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Conversation: 295-014

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Start Date: 16-Nov-1971 3:31 PM

End Date: 16-Nov-1971 5:04 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Peterson, Peter G.Shultz, George P.Ehrlichman, John D.Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Kissinger, Henry A.Bull, Stephen B.

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:19:25

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:48:43

295a.mp3

295b.mp3

NARA Description:

On November 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Peter G. Peterson, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:31 pm to 5:04 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 295-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 295-14

Date: November 16, 1971
Time: 3:31 pm - 5:04 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Peter G. Peterson, George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman.

     H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

     Secretary of Commerce
          -Maurice H. Stans

Haldeman entered at 3:32 pm.

                -Activities
                -Tenure in office
          -Peterson
                -Possible role
                     -Henry A. Kissinger
                     -Jeb S. Magruder
                     -Compared with Stans
                     -State Department's activities
                            -William P. Rogers
                            -Employees
                            -Peter M. Flanigan
                     -John N. Mitchell
                     -Shultz and Ehrlichman
          -James T. Lynn
                -Stans's views
          -Peterson
                -Possible roles
                                            8

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                              Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


                   -National Bureau of Standards [NBS]
                   -Atomic Energy Commission [AEC]
                   -Advocacy
                   -Stans's tenure in office
                   -Budget review sessions
                   -Herbert C. Hoover
                   -Research and development
                   -Government reorganization plan
                   -Gross National Product [GNP] statistics
                        -Errors

Cabinet
     -John B. Connally
     -Shultz
     -Peterson's possible role
           -Speeches
           -College campuses
           -Congress
     -International economics
           -Work of various US departments and agencies

Flanigan
     -Possible role with administration

International economy
      -State Department
      -David M. Kennedy
            -Russell B. Long
      -State Department
      -Stans's views
      -Kissinger
      -US trade with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
            -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
            -Soviet Summit
            -Vietnam War
            -East Bloc satellites compared with the Soviet Union
            -Co-Ordinating Committee on Export Controls [COCOM]

Stans
        -Schedule
        -Tenure in office
                                              9

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                              Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


         -Role


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 39s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


    Commerce Department
       -Lynn
       -Harold B. Scott
       -Statistics
       -Peterson's role
             -Business Council


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 57s ]


    AUSTRALIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


    International monetary situation
          -Connally
          -Arthur F. Burns
                                           10

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                             Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


     -Price of gold
     -Convertibility
     -Peterson's conversation with Pierre-Paul Schweitzer
           -Italy
                  -Labor’s reaction
           -Edward R.G. Heath
           -Georges J.R. Pompidou
                  -Charles A.J.M. De Gaulle
           -Price of gold
           -Convertibility
                  -Politics
                  -Views of Henry S. Reuss and William Proxmire
                  -Views of Edward M. Kennedy, Edmund S. Muskie And Hubert H.
                         Humphrey
                  -Franklin D. Roosevelt
           -Price of gold
     -US trade surplus with Europe
           -Agriculture
           -William D. Eberle's negotiations
           -National defense
     -Convertibility
           -International Monetary Fund [IMF]
           -Connally’s view
           -Muskie, Humphrey, Reuss and Proxmire
     -Price of gold
     -Exchange rate

Commerce Department
   -Peterson
         -Relations with other departments
              -Connally
              -State Department
                    -Rogers
                    -John R. Stevenson
                          -Conversation with Shultz
                                -Leaks

Leaks
     -Rogers
     -Melvin R. Laird
     -Notes of telephone calls to Rogers
                                             11

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)



     Commerce Department
        -Unknown man
              -Staff
        -Peterson's possible role
              -Popular opinion of business
              -Advocacy
              -Management

     Water Quality Bill
         -Muskie
         -Passage by Senate
         -House committee's forthcoming hearings
               -Commerce Department
                    -Credibility

Peterson left at 4:20 pm.

     The President's possible speech to American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
           Organizations [AFL-CIO]
          -Charles W. Colson's views
          -The President's possible reception
          -George Meany
               -Rhetoric
               -Office of the Presidency
               -Shultz's previous conversation with Colson
               -Interests
                      -Range
               -Relations with rank and file
               -Construction unions
               -Wage and price freeze
          -Possible themes
               -National security
               -Employment
                      -Labor program
               -Dignity of work
               -Research and development
               -Progress
               -Environment
                      -Ehrlichman and John C. Whitaker
          -Timing
                                            12

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


               -Colson’s view
                     -Meany
                          -Democrats
                              -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson and Humphrey
          -Value
          -Reception
          -Value
               -Press
               -Public

     Support for the President
         -Unions
         -Blacks
         -Jews
                -Israel
                -B'nai Brith
         -Organized labor
         -National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], B'nai Brith
               and AFL-CIO
         -Whitney M. Young, Sr. funeral
         -Working people
                -Blacks

     The President's possible speech to AFL-CIO
          -Reception
          -Phase II
          -Meany
               -Foreign policy
          -James R. Hoffa
               -Possible clemency
                      -Possible announcement

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 4:30 pm.

