Conversation: 413-022
Prev: 413-021 Next: 413-023Start Date: 26-Feb-1973 12:23 PM
End Date: 26-Feb-1973 2:36 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Parker, David N.;Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
NARA Description:
On February 26, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and David N. Parker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:23 pm to 2:36 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 413-022 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 413-22
Date: February 26, 1973
Time: 12:23 pm-2:36 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Stephen B. Bull and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
President’s schedule
-Wednesday, February 28, 1973
-Press conference
-Luigi Raimondi
-Apostolic delegate
-Departure
-Time of press conference
-Quadriad meeting
-Economic issues
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Tax question
-Scheduling
-Press conference
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Meeting with Patricia R. Hitt [?]
-Richard M. Helms
-Interview
-Timing
-President’s suggestion
-Meeting with President
-List
-Theater, business people
-Ehrlichman
-Appointments
The President conferred with Bull.
President’s schedule
-Meetings
-Congress members [?]
[End of conferral]
Haldeman talked with Parker at an unknown time between 12:23 and 1:15 pm; the President can be
heard in the background.
[Conversation No. 413-22A]
President's schedule
-School administrators
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
[End of telephone conversation]
President's schedule
-Meetings in morning of February 28, 1973
-Changes in schedule
-Timing
-Reporter
-Recommendation
-Speech
-Time for preparation
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Announcement
-Governors
-Rose Mary Woods
-Meeting with President, Hitt, and Ehrlichman
-Free time
-Thursday
-Arrival
-Morning
-George P. Shultz
-Ehrlichman
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Scheduling
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Attendees
-William P. Rogers
-Domestic Council
-Time
-Other minor meetings
-Meetings
-Maurice H. Stan’s recommendations
-Next week
-Russ Pruit [?]
-Bahamas
-Meeting with Prime Minister
-Independence
-Potential visit from President
-Bilateral talks
-Defense agreements
-Priority
-Rogers, Melvin R. Laird
-Usefulness
-Rogers
Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
-Distinguished service medal
-Laird
-Recommendation
-Departure
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Recipient
-Reason
-Head of military aides
Scowcroft
-Laird
-Medal presentation
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Pictures
Thomas G. Corcoran
-Henry A. Kissinger’s request
-Meeting with President
-Scheduling
Federal Woman’s Award presentation
-Hitt
-Chairperson
-Meeting with President
-President’s reluctance
Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW]
-“Voice of Democracy” contest winners
-Dinner
State dining room
-Invitees
-Logistics
-Tour
-Dinner
-Veterans groups
Veterans Administration
-Deal
-Haldeman’s conversation with William J. Baroody, Jr.
-Problem
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Donald E. Johnson
-Tenure as Administrator of Veterans Affairs
-VFW
-American Legion
-Fred B. Rhodes
-Resignation
-Campaign for director
-VFW
-Selection of candidate
-Baroody
-American Legion
Meeting
-VFW’s “Voice of Democracy” contest winner
-Photographs
-American Legion
-VFW
-Convention
Ambassadors
-Rogers’s recommendation
-John W. Irwin
-Departure for France
-Meeting with President
-Press photographs
White House Fellows
-Meeting with President
-President’s reluctance
-Importance
-Tour
-Scheduling and arrangements
-Pictures
-Length of time
-Conversation
-Frederic V. Malek
-Introductions
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Agency staff members
-Meeting with President
-Compared to White House Fellows
-Senate Fellows
-Meeting with President
-Value
-President’s desire to avoid repetition
-Pictures
President’s schedule
-NSC meeting
-Priority
-Speech [?]
