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Conversation: 571-008

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Start Date: 11-Sep-1971 4:18 PM

End Date: 11-Sep-1971 4:36 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haig, Alexander M., Jr.

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 02:15:20

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 02:32:50

571a.mp3

571b.mp3

571c.mp3

NARA Description:

On September 11, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:18 pm to 4:36 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 571-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 571-8

Date: September 13, 1971
Time: 4:18 pm - 4:36 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Negotiations
         -Henry A. Kissinger
                -Vietnam War settlement
                -People's Republic of China [PRC]
                     -Date of announcement
                                    34

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 10/06)



          -Dates for the President's visit
          -Kissinger's visit
          -Public announcement
               -Date
          -Chinese
-Vietnam
     -North Vietnamese
          -Cambodia
          -Laos
          -Strategy towards the US
     -Negotiated settlements
          -Status on negotiations
                -Moratorium
                -Norodom Sihanouk
                -Nguyen Van Thieu
                      -Election
          -Effect of PRC trip announcement
                -Political situation in Saigon
          - Position on Thieu
          -George S. McGovern's trip to Paris
          -Kissinger
                -Hanoi
                -Soviet Union
                -PRC situation
                -Status of Vietnam War
     -US public opinion
          -US withdrawal
          -Prisoner of War [POW] wives event
          -POWs
                -Release
          -Laos, Cambodia, South Vietnam
                -Possible events
                -Vietnamization
     -US withdrawal
          -1972 Elections
          -Hanoi
                -Bombing
          -Laos
          -Cambodia
          -Security situation
                -North Vietnamese
                            35

         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                    Tape Subject Log
                      (rev. 10/06)
                                                      Conv. No. 571-8 (cont.)


                  -Saigon
           -Psychology
                  -Political situation in Saigon
                        -Possible outcome
                               -Needs
                                     -Stability
-Administration's action
      -POWs
      -Announcements
           -End of combat
           -Troop withdrawal
           -Kissinger’s rationale
           -North Vietnam's demands
           -Paris negotiations
                  -POWs
           -Soviet Union
           -Hanoi
                  -Provision of agreement
                        -Pressure from Soviet Union
           -North Vietnamese demands
           -Thieu
-South Vietnam
      -Elections
      -US role
           -The President’s November 3, 1969 speech
           -Cambodia
           -Laos
-Support for the war in the US
      -The President's speeches
           -Public reaction
      -US withdrawal
           -Stability
           -Effects
      -Casualties
           -Numbers
      -US Army
           -Morale
           -Discipline
      -Laos participation
           -Effect on US military forces
-Military actions
                                             36

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                             Conv. No. 571-8 (cont.)


                -I and II Corps areas
                -Effect
                -Da Nang shelling
                      -Civilian casualties
                -PRC reaction
                      -Haig’s view

The PRC
     -Floods
          -Devastation

Kissinger's schedule
     -Return
           -Time

Haig's report
     -Kissinger
           -Optimism in negotiations
           -Need for caution
                -The President's previous experiences
                      -Nikita S. Khrushchev
                      -PRC
                      -Soviet Union

Accidental War Agreement
     -Newspaper story
           -Tad Szulc
                -Soviet Union
                -Reporter covering the State Department
                       -London Observer
                       -Newsday
                       -Washington Post
                       -White House
                       -Washington Post's call to the State Department
                             -State Department's call to Haig
                                   -Release of story
           -Szulc
                -State Department, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency [ACDA]
           -Haig's call to State Department
                -Leak
                       -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
                                           37

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 571-8 (cont.)


                -Szulc
           -Soviet response
           -Agreement
           -US role
                -Defense budget
                      -Draft

Haig left at 4:36 pm.