Conversation: 410-014
Prev: 410-013 Next: 410-015Start Date: 13-Mar-1973 4:16 PM
End Date: 13-Mar-1973 5:46 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Bull, Stephen B.; [Unknown person(s)]; Sanchez, Manolo; White House operator; Ford, John; Ziegler, Ronald L.;Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
NARA Description:
On March 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, John Ford, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:16 pm to 5:46 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 410-014 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 410-14
Date: February 13, 1973
Time: 4:16 pm - 5:46 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-New position as Army Vice Chief of Staff
Personnel
-Administrative abilities
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Charles W. Colson
Stephen B. Bull entered at 4:16 pm.
Raising the flag for prisoners of war [POWs]
The President [?] and Bull left at an unknown time after 4:17 pm.
[Pause]
The President entered at an unknown time after 4:17 pm.
President’s schedule
-Meeting
Labor relations
-George P. Shultz
-Meeting with George Meany
-Peter J. Brennan
-Briefing
-AFL-CIO
-Departure for Florida
-Colson’s conversation with Brennan
Brennan
-Appointments
-[First name unknown] Hill [?]
-Colson
-Qualifications
-Shultz
-Assessment of Brennan at Labor Department
-Appointments
-Relationship with John D. Ehrlichman
-Domestic Council
-Contacts
-Colson
-Shultz
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Shultz
-Differences on policy
-Ehrlichman
-Rapport
-Colson
-Shultz
-Appointments
-Donald F. Rodgers
-Undersecretary of Labor
-Shultz
-Solicitor
-Brennan's selection
-Appointments
-Shultz’s opinion
-Anti-union sentiment
-Colson
-Clash with Frederic C. Malek
-Ehrlichman
-Shultz
Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 4:16 pm and 4:55 pm.
[Conversation No. 410-14A]
Call to Shultz's office
-Departure with Brennan
[End of telephone conversation]
Brennan
-Shultz
Henry A. Kissinger
-Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
-Egyptians
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:16 pm.
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
Dictabelts for Rose Mary Woods
Coffee [?]
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:55 pm.
US-Egypt relations
-Hafiz Ismail
-Meeting with Edward R. G. Heath
-Visit to US
-State Department
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Meeting with President
-Anwar el-Sadat
-Message
-President’s schedule
-AFL-CIO
-Kissinger’s cable
-Arrangement for meeting
Personnel
-Brennan
-Liaison with White House
-Colson
-Political matters
-Shultz
-John A. Scali
-Civil Aeronautics Board [CAB]
-John B. Connally’s wishes
-Republican vacancy
-Recommendation
-Lee B. Nunn
-Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
-Watergate
-Qualifications
-Secretary of the Army
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Candidate
-Qualifications
-Political deficiencies
-Howard H. (“Bo”) Calloway
-Elliot L. Richardson’s opposition
-Offer
-Malek
-Secretary of the Air Force
-John W. Warner
-Robert C. Seamans, Jr.
-John A. Love
-Political advantages
-Compared to John H. Chafee
-Benno C. Schmidt
-Abilities
-Black candidate
-Blacks
-News summary
-Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
-Support for President
-Ehrlichman
-Jordan
-Criticism by young blacks
-Visit to White House
-Dealings with administration
-Services secretaries
-Businessmen
-President of TRW
-President of Collins Radio
-Schmidt
-Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW]
-Calloway
-Offer of Secretary of the Army
-Second choice
-Federal Highway Administration
-Recommendation
-Norbert Tiemann [?]
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Roman L. Hruska, Carl T. Curtis
-Political support
-Colson
-Alternate
-William Cellini
-New Majority
-Richard B. Ogilvie
-Qualifications
-Illinois Secretary of Transportation
-Lobbying, contracting ties
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Tiemann
-Highway Trust Fund
**********************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
1972 election
-Curtis
-Possible meeting with Haldeman
-News summary
-Republican candidates
-Losses in Middle America
-Compared to President
-Gordon L. Allott
-President’s Lincoln Day speech
-Curtis
-Possible meeting with George H. W. Bush
-Nebraska
-Iowa
-Support for President
-Jack R. Miller
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
Press relations
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-President's note
-Arthur D. Sulzberger
-William L. Safire
Medal of Freedom
-John Ford
-Imminent death
-Support for President
-Location
-Nguyen Van Thieu’s visit
-Dinner
-Hollywood
-United State Information Agency [USIA] films on Vietnam
-S. Bruce Herschensohn
-Awards
-Foreign
-Josip Broz Tito
-Telephone call
President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:16 pm and 4:55
pm.
[See Conversation No. 43-69]
[Conversation No. 410-14B]
[End of telephone conversation]
Medal of Freedom
-Presentation to John Ford
-Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, Grapes of Wrath
-John Wayne
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
**********************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Cary Grant
-Attendance at White House dinner
-Political activities
-Sophia Loren
1972 election
-Curtis’s statement
-Bush
-1972 campaign strategy
-Middle America
-President’s approval
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************
Personnel
-FBI director
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Qualities
-William C. Sullivan
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Ehrlichman
-Recommendations
-John W. [?] Larsen
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-Colson’s conversation with President
-Interior Department
-System analyst
-Tax background
-Conversation with Ehrlichman
-Colson
-Support for President
-IRS
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-IRS chief
-Colson
-Donald Alexander
-Cincinnati
-Qualifications
-George D. Webster
-Colson's view
-Roger Barth
-Background
-State Department
-David K. E. Bruce
-William P. Rogers
-African desk
-Robert C. Hill
-Latin America
-Henry J. Tasca
-Rogers’s opposition [?]
