -Paris
               -Air strikes
                     -Intensity
                           -Hanoi reply
                     -Continuance
               -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
                     -Instructions from the President
                     -Chairman of the communist party
                               106

              NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                        Tape Subject Log
                          (rev. 10/06)



            -Relation to Vietnam settlement
-Air strikes
      -Truck parks
            -Number of trucks
                  -Ho Chi Minh trail
      -Haiphong attacks
            -Dobrynin’s meeting with Kissinger
                  -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
                  -Possible US-Soviet Summit
      -Soviet response
      -Soviet-West Germany agreements
            -[Franz Josef?] Strauss
            -Willy Brandt
      -Dobrynin
            -Instructions from central committee
-Soviet intermediary role
      -Lyndon B. Johnson
      -Hanoi
-Air strikes
      -Timing
      -North Vietnamese message
            -Peace talks delay
      -Melvin R. Laird
-William P. Rogers
      -Previous talk with the President
      -Response to critics
-Kissinger’s letter to someone
      -Talking points
      -Private talks
      -The president’s directives
            -Leadership meeting
-Rogers
      -State department officials
            -Advice
-Washington Special Action Group [WSAG] meetings
-Lack of attacks in South Vietnam
      -An loc
      -Kissinger’s view
-Air strikes
      -Number of sorties
      -Kissinger’s message to Rogers
            -South Vietnamese air force
                                        107

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)



           -Extent of destruction
                 -Casualties
                 -B-52s
     -South Vietnam
           -Kissinger’s view
     -Blockade
           -Kissinger’s settlement with the Soviets
                 -Filibuster
     -Forthcoming US-Soviet summit
           -US conditions
     -Strength of South Vietnam
           -Failure of North Vietnam

US-Soviet relations
    -Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to Moscow
          -Schedule
          -Politburo meeting
          -Departure

Vietnam
     -Air strikes
           -Intensity
           -Location
                 -Hanoi
                 -Haiphong
                       -Agreements
     -Naval gunfire
           -Limits
                 -20th Parallel
           -Haiphong
     -Air strikes
           -Concentration
           -Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
     -US discussions with the Soviets
           -North Vietnamese interpretations
     -Air strikes
           -News reports
           -B-52s
                 -Tonnage dropped
                       -Haiphong area
                 -Extent of destruction
                 -Visual strikes
                                        108

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)



                       -Weather
           -Johnson’s strategy
                 -Compared with the president’s
                       -Kissinger’s view
           -Power plants
                 -Destruction
                 -Hanoi
           -Intensity and plane capacity
                 -Compared with World War I and World War II
     -Rogers
           -Support of policies
     -Forthcoming US-Soviet summit
           -Possible settlement
           -Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to Moscow
                 -Timing
                 -Meeting with North Vietnamese
     -Administration strategy
           -Laird strategy
                 -Results
                       -Kissinger’s view
                            -Impact on soviets
                                  -Defense of an loc
                                  -Blockade
                                        -Aircraft carriers
     -Air attacks
           -Weather
           -I Corps
           -Panhandle
           -Abrams

The president’s previous meeting with Latin American leaders
     -Organization of American States [OAS]
           -The President’s view
                 -Brazil

Vietnam
     -Kissinger’s forthcoming briefing at the Pentagon
     -Rogers
          -Public statements
                -Compared with Laird
                                             109

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)