-Leaders’ meeting
-Scheduling
-Domestic Council
-Cabinet meeting
NSC meeting
-Attendance
-Shultz
-Ex officio member
-Attorney General
-Treasury Secretary
-Shultz
-Economics
-Attorney General, Treasury
-Shultz’s attendance
-Restrictions by area of interest
-John A. Scali
-Cabinet members
-James Keogh
Scali
-White House dinners, state dinners
-Attendance
-Cabinet members
-Compared with Kissinger, Rogers, United Nations [UN] Ambassador
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Invitations to worship services and other White House events
-Cabinet officers
-Dinners and services
-Maurice H. Stans’s list of four hundred
-Avoid repetition
-White House staff
-State dinners
-Kissinger
-Celebrity
-Rogers
-Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. and staff
Baroody’s recommendations
-Haldeman’s support
-Invitations
-Cabinet members
-Governors
-Israel state dinner
-Stans’s list
-Dinner compared with reception, entertainment
-Role of Cabinet officers
Governors’ dinner
-Attendance
-Capacity
-Cabinet members
-Cole
-Briefing
-Foreign compared to domestic policy
-White House staff
-Addition to dinner
-Entertainment
-Army Corps
-Attendance
-Baroody, Cole, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and guest
-Ehrlichman
-James H. Falk
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Liaisons to Governors
-Governors Association
-Ehrlichman, Cole, Baroody, Falk
-Woods
-Arrangements
-List of attendees
Church services
-Congressional relations staff
-Number invited
-Problems in arrangements
-No shows
-Editors and publishers
-Gridiron
-Drop in attendees
-Kissinger
-Congress members
-William E. Timmons
-Senators
-List
-President's appearance with Congress members
-Value
-Russell B. Long appearance compared to Women in Government event
Congressional relations
-Social affairs
-Color events compared to substance events
President’s schedule
-Awards for women
-Policy matter
-Stans’s list
-Timmons
-Apostolic delegate
-Problems
-Ehrlichman
-Meetings with President
-Foreign officials
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Coordination by Bull
-Kissinger’s role in scheduling
-Ireland’s ambassador
-St. Patrick’s Day presentations
-Shamrock
White House social affairs
-Entertainment
-Liza Minnelli
-Lawrence Welk
-Invitations
-Coordination
-Bull, Lucy A. Winchester
-William H. Carruthers
-Minnelli
-Irving Berlin
-Award
-Next of kin representative
-Videotape
-Copy to Berlin
-Announcement
Presidential honors [?]
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Age
-Samuel Goldwyn, Edward K. (“Duke”) Ellington
-Irving Berlin
-Press coverage
-William [?] Wallace and wife
Medals
-Recipients
-Age
-Citizens’ Medal
-Search process
-As President’s medal
-Publicity
-Arrangements
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Location for event in White House
Timmons
-Talk with Bull
-Congressional relations
-Difficulties
-Hugh Scott and Gerald R. Ford
-Meetings and events at the White House
-Everett M. Dirksen
Church service
-Number not attending
-Regrets
-Congress members
-Invitations
-Follow through
-Acceptances
-Responses
-Failure to show
White House social office
-Response
Entertainment
-President’s advice for Ball
-Winchester
-Judgment
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Bull’s contact
-Arrangements
-Involvement in arrangement
-Compared with Winchester
Bull left at 1:15 pm.
Bull’s work
-Compared with Winchester
-Compared with Alexander P. Butterfield
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Voice
Entertainment
-Evenings at the White House
-President’s supporters
-Talent
-Leonard Bernstein
-President’s consistent supporters
-List of entertainers
-Bull, [First name unknown] Truturo [?], Ray Cordero [?]
Nobel Prize
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-William L. Safire, John Reagan (“Tex”) McCrary, Richard A. Moore,
Rogers
-President’s answer at press conference
-Price’s memorandum
-Rogers, Moore, and Price’s recommendation
-Safire’s recommendation
-Withdrawal of President's name from consideration
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-McCrary’s recommendations
-Kissinger
-Role of negotiator
-Rogers
-Jews
-Withdrawal of President’s name
-Problems
-Acceptances of other honors
-POW awards
-Silver Buffalo awards
-Boy Scouts of America [BSA]
-Moore’s recommendations
-Questions at press conference
-Possible answer
-Rogers’s recommendations
Scheduling
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Ehrlichman
-Trade
-Role in administration
-National chairmen [?]
