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Conversation: 383-001

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Start Date: 14-Dec-1972 2:30 PM

End Date: 14-Dec-1972 3:24 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kissinger, Henry A.Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Bull, Stephen B.Getty, Jean Paul

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

383-001.mp3

NARA Description:

On December 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Stephen B. Bull, and Jean Paul Getty met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:30 pm and 3:24 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 383-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 383-1

Date: December 14, 1972
Time: Unknown between 2:30 pm - 3:24 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[This recording began while the meeting was in progress.]

       Vietnam negotiations
            -Kissinger’s press conference
                  -Kissinger’s “peace is at hand” statement, October 26,1 972
                        -Justifications
                               -The President’s May 8, 1972 proposals
                               -The President’s January 25, 1972 speech
                               -Nguyen Van Thieu
                               -Good faith efforts
                                     -Cessation of US bombing north of 20th Parallel
                                           -Timing
                  -North Vietnam’s actions
                        -Continuation of war
                               -Cease-fire
                  -Possible question
                        -Prognosis

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 2:30 pm.

       The President’s call to J[ean] Paul Getty

Bull left at 3:04 pm.

The President talked with Getty between 3:04 pm and 3:05 pm.

[Conversation No. 383-1A]

[See Conversation No. 34-80]
                                             -2-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. June-08)

                                                             Conversation No. 383-1 (cont’d)


[End of telephone conversation]

       Vietnam negotiations
            -Kissinger’s press conference
                  -Resumption of talks
                        -Conditions
                              -October 26, 1972 agreement
                              -National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord
                                [NCRC]
                              -Cease-fire
                                     -Enforcement
                              -North Vietnam’s military intervention in South Vietnam
                              -Prisoners of War [POWs]
                              -Settlement agreement
                                     -Protocols
                  -Details
            -Thieu
                  -Letter from the President
                        -Length
                        -Thieu’s speech before National Assembly
                              -US aid to South Vietnam [Enhance, Enhance Plus]
                        -US-South Vietnam relations
                              -1972 election
                              -The President’s advisers
                              -US aid to South Vietnam
                        -Tone
            -South Vietnam’s survival
                  -US bombing north of 20th Parallel
                        -Effect on North Vietnam
            -US bombing north of 20th Parallel
                  -B-52s
                        -Fighters
                              -Weather
                        -Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
                        -Hanoi
                        -Haiphong
                              -April 15-16, 1972 mission
                                     -Duration
                                  -3-

      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                          Tape Subject Log
                            (rev. June-08)

                                                    Conversation No. 383-1 (cont’d)

                        -Effect
             -Targets
                   -Power plants
                         -Hanoi
                   -Marshaling yards
-North Vietnam
       -Statement to population
       -[Le Duc Tho]
       -Thieu
-Settlement agreement
       -December 8, 1972 clause
             -US to respect the rights of people of Vietnam
                   -Effect
       -Signing
             -Melvin R. Laird’s view
       -US bombing north of 20th Parallel
             -William P. Rogers’s view
                   -The President
                   -US foreign policy
                   -Kissinger
                   -The President’s possible meeting with Rogers
                   -Patience
-North Vietnam
-Thieu
       -Meeting with Haig
-North Vietnam concessions
       -Timing
             -November 1972
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
       -Effect
             -North Vietnam
       -Notification
             -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                   -Note
             -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                   -Conversation with Kissinger
                         -Tone
                               -Haig
                         -The President’s appreciation for the Soviet Union’s efforts
                                 -4-

      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                         Tape Subject Log
                           (rev. June-08)

                                                  Conversation No. 383-1 (cont’d)

                       -Le Duc Tho’s trip to Moscow
                       -US interests
                       -Leonid I. Brezhnev
                             -Visit to US
                             -Relationship with the President
                             -Visit to US
                                   -Timing
                                         -May 1973
       -Duration
             -May 1973
-Settlement agreement
       -North Vietnam’s actions
             -Cease-fire
                    -Timing
                          -Laos
                                -Preamble concession
                                -Withdrawal of civilians from South Vietnam
       -US-North Vietnam relations
             -Tone
       -Timing
             -February 1973
       -Thieu
       -US resolve
-Possible statement
       -Patrick J. Buchanan
-North Vietnam’s delays
-Theme
       -Ronald L. Ziegler’s view
             -“Peace is at hand”
             -Necessity of avoiding wrong kind of peace
-Kissinger’s press conference
-Settlement agreement
       -North Vietnam’s actions
             -Cease-fire
                    -Laos
                    -October 1972
                    -Lon Nol
-POWs
       -Possible statement
                                              -5-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. June-08)

                                                             Conversation No. 383-1 (cont’d)

                          -Ziegler
                   -Settlement agreement
                          -Protocols
                                -Text
                                      -William H. Sullivan
             -Forthcoming report
             -Kissinger’s press conference
                   -Tone
                   -Press relations
                          -News magazines
                          -[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
                          -David Brinkley
                          -Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.

Kissinger and Haig left at 3:24 pm.