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Conversation: 447-022

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Start Date: 19-Jun-1973 2:00 PM

End Date: 19-Jun-1973 2:59 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Ziegler, Ronald L.[Unknown person(s)]Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Kissinger, Henry A.

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

447-022a.mp3

447-022b.mp3

NARA Description:

On June 19, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, unknown person(s), Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:00 pm to 2:59 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 447-022 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 447-22

Date: June 19, 1973
Time: 2:00 pm - 2:59 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.
                                            -19-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                     Tape Subject Log 

                                     (rev. March-2012)

                                                           Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

     Leonid I. Brezhnev visit
          -Sequoia
                 -Timing
                       -Possible demonstrations
                             -Jews [?]
                       -Afternoon meeting
                       -Mount Vernon
                       -Helicopter to Camp David
          -Return to White House, June 22, 1973
          -Leak by Viktor Louis [?]
                 -Friday [June 22, 1973] announcement
                       -Henry A. Kissinger’s concern
          -Photograph opportunity, June 22, 1973
          -George P. Shultz
          -Camp David
          -San Clemente
          -Reception, June 23, 1973

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 2:00 pm.

     Unknown matter

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 2:31 pm.

     Brezhnev visit      

          -Signing ceremony         

          -Photograph opportunity        

                -Economic meeting
                -Sequoia
                -Shultz, Nikolai S. Patolichev
          -Press relations      

                -Secret Service        

                -Photographs        

                -Camp David          

                -Importance       

          -Sequoia
                -Economic meeting
                                          -20-

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. March-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

           -Shultz      

     -Camp David          

           -Photograph        

     -Shultz       

           -Economic agreement briefing          

     -Press relations       

           -Questions to Brezhnev           

                  -Stephen B. Bull        

                  -“Badgering”        

                  -Women reporters           

                  -Handshaking         

                  -Soviet media        

                  -Ziegler’s possible action         


Press relations
      -Martha (Beall) Mitchell
             -Helen Thomas’s stories
                    -Washington Post
                         -Possible apology       

             -Comments about President         

             -Telephone calls to Betty Beall and Thomas 

      -Thomas          

             -Ziegler      

             -Future interactions with President     

             -Martha Mitchell        

             -[First name unknown] Fischer         


Watergate
     -John W. Dean, III
           -Forthcoming Ervin Committee testimony
                 -Schedule

Brezhnev visit
     -Communique
           -Timing

John A. Love
                                      -21-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. March-2012)

                                                      Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

     -Announcement of White House staff position 

          -Energy       

          -Dean’s testimony    


Watergate
     -Dean
           -Handling of funds               

                  -Press coverage             

                  -$4,000, $14,000               

                         -Safety deposit box
                  -J. Fred Buzhardt               

           -Forthcoming Ervin Committee testimony        

           -Prosecutors              

                  -Evidence             

           -Testimony              

           -Ziegler’s conversations with Richard A. Moore [?] 

           -Evidence against Dean [?]               

                  -Leaks [?]
     -Ervin Committee               

           -Howard H. Baker, Jr.               

           -Edward J. Gurney                

                  -Buzhardt’s view               

     -White House response                

           -Buzhardt, Leonard Garment, Charles A. Wright 

     -Press relations        

     -White House staff               

     -Popular opinion            

     -Archibald Cox          

           -Ziegler’s conversation with Buzhardt, Garment and Wright, June 19, 1973
                  -Possible defense by a Senator
           -White House response
                  -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
           -Prosecutors
     -White House response                

           -Garment’s telephone calls to Senators 

           -Buzhardt           

           -Timing         

                                             -22-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                      (rev. March-2012)

                                                              Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

                        -Cox
                  -Summit, President’s accomplishments
                  -Effect on White House staff
           -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                  -Conversation with Ziegler, June 18, 1973
                  -Phil Donahue interview
           -White House response
                  -Timing
                        -Dean
                        -California
                  -Press relations
                        -Intelligence
                               -Camp David [?]
           -Dean
                  -Forthcoming Ervin Committee testimony
                        -White House response
                               -Strategy
                        -Senators’ possible response
                  -White House response
                        -Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s view
                  -White House staff and press 

                        -Past statements       

                        -Ziegler’s beliefs       

                               -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                        -Staff statements

The President met with an unknown man.

     Russian vodka       

          -Sequoia

          -Camp David       

                -Soviet rooms

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 2:31 pm.

     Watergate       

          -Dean          

                                               -23-


                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                         Tape Subject Log 

                                         (rev. March-2012)

                                                              Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

                 -Forthcoming Ervin Committee testimony
                       -Timing

The President talked with Haig at an unknown time between 2:00 pm and 2:31 pm.