-Use as traveling representative
-Moore [?]
-President’s travel
-Press coverage
-Ehrlichman
-Responsibilities
-Job in Seattle
Press conferences
-Ehrlichman
-Points to make
-Preparation
Speeches
-Preparation
-Philadelphia
-Speechwriters
-Material
-Kevin P. Phillips and Clay T. (“Tom”) Whitehead
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
-Phillips
-Mischaracterization of remark
-Frequent quotation
-Compared to comments by Moynihan and Kissinger
-“Benign neglect”
-“Peace is at hand”
Bull [?]
McCrary
Press relations
-President’s conversation with Ronald L. Ziegler
-Barbara Walters
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Kissinger
-Value to administration
-Congressional briefings
-Mass audience
-Television [TV] image
-Interview with Walters
-Press image
-Substance
-Support for bombing
-Recommendations
-Interview with Walters
-Bombing decision
-Compared with Herbert G. Klein
-Audience focus
-VFW dinner
-Invitation
-Need for support for President
POWs
-Press conference
-Washington Post article
-Administration’s work with POWs
-Credibility of the Washington Post and New York Times
-Press conference
-Dislike of Jane Fonda
-Support for President
-Scripted responses
-Credibility of the Washington Post
Kissinger
-Recommendations to President
-Initiative on policy towards the People's Republic of China [PRC]
-December 1972 bombing
-Credit to President
POWs
-Dinner meeting with President
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Scheduling
-Number of attendees
-Wives
-Arrangements
-Reception
-Timing
-Press coverage
-Washington Post, New York Times
-Frustrations
-Peace with honor
-Kissinger’s statement compared with Rogers
-TV
-Briefings
Middle East negotiations
-Israel
-Shooting down of passenger airline
-Financial compensation
-Intentions
-Elections
-Kissinger’s recommendations
-US compared with Israel
-Kissinger
-Blindness
-Shooting down of passenger airline
-Civilian transport
-Rogers’s condolence call to Hafez Ismail
-Actions compared to Kissinger
PRC
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Foreign relations
-Significance
-Compared with lunar landing
-Soviet Union
-Mao Tse-tung
-Meeting with President
-Kissinger
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Woods
-Meeting with President
-Bull
-Invitations
-Timmons
-Congress members
-Complaints
-Meeting
-Schedule
-List meeting
-Meetings with Haldeman
-Congress members
-Timmons
-Invitations
-Compared with businessmen
-Important votes
-Economy
Congressional relations
-Timmons
-Invitations
-Timing
-Woods’s opinion
-Protocol
-Woods’s opinion
-Kissinger, Rogers
-Church service
-Cabinet
-Invitees
-Christmas
-Cabinet
-Children and families
-Arthur F. Burns
-Laird
-Friends and extended family
-Scheduling
-34-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Diplomatic reception
-Memorandum to Haldeman
-Arrangements
-Attendees
-Senior staff
-Cabinet
-Department heads
White House social affairs
-Calendar of events
-Number of events
-Church services
-State visits
-Repeat invitations
-President’s second term
-Dwight D. Eisenhower’s policy
State visits and dinners
-Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
-[Shah of Iran] Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
-Latin American visitors
-Shah of Iran
-Visit from Italy’s prime minister
-Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra
-Entertainment
-Israel, Italy, Japan
-[Emperor of Japan] Hirohito
-Soviet Union
-Shah of Iran
-Edward Gierek
-Poland
-Africa
-Ivory Coast
-Felix Houpouet-Biogny
-Thailand
-Vietnam [?]
