Easy NixonAbout

Conversation: 204-001

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Start Date: 17-Aug-1972 6:26 PM

End Date: 17-Aug-1972 7:35 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")

Recording Device: Camp David Hard Wire

204-001.mp3

NARA Description:

On August 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 6:26 pm and 7:35 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 204-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 204-1

Date: August 17, 1972
Time: Unknown between 6:26 pm and 7:35 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

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

     The President's forthcoming acceptance speech
          -Summary of materials
               -Richard A. Moore [?]
               -Patrick J. Buchanan
               -Letters from relatives of Vietnam War casualties
               -Answers to the President’s questions
          -The Administration’s accomplishments
               -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
               -The President’s view
               -Buchanan
                      -Foreign policy
                      -Supreme Court
          -Haldeman’s conversation with William F. (“Billy”) Graham
          -1968 campaign
          -Possible duration
          -Buchanan’s suggestions
                -Issues
                      -Contrast with George S. McGovern
                          -Defense
                          -Amnesty for draft evaders
                          -Permissiveness
                          -Welfare
                          -Foreign policy
                          -Isolationism
                          -Taxes
                          -Spending
                -American society
                      -Harvard University
                      -Yale University
                      -Notre Dame University
          -Graham’s view
                -Tone of speech
                -Accomplishments
                -Thomas E. Dewey complex
                -John B. Connally
                                                 2

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. Mar-02)


                  -Mention of McGovern
                  -Welfare state
                  -McGovern
                  -Length of speech

    Graham’s visit with Lyndon B. Johnson
        -Johnson's endorsement
        -Sale of television station
              -Johnson's health
              -Los Angeles Times
        -Gift of house
              -National Park Service


*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5m 9s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************


    Polls
            -Public approval of the President
                  -George H. Gallup
            -Support for the President
                  -Conservatives and liberals
                  -Public exposure
                  -The public’s perception of support for the President
                       -McGovern
            -Media coverage of politics

    The President's schedule
         -Forthcoming meeting with Ronald W. Reagan
               -Duration
               -Possible report
               -California
                     -Effect of Reagan’s support on the President
                         -Democrats
                                        3

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. Mar-02)


              -Franklyn C. (“Lyn”) Nofziger
          -Timing of meeting

The President's forthcoming acceptance speech
     -Buchanan’s view
            -Ivy League
            -Intellectual elite
     -The President’s recent talk with Tricia Nixon Cox
     -Format
     -Strategy
            -Mention of McGovern
     -Introduction
            -"New majority"
     -Economics
     -Law and order
     -Foreign policy
     -Defense
     -Offer of choice
     -Buchanan
     -Beliefs of the Administration
            -Welfare reform
                  -$1000-per-person proposal
            -Defense
     -Gallup
     -Debate
     -Polls
     -Speechwriters
            -The President’s view
     -Content
            -Haldeman’s view
            -"New majority"
            -Offer of choice
                  -Contrast with McGovern
                       -Economy, personal safety, world peace
     -Format
            -Foreign policy
                  -Peace
            -Domestic issues
                  -Environment, Women, youth, farmers, Indians
                       -Issues
                              -Economy
                                   Inflation
                  -McGovern’s speech
                                         4

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. Mar-02)


     -The President’s progress in drafting the speech
          -Reagan
                -Compared to Nelson A. Rockefeller
                -The President’s view

Public relations
     -McGovern
            -Crowds in Racine, Wisconsin
                 -Julie Nixon Eisenhower's conversation with the President
                 -Advance work
                 -Compared to Hubert H. Humphrey
                 -McGovern’s possible reaction
                      -Haldeman’s view
                            -Press reaction
     -The President
            -Crowds
                 -Compared to McGovern
            -Ohio State University appearance
                 -Television
                 -Estimates of size
                      -Los Angeles
                            -El Toro

The President's forthcoming acceptance speech
     -State of US in 1968
            -Buchanan
     -Strategy
            -Haldeman’s view
     -Tone
     -Speechwriters
            -Price
            -William L. Safire
            -Buchanan
            -John K. Andrews, Jr.
            -Aram Bakshian
            -Knowledge of issues
     -Andrews’s draft
            -McGovern
            -1972 Democratic Party platform
            -“New majority”
            -Partisanship
     -Price
     -The President's accomplishments
                                   5

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. Mar-02)


      -Bakshian’s draft
           -Vietnam
           -Inflation
           -Cities
           -Environment
      -Price’s draft
           -Mamie G.D. Eisenhower
           -Progress since 1952
                -Workers income
                -Americans in poverty
                -Increase in college education
                -End of segregation
                -Output of goods and services
                -Decrease of work week
                -Wages
                -Home ownership
                -Technology
                -Leisure
                -Environment
                -Aid to poor and elderly
           -Unemployment
           -Cost of living
           -Crime
           -Drug abuse
           -Tax cuts
           -World peace
           -Offer of choices
                -McGovern
                       -Increase in welfare rolls
           -Franklin D. Roosevelt
           -Thomas Jefferson
           -Harry S. Truman
           -John F. Kennedy
           -US traditions
           -Trials of former presidents
           -Adlai E. Stevenson, II
                -The President’s view
      -Recounting of administration achievements
           -Public reaction
                -Compared with State of the Union address
-Efficacy of speech
-Content
      -Major topics
                                                6

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. Mar-02)


                      -Taxes
                      -Inflation
                      -Taxes
                           -Spending
                      -Economy
                           -Inflation
                 -Need for positive tone
                 -Differences between the candidates
                 -Reaction of listeners
                      -The President's beliefs
                      -Politics
                 -Recounting of the President’s accomplishments
                 -Audience
                      -Context of speech
                           -Other speakers

      Haldeman's forthcoming call to John D. Ehrlichman

The President and Haldeman left at an unknown time before 7:40 pm.