Conversation No. 370-27

Date: October 22, 1972
                                                34

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Oct-06)

Time: 12:45 pm - 1:05 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 18s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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        Vietnam
            -Negotiations
                -Message from Henry A. Kissinger
                    -Options
                         -Haig’s view
                         -Kissinger’s possible trip to Hanoi
                             -Absence of bilateral settlement
                             -US bombing halt and reduction of bombing
                         -Possible meeting in Paris
                         -Haig’s view
                             -Gen. Nyugen Van Thieu
                             -1972 election
                    -Possible bombing halt
                         -Possible effect on a settlement
                    -Possible Public Statement
                    -Possible bombing halt
                         -Moscow and Peking
                    -The President’s view
                         -Possible trip to Hanoi
                         -Joseph C. Kraft
                         -Eugene J. McCarthy, W[illiam] Averell Harriman
                             -Kissinger's Schedule
                                  -Possible trip to Hanoi
                             -Prospects
                            35

    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                    Tape Subject Log
                      (rev. Oct-06)

                   -Bilateral
                        -Thieu
                        -Cease fire
             -Kissinger's Location
                   -Possible return to Washington, DC
                   -Hanoi
    -Bombing
         -Anatoly F. Dobrynin
    -Possible Reply
    -Bombing
    -Military Situation
    -Cease-fire
    -Thieu’s cooperation
    -Possible Responses
         -Ending bombing in exchange for return of prisoners of war [POWs]
-US position on Thieu
    -Thieu’s position
    -US peace settlement offer
         -Thieu’s public response
    -Possible break with Thieu
         -Thieu’s possible veto power
         -Compared to a break with North Vietnam
    -US Domestic Situation
    -State Department
    -Melvin R. Laird
    -Press
    -William P. Rogers
         -The President’s view
-Possible Public Statement
    -May 8, 1972 condition
         -North Vietnamese withdrawal from South Vietnam
         -Partition of South Vietnam
-Possible break with Thieu
    -Compared to a break with North Vietnam
-Possible public statement
    -Refusal to impose settlement
    -Progress in negotiations
    -North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam
-Haig's possible conversation with Anatoly Dobrynin
    -Kissinger's Schedule
         -Paris
                                     36

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. Oct-06)

                      -Le Duc Tho
                 -Possible trip to Hanoi
                      -1972 election
            -Pham Van Dong
            -Leonid I. Brezhnev
            -1972 election
        -Bombing
            -Possible halt or reduction
                 -Mining
                 -20th parallel
        -Haig's possible conversation with Dobrynin
        -Kissinger’s message to Hanoi
            -Laos, Cambodia
            -US POWs
            -Democratic Republic of Vietnam [DRV] [North Vietnam]
            -Saigon, Phnom Penh, Bangkok
            -Unilateral action
            -Kissinger’s schedule
                 -Washington, DC
            -Arnaud de Borchgrave interview [with Dong]
            -Request for no public action by DRV
            -US commitment to draft agreement
            -Possible bombing halt
                 -Kissinger's Companions
                      -William H. Sullivan
                      -Winston Lord

Liberal establishment
    -Kissinger
         -The President’s view
    -Sullivan
    -Lord
         -Haig’s view

Helmut (“Hal”) Sonnenfeldt
   -Kissinger’s recent trip

Vietnam
    -Negotiations
        -Kissinger's message
            -Soviet Union
                                               37

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. Oct-06)

                            -Haig’s possible conversation with Dobrynin
                        -Possible response
                            -Timing
                            -Bombing
                            -Haig's possible conversation with Dobrynin
                            -Secrecy
                            -1972 election
                                 -DRV
                                      -The President’s efforts and goal
                                          -Negotiated settlement
                            -Haig’s possible conversation with Dobrynin

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:45 pm.

         Refreshment

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:05 pm.

         Haig’s possible conversation with Dobrynin
             -The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
             -1972 election
             -Kissinger
                 -Brezhnev, Thieu
                 -Bombing halt
                      -1972 election
                           -The President’s view
                               -Secrecy

Haig left at 1:05 pm.