Conversation: 332-021
Prev: 332-020 Next: 332-022Start Date: Thursday, April 20, 1972 8:10 PM
End Date: Thursday, April 20, 1972 9:10 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; White House operator; Weinberger, Caspar W. ("Cap"); [Unknown person(s)]; Rogers, William P.Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:32:59
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:34:16
NARA Description:
On April 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, White House operator, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, unknown person(s), and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:10 pm to 4:10 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 332-021 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 332-21
Date: April 20, 1972
Time: 3:10 pm - 4:10 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building
The President met with Charles W. Colson.
Democratic caucus
-Meeting
-Results
-Resolution on Vietnam War
-Amendments
-Samuel S. Stratton
-Thomas P. (“Tip”) O'Neill, Jr.
-Sam M. Gibbons
-Results of vote
-Carl B. Albert
-Motives for actions
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Absentees
-Substantive votes
-Results
-Election year pressures
Vietnam
-Change in public opinion
-Support for the President
-Mail
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Bary M. Goldwater
-Democratic caucus
-Administration counterattack
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Lack of condemnation by Democrats
-Brown University
-George P. Shultz
-Colson
-Nicholas Ruwe
Brown University
-Shultz
-Subsidies
-Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]
-Laser beam
-Curtailment
-Reserve Officer Training Corps [ROTC]
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 3:10 and 3:15
pm.
[Conversation No. 332-21A]
[See Conversation No. 23-55]
[End of telephone conversation]
Economy
-Latest news
-Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] report
-Consumer Price Index [CPI]
-Food prices
-Marina von N. Whitman
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Views
The President talked with Caspar W. Weinberger between 3:15 and 3:19 pm.
[Conversation No. 332-21B]
[See Conversation No. 23-56]
[End of telephone conversation]
Education
-Cuts
-Weinberger
Vietnam
-Democratic caucus
-Results of vote
-Press coverage
-Vote on floor
-Support for the President's opposition
-Democrats
-Republicans
-Albert
-Support for vote
-Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW]
-Mailings to Congress
-Mobilization
-Pressure on Congress
-Labor
-Frank E. Fitzsimmons's statement
-The President's policies
-Frank L. Rizzo
-Support
-The President's appreciation
-Note
-Statement
-Richard J. Daley
-Call from David E. Bradshaw
-Possible call from the President
-Democratic party
-Charge of defeatism
-John C. Stennis
-George H. Mahon
12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Noel Cook [?]
-Jack F. Kemp
-Statement in House
-Elford A. Cederberg
-Republican supporters
-Mobilization
-News reports
-Washington Post
-Hawks
-Clark MacGregor
International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case hearings
-Vote in Congress
-Byrd Amendment
-Possible outcome
-Peter M. Flanigan testimony
-Flanigan
-Testimony
-Questions
-Refusal to answer
-Prior agreement
-Public relations sense
-Testimony
-Executive session
-Questions
-Birch E. Bayh, Jr.
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Executive privilege
-Public relations
-MacGregor
-Executive privilege
-Invocation
-Flanigan
-Advisory role to the President
-Executive privilege
-Compared with Henry A. Kissinger's use of
executive privilege
-Problems
-Jack Gleason
-Questions
-Handling
-Perjury
-Harold S. Geneen
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Edward J. Gerrity, Jr.
-Cash
-Answers
-Perjury
-Geneen
-Testimony
-Impact on ITT Company
-Republican counterattacks
-Editorials
-Defense of administration's integrity
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Editorial support
Vietnam
-Editorial support for the President
-Extent
-Washington Star
-South Vietnam
-Success against North Vietnam
-North Vietnam
-Losses
-Negotiations
-Timing of election
-Advantages with administration
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-North Vietnamese invasion
-US counterattacks
-Intensity
-North Vietnamese miscalculation
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Air attacks
-Thomas H. Moorer
-Creighton W. Abrams
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.'s briefing
-White House staff
The President talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 3:19 and 3:36 pm.
[Conversation No. 332-21C]
Message to Haig
-Forthcoming meeting with Colson
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Staff briefing on trip to South Vietnam
-Arrangements
[End of telephone conversation]
Vietnam
-Colson's call to William P. Rogers
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 3:19 and 3:36
pm.
[Conversation No. 332-21D]
[See Conversation No. 23-57]
[End of telephone conversation]
Vietnam
-Unknown Lieutenant Colonel's remarks
-Press coverage
-Haig's comments
The President talked with Rogers between 3:36 and 3:43 pm.
[Conversation No. 332-21E]
[See Conversation No. 23-58]
[End of telephone conversation]
Vietnam
-Rogers
-Support
-Administration's efforts
-Melvin R. Laird
-Appraisal
-Timing
-The President's posture
-Courage
-Public recognition
-John B. Connally's assessment
-Public opinion
-Hugh S. Sidey editorial
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Kleindienst
-The President's posture
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak appraisal
-Trip to Moscow
-Disregard for politics
-Publicity
-Impact on US foreign policy
-Sidey
-Press recognition
-Compared with Cuban missile crisis
-John F. Kennedy's handling
-Soviets
-Press coverage
-Praise for courage
-Soviets
-Position
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Considerations for US
-People's Republic of China [PRC] Army
-Soviet Summit
-Berlin
-Results
-Destruction of Presidency
-The President's successors
-Democrats
-Weaknesses
-Hubert H. Humphrey and Edward M. Kennedy
-Soviets
-Actions in Middle East
-Democratic weaknesses
-Presidency
-Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew
-Degree of understanding
-Connally
-Command decision
-Political risks
-Determination
-Protection for South Vietnam
-Priority over election
-PRC trip
-Benefits
-Cambodia operations
-Benefits
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Al Capp
-Aftermath
-Hardhat demonstration
-Number
-James L. Buckley
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Conservatism
-Kissinger
-Rockefeller
-Attica Prison riot
-The President's call
-Impact on morale
-Press coverage
-Reagan
-Conservatism
-Campus unrest
-Columbia University
-Peter J. Brennan
-Protests
-Jewish students
-Percentage
-Black students
Rizzo
-Attitudes toward Jews and blacks
Minorities
-Jews and blacks
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 12m 49s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
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Vietnam
-Current campaign
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Administration's strategy
-Air strikes
-Hanoi
-Haiphong
-Flow of battle
-South Vietnamese performance
-Abrams's views
-Losses
-North Vietnam
-Ultimate failure
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Cabinet
-Capitol Hill
-Mood
-Support for the President
-Public opinion
-Support for the President
-Appreciation of the President's efforts
-PRC Trip
-Defense of US Troops
-Dependence on South Vietnam
-South Vietnamese casualties
-Rate
-Issue of self-defense
Economy
-Consumer Price Index [CPI] reading
-Latest figures
-Impact
-New York Times and Washington Post reports
-The President's conversation with H. R. Haldeman
-Distortions
-[William B.?] Dale's story
-Post story
The President's meeting with Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
Economy
-Latest CPI figures
The President and Colson left at 4:10 pm.
18
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)