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Conversation: 610-001

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Start Date: 1-Nov-1971 4:04 PM

End Date: 1-Nov-1971 5:08 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kissinger, Henry A.

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:00:38

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:03:55

610a.mp3

NARA Description:

On November 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:04 pm to 5:08 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 610-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 610-1

Date: November 1, 1971
Time: 4:04 pm - 5:08 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
[The recording begins at an unknown time while the conversation is in progress]

     Washington Star
         -[Smith Hempstone, Jr..?]
              -Articles
                     -Stance toward Administration
              -Relationship to Charles W. Colson
                     -US Marine Corps
              -Trip to Africa
              -George Sherman
         -Sherman's stories
              -State Department
                     -Colson
         -Sherman's schedule
              -Colson
              -Kissinger

     Robert Kleiman
         -New York Times editorial, November 1, 1971
               -William P. Rogers's role in People's Republic of China [PRC] initiative
                     -Taiwan, Republic of China
                          -Patrol
                                 -Cancellation
                                      -Notification of PRC
                                            -Pakistan channel
                                            -Channel
               -July 15, 1971 announcement
                     -1969 initiative

     The PRC initiative
          -State Department
          -Rogers's role
                -Taiwan patrol
          -Warsaw talks
          -Trip to the PRC
                                           2

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


           -Cambodian invasion
     -State Department
           -Marshall Green
     -Warsaw talks
           -The President’s order to Walter J. Stoessel, Jr.
           -Agha Muhommad Yahya Khan
     -State Department

Kleiman

Sherman's stories
     -Kissinger
           -Relationship with the President
     -State Department

The PRC initiative
     -Rogers
          -John A. Scali
                -Conversation with Kissinger
                     -American Broadcasting Corporation [ABC]
          -Role
     -Process
          -Romania channel
          -Kissinger’s record of messages
                -Historians
     -New York Times

Melvin R. Laird

Rogers

Kissinger's schedule
     -Sherman
           -Colson
     -Crosby S. Noyes's request
           -Star Editorial Board
     -Sherman
           -Colson
     -Washington Post

Foreign aid program
                                          3

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                              Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


     -State Department

Rogers
    -Statement to Scali
          -The PRC initiative
               -The President
    -Knowledge of the PRC initiative
          -Kissinger's trip to Pakistan
               -Message

Foreign aid program
     -Senate meeting, November 1, 1971
           -Security assistance
           -Development assistance
           -Foreign Relations Committee
           -Clark MacGregor
                 -Colson
           -Kissinger
           -The President's forthcoming meeting with Rogers
                 -House of Representatives
                 -Public statements
                 -MacGregor
           -George H. Mahon
           -Gerald R. Ford
           -Carl B. Albert

The President's schedule
     -William McMahon
           -Possible statement to the press
                                              4

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                       Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National Security]
[Duration: 12s ]


     AUSTRALIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


     State Department
           -News leaks
           -Rogers
                -White House
           -Green
                -PRC talks
           -Martin J. Hillenbrand
                -Soviet talks
           -The President's forthcoming meeting with Chou En-lai
                -Diplomatic arrangements
                      -Kissinger

     Laird

John N. Mitchell, George P. Shultz and H. R. Haldeman entered and Kissinger left at 4:15 pm.

     Kissinger
          -The PRC initiative

     James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa
          -Possible clemency
          -Possible pardon
          -Frank E. Fitzsimmons's efforts
                -International Brotherhood of Teamsters
          -Executive clemency
                -Procedures
                                       5

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. 10/06)
                                                               Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


                -Mitchell
                -The President
                -Recommendation
                      -Parole board
                           -Mitchell
          -Timing
     -Possible parole
          -Public perception
                -1972 election
     -Executive clemency
          -Mitchell’s view
                -Possible quid pro quo by Fitzsimmons
                      -Pay Board
                      -The President’s economic program
                      -George Meany

Pay Board
     -Shultz’s view
     -Meany and Leonard Woodcock
          -American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations [AFL-
                CIO]
     -Woodcock and Fitzsimmons
          -Meany
     -Public perception

Hoffa
     -Fitzsimmons's efforts
     -Executive clemency
           -Possible conditions
                -1972 election
           -Teamsters
           -Views of Barry M. Goldwater and John J. Rhodes
           -Activities of opponents
                -Parole board
           -Woodcock's meeting with Shultz
                -Fitzsimmons
                -Meany's views
                -I[lwirth] W[ilbur] Abel’s view
     -Quid pro quo
           -The President’s economic program
     -Time served
                                           6

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


     -Sentence
          -Executive clemency
     -Parole Board's actions
          -James Hoffa, Jr. and attorney
          -Hoffa's labor connections
               -Resignations
          -Hoffa's finances

