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Conversation: 615-004

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Start Date: 5-Nov-1971 7:50 AM

End Date: 5-Nov-1971 9:10 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:15:38

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:33:49

615a.mp3

615b.mp3

615c.mp3

NARA Description:

On November 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:50 am to 9:10 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 615-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 615-4

Date: November 5, 1971
Time: 7:50 am - 9:10 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Charles W. Colson
          -Schedule

     The President's schedule
          -Meeting with Colson and Henry A. Kissinger
          -Forthcoming trip to Florida
               -Departure time

     White House statements
          -Instruction for Ronald L. Ziegler
                -Foreign aid
                      -Senate action
                            -The President’s policy
                            -National security
                                       3

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. 10/06)
                                                         Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon's schedule
     -Trip to Ghana
           -William P. Rogers
                 -Press
           -Announcement
                 -Timing
           -Ghana Ambassador
           -Kissinger

The President's schedule
     -Trip to Latin America
           -Rogers
                 -Brazil
                      -Brasilia
                 -Argentina
                 -Panama
                      -Darien Gay Highway dedication
                            -Nixon Highway
           -Haldeman's staff
     -Willy Brandt
           -Forthcoming visit
                 -Announcement
           -Announcement
                 -Location
                      -Florida
                      -Chicago
                      -Cincinnati
                      -Hotels
                      -Motorcade
                      -Miami
                      -Hotels
                            -Chicago
                                 -Cincinnati
                                 -Possible reception
                                      -State Street
     -Luis Echeverria Alvarez
           -Forthcoming trip
                 -Houston, Miami
                      -Motorcade
                      -Mexican-Americans
                      -San Antonio
                                            4

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                                     Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                              -Alamo
                   -Timing
                        -The President's trips to People's Republic of China [PRC] and
                              Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
                        -1972 election
                        -Announcement
                        -John B. Connally


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 21s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


    Mrs. Nixon's schedule
         -White House teas
              -Event, November 5, 1971
         -Constance M. (“Commie”) Stuart


*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 12s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                                     Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


     -Ghana trip
         -Peru
         -Staff
         -Agenda
                -Lucy A. Winchester
         -Purpose
                -Peru trip

Rogers's conversation with Mrs. Nixon and Kissinger
    -The President's arrival statement and toast for Indira Gandhi

The President's arrival statement for Gandhi
     -Ziegler
     -Television coverage
     -Toast
     -John A. Scali
     -Richard A. Moore
     -Kissinger
     -The President's dinner for Gandhi, November 4, 1971
          -Kenneth B. Keating
     -Ziegler

Forthcoming trip to Ghana
     -Announcement
          -Timing

Foreign aid program
     -Michael J. Mansfield amendment
           -Provisions
                -Vietnam
                      -Troop withdrawal deadline
                -Economic and military aid
           -Vote
                -Timing
           -Roman C. Pucinski amendment

Pay Board
                                             6

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 47s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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


    Henry J. Taylor
        -Rogers
               -Alleged comments
                    -Concern about Andrei A. Gromyko
                    -USSR
                    -Veracity

    Taylor
         -Attendance at White House dinner

    Polls
            -A. C. Nielsen, Jr.
                 -Market research


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 14s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

*****************************************************************
                                                 7

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                              Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


    Philip Roth
          -Press coverage
               -Newsweek
               -Saturday Review
               -New Republic

    Unknown story
        -Cambodians

    Robert D. Novak
        -Animosity towards Haldeman

    The President's Supreme Court nominees
         -Confirmation hearings
              -William H. Rehnquist
              -Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
              -Rehnquist


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 4m 22s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10

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


    The President's schedule
         -Possible dinners for foreign leaders
              -Announcements
              -US Marine Corps Band
              -Locations
              -Receptions
              -Attendees
                     -Administration
                     -Congressmen
                     -State Department
                                          8

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 10/06)
                                                           Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                  -White House staff
             -Locations
                  -California
                  -Comparison with astronauts dinner
                        -Marine band
                              -Gridiron dinner
             -Entertainment
                  -Park dinner
                        -San Francisco
             -Hand-shaking
                  -Astronaut dinner


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 4s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12

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


             -Service
                  -Food
                        -White House menu cards
             -Entertainment
                  -Types
                        -Chorus

    Ballet
                                          9

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 10/06)
                                                            Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 34s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13

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


    White House dinners
         -Entertainment
              -Leonard Garment's role
                    -Philip Glass
              -Josip Broz Tito
                    -Pete Fountain
                          -Mrs. Nixon
                               -Reaction
              -Mrs. Nixon
                    -Penelope M. (“Penny”) Adams
         -Mrs. Nixon
              -Winchester
                    -Barbara Hickey
         -Winchester's role
              -Alexander P. Butterfield
         -Entertainment
              -Edward K. (“Duke”) Ellington
              -Pearl M. Bailey
                    -Brandt
                                             10

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                            Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 24s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15

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


             -The President's involvement
                  -Programs
             -Possible location
                  -Chicago
                         -Military program
                         -Brandt
                               -Germans

    Unknown man
        -Music


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
[National Security]
[Duration: 11s ]


    INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16

*****************************************************************
                                               11

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


     Ceremony
         -Weather

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 7:50 am.

     Request that Colson and Kissinger join them

Bull left at an unknown time before 8:32 am.

     Dinner for the President in India
          -Trumpets

     The President's previous visit to Spain
          -Motorcade
               -Horses
          -Palace


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 17
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 56s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 17

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


     County Executive
         -Role of County Executive
              -Board of Supervisors
         -[Edward V. Regan?]

