Conversation: 318-023
Prev: 318-022 Next: 318-024Start Date: 2-Feb-1972 2:21 PM
End Date: 2-Feb-1972 2:50 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 02:01:38
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 02:32:26
NARA Description:
On February 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:21 pm to 2:50 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 318-023 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 318-23
Date: February 2, 1972
Time: 2:21 pm - 2:50 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
The President’s schedule
Vietnam
-Air strike
-The President's conversations with Melvin R. Laird and Adm. Thomas H.
Moorer at recent National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Pentagon leak
-Duration
-William P. Rogers
-Effect
-France
-Possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-State Department
-Relations with the President's People's Republic Of China [PRC] trip
-News summary
-South Vietnam
-The President’s trips to PRC, and Soviet Union
-US operations
-Timing
-The President's forthcoming PRC Trip
-“Protective reactive” strikes
-Possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Bombing
-Deployments
-USS Kitty Hawk
-Change In Position
-B-52's
-A-1's
-F-4's
-B-52's
-Number
-Soviet Union and PRC
-Negotiations
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Compared to Edward M. Kennedy
-Clark M. Clifford
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)
-Prisoners of war [POWs] release
-Deadline
-Cease-fire proposal
-Muskie's statements
-Administration attack
-The President’s position in 1968
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Rogers
-Negotiations
-Partisanship
-Possible impact
-1972 campaign
-John V. Lindsay
-George S. McGovern
-Iowa and Arizona caucuses
-Harriman
-Wall Street Journal editorial
-Administration attack
-Barry M. Goldwater
-PRG [Viet Cong] peace plan
-Similarity to US position
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-POW release
-US troop withdrawal
-Thieu's resignation
-US peace plan proposal of January 25, 1972
-North Vietnamese response
-Thieu's possible action
-South Vietnam
-Preparedness for possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Muskie's statements
-Administration attack
-Ziegler
-Rogers
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Request for a call to the President
-Meeting with the President and Ziegler
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Ziegler
-Laird
-Rogers
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)
-Delicacy of talks
-Effect of Muskie's statements
-North Vietnamese perception
-Administration attack
-Media coverage
-Washington Post and New York Times
-Television networks
-Kissinger's conversation with Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Muskie’s statements
-Administration attack
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Bombing
-Hanoi
-Previous attacks
-Five day strike
-Timing
-The President’s forthcoming PRC trip
-Administration attack
-Stewart J.O. Alsop
-Rogers
-Hugh Scott
-Ziegler's statement
-Errors in Muskie's statement
-Ceasefire
-Rogers
-Scott
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Agnew
-Rogers
-Scott
-Gerald R. Ford
-Editorials
-Unknown journalist
PRC trip
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Invitation
-Meeting with the President
-Criticism of Administration
-Meeting with Kissinger
-James L. Buckley
26
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)
Vietnam
-Air strike
-Contingency plans
-Timing
-Three fronts
-The President’s forthcoming PRC trip
-Deployments
-US carrier
-B-52’s
**************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 23s ]
INTELLIGENCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 32
**************************************************************************
-Agnew
-Warnings
-Laos, Cambodia, Christmas 1971 bombings
Agnew
-Kissinger’s view
-Goldwater's view in letter
-Haldeman's report
-Briefing on issues
-Kissinger’s forthcoming breakfast with Goldwater
Michael J. Mansfield breakfast, February 3, 1972
-Kissinger's schedule
-The President's forthcoming PRC trip
27
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)
-Japan
-Vietnam
-US peace proposal
-Troop withdrawal for POWs offer
-Political settlement
-North Vietnamese position
-Leaks
-Mansfield
-Soviet Union
-Andrei A. Gromyko and Nikolai V. Podgorny
-Chou En-lai
-Gromyko
-Muskie's statements
-Threat to negotiations
Vietnam
-US peace proposals
-North Vietnamese response
-Thieu
-Political prospects
-Muskie's statements
-The President's speech of January 25, 1972
-Effect on Muskie
-Muskie's statement
-North Vietnamese position
-South Vietnam government
-Quotes
-Negotiations
-Casualties
-Civilians
-US troops
-Cease-fire proposal
-Validity
-Administration attack
-Ziegler
-Cease-fire offers of October 1970, January 1972
-Withdrawal of North Vietnam
-Democrats' rhetoric
-News coverage
-Timing
-Kissinger forthcoming talk with Ziegler
28
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)
Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
-Nomination as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Richard M. Helms's and Laird's actions
-Helms’s recommendation
-John C. Stennis
-Kissinger's recommendation
-Helms's support
-Talking points
-Kissinger's possible call to Stennis
-Stennis's possible call to Helms
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Helms
-The President's wishes
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Laird
-Qualifications
-Helms’s view
-Position vis-à-vis Administration
-Military attaché in France
-Compared with Gen. Robert E. Cushman, Jr.
-Kissinger's call to Helms
-The President’s decision
-Liaison with White House
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National Security]
[Duration: 12s ]
INTELLIGENCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
*****************************************************************
-Kissinger's call to Helms
-The Administration’s relationship with Helms
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)
Vietnam
-US peace proposal
-Unity within the Administration
-Recent briefing
-Muskie
-Administration attack
-1972 campaign
-Bombing
-Timing
-The President's forthcoming PRC trip
-Television coverage
-US peace offers
-Muskie
Kissinger's schedule
-Kenneth B. Keating
Kissinger left at 2:50 pm.