Conversation: 316-001
Prev: 315-024 Next: 316-002Start Date: 25-Jan-1972 12:32 PM
End Date: 25-Jan-1972 2:15 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Finch, Robert H.; Sanchez, Manolo; White House operator; Woods, Rose Mary; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob");Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:00:37
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:38:34
NARA Description:
On January 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Robert H. Finch, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, Rose Mary Woods, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:32 pm to 2:15 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 316-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 316-1
Date: January 25, 1972
Time: 12:32 pm - 2:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Robert H. Finch.
Request that Finch talk with an unknown person
The President's speech on Vietnam peace plan, January 25, 1972
-Reading for Finch
-Eyeglasses
The President read his "Address to the Nation Making Public a Plan for Peace in Vietnam" at an
unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:15 pm.
[A transcript of the speech in its final form appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard
M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 100-105]
The President's forthcoming speech
-Possible reaction
-Phraseology
-Americans
-Belief in North Vietnamese statements
-Finch’s view
-Indochina
-North Vietnamese peace plans
-Nine point compared to seven point plans
-Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
-Vietnam
-Vietcong
-Michael J. Mansfield's Amendment
-All-Indochina Peace Conference
-Understanding of word by Americans
-Nine point program
-Henry A. Kissinger's forthcoming briefing
-Cease-fire
-Laos and Cambodia
2
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
Vietnam
-Negotiations
-US proposals
-Secret channel
-North Vietnamese response
-Offensive
-Public disclosure
-Possible effect
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Cease-fire
-Deadline
-Aid to Indochina
-North Vietnamese proposals
-US reply
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Resignation
-Possible effect
-Candidates
-Secret talks
-Public reaction
-Channels
-References to by the President
The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Timing
-New Hampshire primary
-Planning
-Mao Tse-tung
Vietnam
-Possible criticism of forthcoming speech
-New York Times and Washington Post
-US possible military response to offensive
-Air power
-Thieu resignation
-National election
-The President's forthcoming speech
-Possible effect
-Possible leaks
-Kissinger
-Yeoman [Charles E. Radford]
3
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
-Air Force
-Time
-Possible reaction
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 14m 7s ]
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:35 pm.
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
Ronald W. Reagan
-Credibility
-Television
-Positions
[The President talked with an unknown person [the White House operator?] at an unknown time
between 12:32 pm and 1:35 pm.]
[Conversation No. 316-1A]
[Aborted telephone call]
[End of telephone conversation]
Busing
-Finch's view
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
The President's State of the Union Address
-Length of written message
-Spoken message
-Television
-Written message
-Delivery to Congress
-Administration programs
The President's legislative programs
-Number
-Mansfield
-Press
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 19s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
The President's forthcoming speech
-Republican senators
-Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin and Barry M. Goldwater
-Norris Cotton and Carl T. Curtis
-Ages
-William E. Brock III and Howard H. Baker, Jr.
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 47s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
*****************************************************************
Senate
-Leadership
-Compared with House of Representatives
-Baker, Brock, Charles H. Percy and Edward W. Brooke
-Robert A. Taft, Jr. and John G. Tower
-The President’s experience
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 23m 8s ]
Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:35 pm.
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
*****************************************************************
Rose Mary Woods entered at 1:35 pm.
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
The President's forthcoming speech
-Length
-Kissinger
-Preparation
Finch's instructions
Woods left at 1:37 pm.
Finch
-Departure from administration
-Impact
-Reasons
-John N. Mitchell
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak
-Mitchell
-Campaign committee
-Herbert G. Klein
-Press conference
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 16m 17s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
*****************************************************************
The President's State of the Union Address
-Tone
-Holmes Alexander's column
-Dan Rather
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
The President's response to opponents
-Timing
-State of the Union address
-Rather
-Foreign trips
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Fala speech
-Wendell Willkie
-Harry S. Truman
-Congress
-Standing in popularity polls
-Special session of Congress
-Possible action by the Administration
-Republican National Convention
[The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman?] at an unknown time
between 1:37 pm and 2:15 pm.]
[Conversation No. 316-1B]
Lee W. Huebner
Peter M. Flanigan
Ronald W. Reagan
The President's stance against opponents
-Compared with Roosevelt in 1936 and 1940
News summary
-Patrick J. Buchanan
The President's schedule
-George P. Shultz
-Finch
[End of telephone conversation]
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 24s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
*****************************************************************
Issues
-National economy
-The President's prediction in 1971
-Inflation
-1972
-Vietnam
-South Vietnam
-People's Republic of China [PRC] and Soviet Union
Congress
-Legislative programs
-Number
-Welfare reform
-Revenue-sharing
-Health care
-Budget
-Reapportionment
-Polls
Government
-Public approval
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Effect of 1960’s
-Polls
-The President's standing
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 316-1 (cont.)
Close elections
-1972
-The President's public visibility
-Ulysses S. Grant
-Samuel Tilden-Rutherford B. Hayes
-Popular compared to electoral vote
-James G. Blaine-Grover Cleveland
-Benjamin Harrison-Grover Cleveland
-William McKinley
-Theodore Roosevelt in 1904
-William H. Taft in 1908
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Charles E. Hughes
-Warren G. Harding in 1920
-Calvin Coolidge in 1924
-Herbert C. Hoover in 1928
-Franklin Roosevelt
-Thomas E. Dewey
-Truman
-Eisenhower
-Lyndon B. Johnson-Goldwater
-Hubert H. Humphrey-Nixon
-The President's plurality
-Bombing halt
Finch's schedule
-Lunch
-Meeting with Reagan, January 26, 1972
Finch left at 2:15 pm.
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)