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Conversation: 491-001

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Start Date: 28-Apr-1971 9:34 AM

End Date: 28-Apr-1971 11:37 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Kissinger, Henry A.Bull, Stephen B.

Recording Device: Oval Office

491a.mp3

491b.mp3

491c.mp3

NARA Description:

On April 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:34 am and 11:37 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 491-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 489-35/491-1

Date: April 28, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:34 am and 11:37 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Henry A. Kissinger; this recording began at
an unknown time after 11:06 am; an unknown portion of this conversation was not recorded
while the tape was changed.

     Melvin R. Laird and William P. Rogers
         -President's People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
               -Credit
         -Appointment
               -Black admiral [Samuel L. Gravely, Jr.]
         -Robert S. McNamara
         -Lt. William L. Calley, Jr.
         -Gravely

     PRC initiative
         -US policy
         -PRC messages
                -Compared to those of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
                    -Summit


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 4s ]


     CHINA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

**********************************************************************
                                               2

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. 9/08)



           -Exchange of messages
                -Vietnam
                     -US table tennis team
                -Nicolae Ceausescu
                -Taiwan
                -US leftists

                                                     Conv. No. 489-35/491-1 (cont.)
******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 8s ]


     CHINA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

******************************************************************************


           -US approach to negotiations
           -Staff
           -Press
                 -Ronald L. Ziegler, William L. Safire, and John A. Scali
                 -Support for President
           -Congress

     Congress

     Kissinger's conversation with John W. Chancellor

[Transcript #1: A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under
court order from December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums,
et al. v. James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records
Administration produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]
                                         3

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 9/08)



President's forthcoming press conference, April 29, 1971
     -Vietnam
            -US proposals
                  -Ceasefire
            -Enemy responsibility

Woodstock conference
    -Vietnam                                               Conv. No. 489-35/491-1 (cont.)
         -Ceasefire
    -Donald W. Riegle, Jr.
         -Statements
    -John D. Rockefeller, IV
         -Reactions to statements
               -Unknown Danish socialist
               -Unknown Norwegian socialist
         -Charles H. Percy
    -Europeans
    -Communists
    -[James] Harold Wilson
    -Denis W. Healey
    -Reaction
         -Americans
         -Europeans
    -Vietnam
         -Press
               -Russell A. Kirk
    -Alastair Buchan
         -Letter to Kissinger
         -Background
               -Imperial Defense College
         -Letter to Kissinger

Possibilities for administration successes
     -Draft
     -Domestic situation
     -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]

SALT
    -Rogers
    -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
         -Schedule
    -Leonid I. Brezhnev
                                            4

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. 9/08)



               -Message
         -Negotiations
               -President’s response
         -Rogers’ schedule
         -Possible debate
         -Rogers’ schedule
         -Position
         -President’s response                                Conv. No. 489-35/491-1 (cont.)
               -Timing
               -USSR position
               -US position
                     -Anti-ballistic missiles [ABM]
               -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
               -Possible announcement
                     -Timing
         -Notification
               -Rogers
               -John N. Irwin, II, David Packard, and Thomas H. Moorer
               -Gerard C. Smith and Rogers
               -British, French, and Germans
               -Announcement
               -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
               -State Department
                     -Latin America
               -Smith
         -Announcement
               -Smith's schedule
                     -Austria
                           -Visit to Corinthia
               -Rogers’ schedule


******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Privacy]
[Duration: 3s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

******************************************************************************
                                                  5

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. 9/08)




                 -Politburo
                 -US position
                 -USSR options

     James E. Johnson
          -Swearing-in ceremony                                 Conv. No. 489-35/491-1 (cont.)
                -Laird
                -[Gravely]

[Transcript #2: A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under
court order from December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums,
et al. v. James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records
Administration produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:06 am.

     President's schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:35 am.

     McGeorge Bundy
        -Speech on Vietnam

     Anti-war sentiment within administration
          -Staff
          -State Department

     President's schedule
          -Meeting with Gerhardt Schroeder
                 -Dr. Rainer Barzel
          -Meeting with anti-war protesters
                 -Robert H. Finch
                 -Elliot L. Richardson

Ziegler entered and Kissinger left at 11:35 am.
                                                6

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



          -Upcoming photo session
              -Timing
              -Rose Garden
              -Look Magazine
              -Control

Haldeman and Ziegler left at 11:37 am.
                                                             Conv. No. 489-35/491-1 (cont.)