[Conversation No. 447-22A]

[Begin telephone conversation]

     President’s schedule        

           -Melvin R. Laird          


     Patrick J. Buchanan

     Brezhnev’s schedule
          -Mt. Vernon
                -President’s conversation with an unknown person
                -Helicopter
                -Driving

     President’s schedule        

           -Laird      


[End telephone conversation]

     Brezhnev’s schedule       

          -Camp David        

                -Driving       

                      -Thurmont           

          -Mt. Vernon      


     Watergate     

          -Dean      

               -Forthcoming Ervin Committee testimony           

                     -White House response     


Kissinger talked with the President between 2:31 pm and 2:36 pm.
                                          -24-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                   Tape Subject Log 

                                   (rev. March-2012)

                                                          Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)


[Conversation No. 447-22B]

[Begin telephone conversation]

[See Conversation No. 41-16]

[End telephone conversation]

     Brezhnev visit      

          -Sequoia

          -Ziegler’s schedule         

                -Forthcoming briefings         

                       -Leonid Zamyatin          

                -Sequoia

                       -Zamyatin
                             -Dinner
                             -Ambassadorial rank
                             -Telegrafnoye Agentstvo Sovetskovo Soyuza [Telegraph Agency
                               of the Soviet Union] [TASS]
                             -Ziegler’s forthcoming conversation with Kissinger
          -John B. Connally
                -Forthcoming conversation with Ziegler
                       -Potential Soviet clients
                             -Air travel to San Clemente
                       -Private dinner
          -Media relations
                -Speculation
          -Ziegler’s forthcoming conversation with Kissinger and Haig
          -Helicopter
          -Photograph opportunities
                -Camp David           

                -Zamyatin         

                -San Clemente           

                -Agreement signing          

                -Camp David           

                       -Stairs
                                        -25-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. March-2012)

                                                           Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

                 -Golf course       

                 -President and Brezhnev           

                        -Walking       

           -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins     

           -Soviet photographers         


Watergate
     -Ervin Committee hearings       

           -Press relations    

           -Dean’s forthcoming testimony               

                 -Gurney [?]     

                 -White House response         


Brezhnev visit
     -Rogers’s view
           -View

Watergate
     -Hearings      

          -Dean       

          -Ziegler’s belief     

     -White House response          

          -Timing       

          -Press conference         


Brezhnev visit
     -President’s possible report to nation 

           -Kissinger’s view        

           -Communique          

           -Departing statement by President and Brezhnev 

                 -Preparation         

                 -Delivery       


Watergate
     -Jeb Stuart Magruder
     -Ziegler’s belief
     -Prosecutors
                                                -26-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                         Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. March-2012)

                                                                Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

                 -Immunity           

                 -Charges        


     Brezhnev’s schedule       

          -Sequoia

          -Camp David        

                -Travel by automobile

The President talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 2:00 pm and 2:31 pm.

[Conversation No. 447-22C]

[Begin telephone conversation]

     Brezhnev’s schedule        

          -Camp David         

                -Travel by automobile           

                      -Sequoia

          -Sequoia

                -Soviet sensitivities       


[End telephone conversation]

     Brezhnev’s schedule         

          -Camp David          

                -Travel by automobile       

                     -Sequoia

                            -Kissinger’s view               

          -Mt. Vernon        

                -George Washington’s home               

                -Sequoia


     Brezhnev        

          -Strategic abilities     

          -Political skill     

          -Relations with people       

                 -Comparison to Irish ward politician
                                              -27-


                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                      (rev. March-2012)

                                                               Conversation No. 447-22 (cont’d)

            -Receiving line      

                 -Jews [?]       

                 -Undersecretaries      

                        -Bravery     

                        -Bodyguard and translator [?]      


      Treaty signing       

            -Ziegler’s conversation with Zamyatin 

            -Prisoners of War [POWs] room

            -Media relations       

                  -Size of press corps

      Brezhnev visit
           -Communique
                 -Ziegler’s conversation with Helmut (“Hal”) Sonnenfeldt
                 -Press relations
                 -Relations between President and Brezhnev
                        -Kissinger [?]
                        -Text of speech
                              -Sonnenfeldt
                        -Media relations
                              -Cooperation
           -Ziegler’s forthcoming conversation with Kissinger
                 -Sequoia
                        -Ziegler and Zamyatin
                        -Camp David
                 -Camp David
                        -Economic meeting

Ziegler left at 2:59 pm.
                                              -28-


                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                        Tape Subject Log 

                                        (rev. March-2012)