-Kissinger's opposition
-Middle East
-Joseph J. Sisco
-David D. Newsome
The President talked with John Ford between 4:55 pm and 4:57 pm.
[See Conversation No. 43-70]
[Conversation No. 410-14C]
[End of telephone conversation]
Ford's health
-Stroke
Ford's support for President
-Amnesty and Vietnam issues
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
Prisoners of war [POWs] return
-Press coverage
-President's handling
-Flying of flag
-Claudia A. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson
-POW sign in support of President
-Release
-December 1972 bombing of North Vietnam
-Hanoi
-B-52s
-Quality of POWs
-Collaborators
-Number
-Handling
-Amnesty
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.,
-Scowcroft
Amnesty
-Draft evaders
-Opposition among public
-Ford
-Support, opposition
-Polls
-Limited or conditional amnesty
-Support
-Restitution
-Opposition
-President’s constituency
-Impact of POWs
-Divisiveness of issue
-Supporters
-Opposition to the President
-President’s compassion
White House military aid
-POWs
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Career men
-Leaders
-John V. (“Jack”) Brennan
-Promotion
Bush
-Talk with William E. Brock, III and Clarence J. ("Bud") Brown, Jr.
-POWs
-Candidate against antiwar representative
-Vietnam veterans
POWs
-Bush
-1946 Congress
-Number of World War II veterans
-Astronauts
-Heroes
-Heroism
-Symbol of the end of Vietnam War
-John A. Scali’s statement
-Issue for President’s opposition
-George C. Wallace
-POW bracelet
-Col. Robinson Risner
-Bracelets
-Names
Amnesty
-President's position
-Supporters
-Low profile of amnesty supporters
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Poll
-Congress
-Authority to grant
-Bella S. Abzug
-Bill for amnesty
-34-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Kennedy
-Low profile
Bicentennial
-Leonard Garment
-Organization
-Bicentennial Commission
-Reorganization
-Chief
-Volunteers
-Full-time position
-Festivities
-Garment
California
-Foundation for future Nixon Library
-Nguyen Van Thieu's meeting with the President
-Dinner
-Action on presidential library
- John C. Stennis
-Public Works Committee
-Armed Services Committee
-General Services Administration [GSA]
-Support for President
-Republicans
-Southern Democrats
-Library site
-Architects
-Funding
Watergate
-Talk with Colson
-Executive privilege
-Testimony
-Dwight L. Chapin, Gordon C. Strachan
-Executive privilege
-Guidelines
-35-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Colson's suggestion
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Kissinger, Timmons, Colson, Clark MacGregor, Herbert
G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler
-Written interrogatories
-Ehrlichman, Colson
-Ground rules
-Impact of refusal to answer
-Compared with television [TV]
-Negotiations over questions
-Executive sessions
Middle East
-Sisco
-Rogers
-Assignment
-Africa
-Ambassador
Personnel
-William J. Casey [?]
-Leonard Mullin [?]
-Navy appointment
-Maurice Stans
-Confirmation
Watergate
-Executive privilege
-Consumption of time
-John W. Dean, III
-Colson
-Witnesses
-Partner
-John J. Sirica
-Sentencing
-Colson
-Concern over E. Howard Hunt, Jr.’s emotional state
-Dorothy Hunt's death
-36-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Life insurance
-Children
-Sense of guilt
-Donald Segretti
-Colson
-Dirty tricks
-Unanswered questions
-Testimony
-John N. Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Assumption of blame
-Authorization of intelligence activities
-Counterintelligence
-Demonstrations
-Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Wiretapping
-James W. McCord, Jr.
-Mitchell's knowledge of involvement
-Involvement
-Bernard Barker and the Cuban defendants
-Sentencing of defendants
-Time
-Appeals
-Colson
-Strategy of delay
-Advantages
-Hearing
-Mitchell
-Attacks
-Dean
-Colson
-Mitchell
-Liability
-Dangers
-G. Gordon Liddy
-37-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Magruder
-Dean, Richard A. Moore
President’s schedule
-White House events
-Problems
-Entertainment
-Location
-Type
-State dinners
-Army Chorus
-Planning
-Entertainment
-Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra's show
-President’s remark
-Dinners
-State dinners
-Guests
The President talked with the White House operator at 5:40 pm.
[Conversation No. 410-14D]
Request for a telephone call to Ronald L. Ziegler
[End of telephone conversation]
Watergate
-Resolution
-Gordian knot
The President talked with Ziegler between 5:40 and 5:41 pm.
[See Conversation No. 43-71]
[Conversation No. 410-14E]
-38-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
[End of telephone conversation]
Watergate
-Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Consequences
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 5:41 pm.
Dictation machine [?]
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:46 pm.
Watergate
-Mitchell's acceptance of responsibility
-Burden of blame
-Justice Department
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Prosecutors
-Grand jury
-Sentencing
-Defendants
-Discrimination
-Intelligence operations in campaign
-Chapman’s friend
-Colson
-Kennedy
-Democrats’ illegalities
-Investigation
Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 5:41 pm.
Dictation machine [?]
Watergate
-Investigation of Democrats
-39-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept.10)
Conversation No. 410-14 (cont’d)
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger’s wife
-Heckling
-Minority counsel
-Wiretapping
-Gray
-Wiretapping investigation
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:46 pm.
Watergate [?]
-Telephone
The President [?] and Haldeman left at 5:46 pm.