-Liberia
-1974
-35-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Latin Americans
-President’s preferences
-Juan M. Bordaberry
-Uruguay
-Bolivia
-Juan Velasco Alvarado
-Scheduling
-Shah of Iran
-Scheduling
-Leader from Africa
-Scheduling
-Soviet Union visit
-Velasco visit
-Arrangement
-Kakuei Tanaka
-State visit
-Emperor of Japan
-Scheduling
-Importance
-Dinners
-Soviet Union, Tanaka, Africa, Latin America
-Scheduling
-Time of the year
-President’s schedule
-Fall 1973
-Christmas
-Dinners
-Schedule
-Italy
-April
-Singapore
-Lee Kuan Yew
-Velasco, Soviet Union, Tanaka
-Summer 1973
-California vacation
Europe [?]
-President’s visit [?]
-36-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
White House dinners
-Scheduling
-State visits
-Days of the week
-Lee Kuan Yew
-Rogers
John Ford
-Testimonial dinner in Hollywood
-Scheduling, date
-Arrival of Nguyen Van Thieu
-President’s appearance
-Medal of Freedom
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Social activities at the White House
-Non-political activities
-Visits to states
Tricia Nixon Cox
-Non-political activities
-News coverage
-News story
-Causes
-Volunteer activities
-Constance M. (Cornell) (“Connie”) Stuart
-Number of causes, appearances
Hitt
-Controversy
-Weinberger
-Incentives
-Difficulty
Jobs
-John E. Nidecker
-United States Information Agency [USIA]
-37-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
Ambassadorial appointments
-Ned Sullivan
-Woods
-Correspondence
-UN ambassador [?]
-Personnel
-Hiring of better writer for Lyndon B. Johnson
Ehrlichman
-Meetings with Haldeman and Kissinger
-New goals for second term
-Kissinger
-Ideas for second term
-Haldeman and Price
-Public relations
Pam Powell [?]
VFW kids
-Visit with President
-Value
Bicentennial
-Report on Bicentennial activities
-James T. Lynn
-Site selection
-H. Ross Perot, John D. Rockefeller, III
-Organization
-Perot’s brother [?]
-Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
-New legislation
-American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
-American Revolution Bicentennial Administration [ARBA]
-Report on Bicentennial activities
-Full-time chairman
-Candidate
-Frank Borman
-38-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-Howard Chernoff
-Qualities of a chairman
-Chernoff
-Legislation
-David N. Parker [?]
John B. Connally
-Party change
-International Revenue Service [IRS]
Kitchen cabinet
-Clark MacGregor
-Bryce N. Harlow
-George H. W. Bush
-William E. Brock, III
White House staff
-Klein
-Dealings with President
-Press reports
-Interpretations of President’s mood
President’s request
-Paul Greenberg
-Adrian Leigh [Lee?]
-Edwin A. Roberts
-National Observer
Ziegler
-Press relations
-Concerns for intelligence
-Foreign policy area
-Greenberg, Leigh [Lee?]
White House staff and cabinet
-John A. Scali
-Turnover
-Moynihan, Burns
-39-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-James Keogh
-Judgment
-Judgment
-Klein
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Balance of views
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Personality
-Realist [?]
-William F. Safire
Federal government
-Control by White House
-Weak spots
Ziegler
Achievements
-Small objectives
Goals for second term
-Need for positive goals
-Reaction-oriented behavior
-Press relations
-Maurice H. Stans
-Business, labor
-Control of events
Congressional relations
-Social events
-Effects
-Congressional liaison
-Harlow
-Timmons
-MacGregor
-New appointment
-Congress member
-40-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-22 (cont’d)
-MacGregor
-Ehrlichman
-Congressional office
-Timmons
-Domestic affairs legislation
-Compared with Kissinger
-Timmons
-Responsibilities
-Operator compared to spokesman duties
-Ehrlichman and Kissinger
-Responsibilities
-Press relations
-Substantive policy
-Ehrlichman
-Domestic Council
-Charles W. Colson
-Office
-Congressional liaison
-Ehrlichman
-Dealings with Congress members
-Compared to Kissinger
-Goals
-Party politics
-Watergate issue
-Haldeman
-Dealings with Congress members
President’s schedule
-Manolo Sanchez
Haldeman left at 2:36 pm.
-41-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)