Conversation: 250-005
Prev: 250-004 Next: 250-006Start Date: 16-Apr-1971 9:40 AM
End Date: 16-Apr-1971 10:30 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Sanchez, Manolo;Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:27:04
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:41:02
NARA Description:
On April 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:40 am to 10:30 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 250-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 250-5
Date: April 16, 1971
Time: 9:40 am - 10:30 am
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger
Kissinger’s dinner with Rowland Evans
-Editors
Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with William S. White
-Schedule
Kissinger’s conversation with Thomas Winship, Boston Globe
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-US foreign policy
-Otis Chandler
President’s speech on Vietnam
President’s panel interview with the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16,
1971
-Frank Cormier and Eugene V. Risher
-Quality of questions
-John F. Kennedy’s press conferences
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-President’s press conferences
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:40 pm
Instructions
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-James J. Kilpatrick, Jr.’s column
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:30 am
Kissinger’s mail
-Harvard University and Yale University
-Princeton University
-Letter from Harvard University faculty members
Vietnam
-PRC initiative
-Peace conference
-William B. Saxbe
-Instructions to Kissinger
-Laos
-Laos
-Military operations
-South Vietnamese
-Casualties
-Figures
-Wounded
-Dead
Kissinger’s forthcoming call to Richard M. Helms
-Helms’ speech
-Press
Kissinger’s conversation with Henry Hubbard
-Role of the press
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman [?] and Ronald L. Ziegler [?]
Vietnam
-William E. Colby [?]
-James L. Buckley [?]
President’s PRC initiative
-President’s speech on Vietnam
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Effect on liberals
-Press coverage
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Chou En-lai
Vietnam
-North Vietnamese moves
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin Conv. No. 250-5 (cont.)
-Instructions to Kissinger
-US proposals
-Timing
-Negotiations
-North Vietnamese
-PRC
-US air power
-Melvin R. Laird
-US goals
-Withdrawal issue
-Laird
-Residual force
-South Vietnam
-US withdrawal
-South Vietnam
-Preparation for editors’ meeting
-Lee Hills
-Detroit Free Press
Preparation for editors’ meeting
-PRC
-USSR
-Possible summit meeting
-Discussions
-Summit
-Vietnam
-Possible questions
-US flexibility
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-President’s possible response
-US goals
-Withdrawal issue
-US policy
-Proposals
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-POWs
-Timetable for US withdrawal
-President’s address on Southeast Asia, October 7, 1970
-Kissinger’s conversation with Hubbard
USSR
-Possible summit meeting in USSR
-Leonid I. Brezhnev Conv. No. 250-5 (cont.)
-Benefits of President’s visit
-Josip Broz Tito
-Communists
-President’s possible participation in summit meeting
-Possible Soviet response
-Moscow
-President’s visit to Yugoslavia
-Zagreb
-Weather
-Possible response of Russian people to a summit meeting
-Nicolae Ceausescu
-Actions against Romanian students
-Comments of unknown German
-Young people’s views of Communism
Preparation for editor’s meeting
-Timetable for US withdrawal
-President’s possible response
-Buchanan
-President’s accountability
Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Harry S Truman
-Norodom Sihanouk
-PRC
-President’s upcoming meeting with Mansfield
-Instructions to Kissinger
-Message for Mansfield
-PRC
-President’s policies
-Possible exchange
-Timing
-Sihanouk
-Cambodia
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Sihanouk
-Kissinger’s possible conversation with Mansfield
-President’s schedule
-Meeting with Mansfield
-PRC
-Kissinger’s possible conversation with Mansfield
-Express gratitude to Mansfield
-Attempt to get a visit from the Chinese Conv. No. 250-5 (cont.)
-President’s Possible Trip to the PRC
-Timing
-Sihanouk
Preparation for editors’ meeting
-Vietnam
-Timetable for US withdrawal
-Residual force
-Air power
-Press
-US flexibility
-US-PRC relations
-Sihanouk
-Vietnam
-Significance of “breakthrough” in relations
-USSR
-Press
-United Nations [UN] issue
-Trade announcement
-Recognition issue
-US long-range goals
-Normalization of relations
-Ending Chinese isolation
-Timing
-Increase in Trade
-Patience
-Chou En-lai
-Polls
-Glassboro summit
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Aleksei N. Kosygin
-Popular desire for instant solution to problems
PRC
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Suggested speech by President
-US relations
-Negotiations
-Need for firmness
Preparation for editors’ meeting
-Long-range view
-Need for communication among power centers Conv. No. 250-5 (cont.)
-US, Western Europe, USSR, PRC, Japan
-President’s possible responses to questions
-UN
-Pakistan
-Arms deal
-US policy
-USSR
-Pakistan
-US policy
-Arms deal
-Conflict with India
-East Bengali revolt
-Biafra
-US policy
-William C. Trueheart
-State Department
-Nigeria
-East Bengali revolt
-US policy
-India-Pakistan conflict
-Consequences for India
-West Pakistan
-Separatism
-Baluchistan
-Afghanistan
-US policy
-East Bengali revolt
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration: 7s ]
FOREIGN AFFAIRS Conv. No. 250-5 (cont.)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
******************************************************************************
Mansfield
-Instructions to Kissinger
-Meeting with President
Kissinger left at 10:30 am