     The President's possible speech to AFL-CIO
          -Hoffa
                -Possible clemency
          -Presidential demeanor
          -Content
                -Support for the President
                      -Cambodia
                                            13

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 10/06)
                                                             Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


                 -Marches
                 -Sacrifices
                      -Prosperity in 1968
                             -Causes
     -Preparation
           -Colson
           -Timing
     -Content
           -James D. Hodgson
                 -Mine safety
           -Politics
           -Support for the President
                 -Cambodia
           -National economy
                 -Phase II
           -Foreign policy
                 -Meany
                      -PRC
                      -Soviet Union
                      -Cuba
     -Colson
     -Ehrlichman

Appointments
    -Shultz's forthcoming conversations
    -Council of Economic Advisors [CEA]
    -Federal Reserve Board [FRB]

The President's schedule
     -Quadriad

Shultz's schedule
     -Kissinger and Connally
            -Peterson and Burns
            -International monetary situation

International monetary situation
      -The President's schedule
           -Possible meetings with European Heads of State
      -Connally's views
           -Japan
                                       14

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. 10/06)
                                                         Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


     -Paul W. McCracken's Views
     -Convertibility
     -International trade
           -Connally
           -Offset
                  -West Germany
                       -Analogy to Japan
                             -Okinawa
     -Shultz's schedule
           -Connally and Burns
     -Convertibility
           -Burns's views
           -Surcharges
           -Japan
                  -Textile Agreement
                  -Yen
                       -Devaluation
     -Possible settlement
           -Timing
           -Manlio Brosio's letter to Kissinger
           -West Germany
     -Convertibility
     -Political ramifications
           -Italy
           -West Germany
           -Connally
                  -1972 election
           -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
           -Trips to PRC, Soviet Union
           -Japan, Western Europe

National economy
     -Balance of trade
           -Imports
           -Exports
           -Dock strike
           -Shift
                 -1971 compared to 1970
           -Economic expansion
           -Gross National Product [GNP]
                                          15

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 10/06)
                                                           Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


The President's schedule
     -Quadriad
          -Burns

National economy
     -Money supply
           -Shultz's conversations
                 -Milton Friedman
                 -Burns
           -Erratic behavior
                 -Friedman's letters to Burns
                 -1960

CEA
      -Friedman
            -Possible role
      -McCracken
            -Burns
      -Friedman
            -Possible effect
                 -Conservatives
                 -Phase II

National economy
     -Phase II
     -Friedman's possible role
     -Herbert Stein's possible role
     -Burns

Japan ambassadorship
     -Hoyt Ammidon
           -Wife
     -Walter N. Thayer
     -Armin H. Meyer
     -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
     -William S. Renchard
           -Peter M. Flanigan
           -Frederic V. Malek
           -Chemical Bank
           -Wife, Alice M. (Fleming) Renchard
                 -Father [Robert V. Fleming]
                                               16

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


                       -Meyer's wife [Alice Meyer]
             -Women
                 -Possible appointment

Shultz and Ehrlichman left at 4:50 pm.

     The President's possible speech to AFL-CIO
          -Ehrlichman's views
          -Meany
          -Popular opinion
                -Phase II
          -Reception
          -Colson's views
          -Content
                -Phase II
          -Colson's views

     Laird
             -Previous conversation with Haldeman
                  -Leaks
                        -Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
                        -Associated Press [AP] story from Saigon
                        -Compared to New York Times story
                        -Press
                              -Troop withdrawal figures

     Vietnam
          -Negotiations
              -The President's forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
                     -Response

Haldeman left at 4:54 pm.

                  -Le Duc Tho
                  -US proposal
                       -Possible publicity
                             -Timing
                       -Rogers
                  -Possible North Vietnamese proposal
                  -PRC and Soviet Union
                  -PRC
                                               17

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                    Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


                     -Recent speech

     International economy
           -Textiles
           -Connally
                 -Cabinet
           -Peterson
                 -Secretary of Commerce position
           -Flanigan
           -George R.S. Baring, the Earl of Cromer's memorandum to Kissinger
           -Connally
                 -Call from Kissinger, November 16, 1971
           -Connally
           -Kissinger, Shultz and Connally
                 -Peterson
           -The President's schedule
                 -Forthcoming meetings with Europeans
           -Negotiations
                 -Convertibility
                       -Forthcoming report

     Vietnam
          -Negotiations
              -Prisoners of war [POWs]
              -Strategy
                     -Possible military action
                     -Possible announcement
                     -Forthcoming trip to PRC
                     -William J. Porter
                           -Paris
                     -Publicity

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:54 pm.

     The President's schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:04 pm.

     Vietnam
          -Negotiations
              -US proposal
                                        18

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


           -Nguyen Van Thieu
                -Possible resignation
           -Le Duc Tho
           -The President’s actions
                -Reaction
                -Announcement
           -Timing
           -North Vietnamese expectations
                -Thieu
           -US bargaining position
           -Timing

The President's schedule
     -Kissinger's conversation with the Earl of Cromer, November 15, 1971
     -Willy Brandt
     -Georges J.R. Pompidou

Vietnam
     -Negotiations
          -POWs
                -Deadline
     -Possible bombing
          -Possible effect
                -PRC trip
          -Kissinger’s possible message to PRC

PRC
      -The President's forthcoming trip
           -Message to Vernon A. Walters, November 16, 1971
           -Timing
           -Soviet Union
      -United Nations [UN] speech, November 15, 1971
           -State Department
           -Soviet Union
           -Press reaction
           -George H. W. Bush's forthcoming statement in New York
           -Rhetoric
                 -Television

International economy
      -Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Burns
                                             19

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 295-14 (cont.)


               -Convertibility
           -Connally

Kissinger left at 5:04 pm.