Conversation: 348-015
Prev: 348-014 Next: 348-016Start Date: 19-Jul-1972 9:45 PM
End Date: 19-Jul-1972 10:30 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; [Unknown person(s)]; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
NARA Description:
On July 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:45 pm to 10:30 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 348-015 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 348-15
Date: July 19, 1972
Time: 9:45 pm - 10:30 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
Kissinger's schedule
-Refreshments
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
Vietnam negotiations
-Schedule
-Communications
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-The President's Instructions
-Pace
The President's conversation with Charles W. Colson
-Story out of Hong Kong about North Vietnam
-Democrats
-George S. McGovern
Vietnam negotiations
-Settlement
-Timing
-North Vietnam
-Soviet Union
-People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Chou En-Lai
-Kissinger's conversation with Le Duc Tho
-Compared to previous meeting
-Xuan Thuy
-Kissinger’s secret trips
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Kissinger’s statement
-Ziegler
-Prisoners of war [POWs] release
-James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa's proposed trip to North Vietnam
-Harold J. Gibbons
-William L. Taub's conversation with William J. Porter
-Kissinger’s talk with Haig
-Kissinger's statement
-PRC and Soviet Union
-Political situation
-New York Herald Tribune
-1972 election
-Domestic opposition
-Proposals
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Kissinger's conversation with Tho
-Tho's statement
-Significance
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 9:45 pm.
Refreshments
The unknown man left at an unknown time before 10:30 pm.
Vietnam negotiations
-Seven Points
-Tho’s comments
-Thuy
-Tho's statement
-Bombing
-Mining
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Reparations
-Respective interests
-Kissinger's conversation with Tho
-Agreements
-Kissinger's conversation with Chou
-The President's May 8, 1972 proposal
-POWs
-Ceasefire
-Reaction
-Compared to May 31, 1971 proposal
-North Vietnam military action in South Vietnam
-US bombing
-Political settlement
-Brezhnev proposal
-Government of National Concord
-North Vietnamese position
-Thieu
-US aid to South Vietnam
-Kissinger's response
-North Vietnamese strategy
-McGovern
-October 1972
-August 1, 1972 meeting
-August 15, 1972
-Soviets
-Political settlement
-January 25, 1972 proposal
-Thieu
-McGovern
26
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
-Army
-Brezhnev proposal
Haig entered at an unknown time after 9:45 pm.
Vietnam negotiations
-Thieu
-July 12, 1971 meeting
-North Vietnamese strategy
-1972 campaign
-Republican National Convention
-George C. Wallace
-The President's lead over McGovern in polls
-August 15, 1972
-May 2, 1972
Middle East
-Brezhnev
-Egypt
-Egypt
-State Department
-William P. Rogers's statement in San Francisco
-US-Soviet relations
-Haig’s call to Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with Dobrynin
-The President’s talk with Ronald W. Reagan
-The President’s trip to the Soviet Union
-Kissinger’s meeting with Andrei A. Gromyko
-Brezhnev
-Egyptians
-Possible motives
-US-Soviet relations
-Egyptians
-State Department
-Anwar el-Sadat
-Unknown advisor [Hafiz Ismail?]
-Dobrynin
McGovern
-Forthcoming briefing by Kissinger
-Schedule
-Fred Dutton
-Vietnam negotiations
-McGovern's statements
27
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
-Possible effect
-Views on Vietnam negotiations
-Face the Nation
-POWs
-Return
-Timing
-1972 election
-Lyndon B. Johnson's bombing halt
-Forthcoming briefing by Kissinger
-Arrangements
-Haig
-Tape recording
-Memorandum of conversation
-Johnson
-The President's presence in office
-Timing
-The President's schedule
-Camp David meeting with John B. Connally
-Press
-Johnson
-Future briefings
-Haig, Kissinger
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 40s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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Vietnam
-Edward M. Kennedy's proposal
-Refugees in South Vietnam
-Refugees
-Unknown Jesuit
-Catholics
-Negotiations
28
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
-Ceasefire
-McGovern
-POW for US withdrawal
-US position
-Cease-Fire
-Withdrawal
-Timing
-POWs
-Joseph C. Kraft's view
-Negotiations
-US actions
-The President’s January 25, 1972 and May 8, 1972 speeches
-May 2, 1972
-Effect on North Vietnamese
-Transcript of meeting
-The President's re-election
-Tone
-Tho's conversation with Kissinger
-Thuy
The President's PRC policy
-Soviet Summit
Soviet Summit
-May 8, 1972 decision
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5m 3s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
*****************************************************************
The President's positions on issues
-Communism
-Foreign policy
-Vietnam
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
-May 8, 1972 blockade
-Soviet Union
-PRC
-Power
-Conditions compared to 1950’s
-Conservatives
-National Security Council [NSC]
Cambodia
Arms control and arms development
-Conservatives
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicles [MIRVs], B-1, Undersea long-
range missile system [ULMS]
-National Review
US forces in Europe
Article in Newsweek
-Zbigniew Brzezinski
-Arnaud De Borchgrave
-White House response
-Europeans' view of McGovern
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Soviet Summit
-Fear of Finlandization
-Michael J. Mansfield's and McGovern's proposals
-Trips by Administration representatives
-Kissinger
-Reagan
-William P. Rogers
-NATO
-The President’s meetings with European leaders
-Reagan
-Asia
Europe
-Role in US foreign policy
-Soviet Summit
-Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction [MBFR], European Security
Conference
30
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct-06)
Newsweek article
-Possible response by Helmut (“Hal”) Sonnenfeldt
Europeans
-Governments
-Political orientation
-View of 1972 election
McGovern
-Effect of possible election on US foreign policy
[Unintelligible]
McGovern
The President, Kissinger and Haig left at 10:30 pm.