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Conversation: 372-011

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Start Date: 25-Oct-1972 9:40 AM

End Date: 25-Oct-1972 10:08 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kissinger, Henry A.

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

372-011.mp3

NARA Description:

On October 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:40 am to 10:08 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 372-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 372-11

Date: October 25, 1972
Time: 9:40 am - 10:08 am
Location: Executive Office Building


The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.


        The People's Republic of China [PRC]
            -Chou En-Lai

        Vietnam peace settlement negotiations
            -Leonid I. Brezhnev’s previous message
                -Kissinger’s response
                -Hanoi
                      -Kissinger’s possible trip
                          -Timing
                              -1972 election
            -Paris talks
                -Kissinger’s schedule
                      -Saigon
                                 8
         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                         Tape Subject Log
                           (rev. Nov-03)

-Possible leaks
-US proposal
    -Final Document
         -Saigon’s approval
    -Possible bombing halt
         -Rationale
              -Quality of offer
              -Concessions
         -Compared with 1968 bombing halt
         -Public announcement
              -The President’s suggestion
                   -20th parallel
              -Public opinion
                   -Forthcoming 1972 election
              -Possible press statement
                   -Breakthrough
                   -Further negotiations
              -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
              -Fritz G. Kraemer’s view
              -Nguyen Van Thieu
                   -Public Position
                   -US Position
                        -The President’s view
                            -Thieu
                            -Coalition government
                            -Bombing halt
              -North Vietnamese military situation
                   -Possible cease-fire, October 31, 1972
    -Thieu‘s recent speech
    -Kissinger’s view
         -Strategy
              -Role in negotiations
              -Coalition government
              -Communist infrastructure in South Vietnam
    -Possible bombing halt
         -Political risks
         -Rationale
              -Timing compared with 1972 election
              -Compared with 1968 bombing halt
         -Public announcement
              -Extent of halt
                              9
    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                     Tape Subject Log
                       (rev. Nov-03)

         -Reasons
         -Risks
         -Timing
         -Secrecy
-Thieu’s strategy
    -Possible North Vietnamese reply
-US public relations strategy
    -Possible North Vietnamese reply
         -Le Duc Tho
    -William P. Rogers
    -Issue of coalition government in Vietnam
         -Possible statement
              -Ronald L. Ziegler
              -US message
    -Possible attack on McGovern
    -Wording of press statement on coalition government
         -Ziegler
    -Washington Post article
         -Unknown reporter's name
              -Kissinger’s recent name
              -Coalition government
    -The President’s participation in negotiations
         -John B. Connally
              -Leaks
         -Thieu
         -Stewart J.O. Alsop
         -Murrey Marder
         -Television
              -Howard K. Smith
                  -Statement regarding efforts of the President and Kissinger
                       -Messages
-Content of Kissinger’s statement
    -McGovern’s proposal compared to the Administrations
         -Tone
         -Type of Peace
         -Surrender
         -Prisoners of war [POWs]
         -Coalition government
         -Assistance to South Vietnam
         -Thailand
         -Laos
                                 10
         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                         Tape Subject Log
                           (rev. Nov-03)

              -Cambodia
              -“Peace with honor”
          -1972 election
              -McGovern’s possible response
          -Bombing halt
              -Nature of announcement
              -Wording
                   -De facto compared to de jure status
          -Progress
              -Le Duc Tho
          -US position
              -Ziegler
-Soviet Union
     -US global commitments
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Hanoi
     -The President’s view
          -Le Duc Tho
-Thieu
     -Handling
          -US equipment shipments
              -Kissinger’s meeting with unknown person
              -Timing
                   -Settlement
     -Possible agreement to settlement
          -Timing
              -November 20, 1972
-Kissinger’s forthcoming telephone call to Nelson A. Rockefeller
-1968 peace initiative
     -McGovern’s statements
     -Compared with current US proposal
     -Compared with McGovern’s proposals
          -POWs
          -Laos, Cambodia
          -Communist government in South Vietnam
-The President’s schedule
-Priority of peace negotiations
     -The President's and Kissinger’s role
          -Joseph W. Alsop’s column
          -History's verdict
              -Abraham Lincoln
              -Opposition to the President's policies
                                             11
                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Nov-03)

                             -Compared to Lincoln
                                 -Bureaucracy, media
                      -Compared with Lyndon B. Johnson
                         -Administration problems
                             -Consensus

Kissinger left at 10:08 am.