Teamsters
    -Construction unions
    -Maurice A. Hutcheson
    -Hoffa
          -Walter P. Reuther
          -Robert F. Kennedy
    -Fitzsimmons and Woodcock
    -United Auto Workers [UAW]
          -Reuther
                -Alliance for Labor Action
                      -AFL-CIO
          -Woodcock
                -General Motors strike
          -Differences in viewpoints
                -Fitzsimmons
                -Social issues
                      -Dues collection
                      -Voter registration
                      -Reuther
    -Effectiveness for minorities
          -Chicago

Hoffa
     -Executive clemency
          -Possible conditions
          -Others awaiting presidential action
                 -Restoration of civil rights
                 -Typicality
          -Possible reaction
     -Mitchell's lunch with Time-Life and Fortune staffs, November 1, 1971
          -Rogers and Kissinger
          -Political prisoner question
                 -Parole period
                                         7

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


                      -Discrimination
                -Conduct in prison
     -Executive clemency
          -Political considerations
                -Public perception of labor leaders
                -Edward M. Kennedy's possible reaction
                      -Robert Kennedy
                -Possible effects on the Administration
                      -Benefit
                      -Criticism
                -Teamsters endorsement of Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968
     -Executive clemency
          -Discrimination
          -Timing
                -1972 election
          -Parole board
                -Possible action
                      -Perception
          -Conditions
                -Fitzsimmons

Pay Board
     -Fitzsimmons
           -Possible vote
                -Effect on Teamsters and construction workers

Hoffa
     -Teamsters' impressions
          -Fitzsimmons
                 -The President's speech to Teamsters convention
     -Unionists' support
     -Executive clemency
          -Possible reaction by critics
                 -Compared to release of Black Panther
                 -Dr. Thomas W. Matthew

Matthew
     -Executive clemency
          -Leonard Garment's memorandum to the President
     -Activities
                                             8

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. 10/06)
                                                                    Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Privacy]
[Duration: 26s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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


    Hoffa
         -As symbol
         -Robert Kennedy's activities
         -Executive clemency
              -Edward Kennedy's possible reaction
              -John L. McClellan's possible reaction

    National economy
         -Pay Board
               -Wage contracts
                    -Shultz's conversation with Arnold R. Weber
                    -Retroactivity
                    -Railroad workers
                    -Freeze period
                          -Cost of Living Council [COLC] decision
                          -Meany's view
                          -Retroactivity
                                -Prices
                          -Views of Woodcock and Fitzsimmons
                    -Automobile workers
                    -Milton Friedman's views
                          -Sanctity of contracts
                    -Timing of decision
               -Meany's possible action
                    -Administration's response
               -Weber
                    -John B. Connally
               -Contingency plan
                                              9

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                               Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


                     -Price commission
                           -Reasonable standards
                     -Wage and price freeze
                           -Possible fate
                                 -Timing
                                 -Support
                                       -Labor
                                            -Canada
                     -Preparation
          -The President's program
               -Possible action
                     -Extension of freeze
                           -Involvement
                           -Standards
                                 -Legal status
                                       -Congress
               -James Tobin
                     -Article of October 31, 1971
                     -Yale University
                           -John F. Kennedy
                     -Article
                           -Content
               -Kermit Gordon's view
               -Possible reaction
                     -Presidential intervention
          -Tobin

Shultz and Haldeman left at 4:53 pm.


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 4m ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9

*****************************************************************
                                              10

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                       Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)



     National economy
          -Pay Board
                -Prospects
                      -Wage and price controls
                -Meany's possible action
                      -Meany’s support with labor
                            -Shultz
                            -Mitchell's conversation with Fitzsimmons, October 30, 1971
                -Public board
                -Administration's action
                      -Congress
                      -Labor
                            -Need for planning
                -Shultz and Weber
                -Arthur F. Burns
                -L. Patrick Gray's actions
                -Meany's possible action
                      -Administration's reaction
                            -Shultz

     Hoffa
          -Executive clemency
               -Mitchell’s view
               -The President’s further actions
          -Relationship with organized labor

     The President's schedule
          -Mitchell
          -McMahon
          -Rogers

Mitchell left and Robert L. Kunzig and Frederic L. Malek entered at 5:02 pm.

     Kunzig
         -Role in administration
              -Justice Department
              -American Bar Association [ABA]'s action
              -General Services Administration [GSA]
              -Confirmation as judge
                    -Nomination
                                               11

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                                    Conv. No. 610-1 (cont.)


                      -Retirement of predecessor
                            -Timing
                            -Deal with White House
                      -Previous confirmations
                      -Hugh Scott
                      -Possible leak

     Presentation of gifts by the President

     Kunzig
         -Performance

Kunzig and Malek left at 5:18 pm.