     Visits of foreign guests
           -John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and the President
                 -Handling

Kissinger and Colson entered at 8:32 am.
                                          12

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 18
[National Security]
[Duration: 16s ]


    INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 18

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


    White House dinner
         -Entertainment
              -Ballet dancers

    White House staff

    Homosexuals
        -Votes
        -Numbers

    The President's meeting with Republican congressmen, November 4, 1971
         -John H. Kyl
              -Possible future position with administration
                     -Secretary of Agriculture
              -Price of corn
                     -Possible congressional action
                     -Previous grain sales to USSR
                          -Kennedy, Johnson
                          -Labor unions

    US-Soviet relations
        -Pending grain deal with USSR
              -Colson
                     -Unions
                          -Maritime
                                         13

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                       -Longshoremen
           -Forthcoming announcement
                 -Department of Agriculture
                 -Department of Commerce
                 -White House
           -Recent relations with the USSR
                 -Kissinger’s call to Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, November 4, 1971
           -Forthcoming announcement
                 -Cornbelt
                 -Senate
                 -Secretary of Agriculture
                 -J. Philip Campbell
                 -Clarence D. Palmby
                 -Possible Soviet reaction
           -Unions' cooperation
                 -John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
                 -Ziegler
           -Maurice H. Stans
           -Campbell
           -Department of Agriculture
                 -Public affairs
                       -Size of deal
           -The President's role
                 -Labor unions
                 -Ziegler
                 -Maritime Administrator
                 -Kissinger's conversation with Dobrynin
                 -Jesse M. Calhoon and Paul Hall
           -Carl T. Curtis, Jack R. Miller and Robert J. Dole
           -Kyl
           -John C. Whitaker
           -Soviet interest
           -Kissinger's conversation with Dobrynin
                 -Unions

The Administration
     -Tendency to tell the truth

National economy
     -Pay Board
           -Labor's proposal
                                             14

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                                       Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                      -George P. Shultz's view
                -Action in House of Representatives
           -Possible continuation of freeze
                -Teachers
                -Retroactivity
                      -Steel
                -George Meany
                -Colson's conversation with Shultz, November 4, 1971
           -Pay Board
                -Labor's proposal
                      -Cost of living
                      -Productivity
           -Stock market
                -The President's conversations
                      -Gustave L. Levy
                      -Head of New York Stock Exchange

Colson left at 8:46 am.

     The President’s dinner for Gandhi, November 4, 1971


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 22
[National Security]
[Duration: 3s ]


     INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 22

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


           -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
           -The President's toast
           -Gandhi's toast
                 -Mrs. Nixon
                                              15

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                 Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                -Pakistan
                -Previous election in India

The President left at an unknown time before 8:50 am.

                -Pakistan

     The President's handling of meetings with Gandhi

     Toasts at State Dinners
          -Chief of protocol


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 27
[National Security]
[Duration: 4s ]


     INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 27

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


     Length
          -Josip Broz Tito
          -Mexican President [Luis Echeverria Alvarez]

     The President's schedule
          -Brandt
          -Georges J.R. Pompidou
          -Brandt
               -Chicago

The President entered at an unknown time after 8:46 am.

     The President's forthcoming meeting with Gandhi
                                            16

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


          -Unilateral withdrawal

The President talked with Colson between 8:50 am and 8:52 am.

[Conversation No. 615-4A]

[See Conversation No. 13-147]

[End of telephone conversation]

     The President's dinner for Gandhi
          -The President's conversation with Manolo Sanchez
               -Women
                      -Politics

     India-Pakistan relations

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 24
[National Security]
[Duration: 15s ]


     INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 24

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


     The President's forthcoming conversation with Gandhi
          -North Vietnam


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 28
[National Security]
[Duration: 3s ]
                                             17

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)




     INDIA-PAKISTAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 28

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


     Gandhi's visit to US
         -The President's handling
                -Gandhi's expectations


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 29
[National Security]
[Duration: 6m ]


     INDIA-PAKISTAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 29

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


     Instructions for Kissinger
           -Forthcoming meeting with the press
                -Democrats
                -The President’s toast

Kissinger left at 9:00 am.

     Kissinger
          -Contacts with press
               -Rowland Evans
               -The President's conversation with Ziegler
                                                 18

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                               Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                     -Evans and Novak

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:00 am.

     The President's schedule
          -Shultz

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:10 am.

     Rogers’s schedule
         -Cabinet meeting
         -Meeting with Gandhi
                -John N. Irwin, II

     Evans’s and Novak's book, Nixon in the White House
         -The President's foreign policy

     Philip Roth's book, Our Gang
           -Possible White House reaction
                 -Column
                      -Moore
           -William L. Safire's conversation with Haldeman
                 -John A. Scali's reaction
                      -Assassination
           -Possible White House reaction
                 -Kennedy assassination
                      -Date
                 -Edward M. Kennedy
                      -Speech
                 -Kennedy assassination

     The President's schedule
          -Brandt visit
               -Timing
                      -Kissinger
               -Motorcades
                      -Chicago
                           -Weather
                                 -PRC trip

     Polls
                                          19

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


         -Press
              -James B. Reston
              -Attacks
                   -Background
              -The President's foreign policy
                   -United Nations [UN] vote on Taiwan, Republic of China

    The President's schedule
         -Florida trip
               -Space
                     -Hotel
                     -Plane
               -Whitaker and Garment

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 25
[Privacy]
[Duration: 29s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 25

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

               -Arrangements
         -Delaware
               -Beaver Island
                     -Lodge
         -Florida trip
               -Timing
                     -Rogers
         -Rogers
               -Gandhi

    Latin America
          -Trip
                -Rogers
                -Argentina
                -Brazil
                -Panama
                                            20

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 615-4 (cont.)


                     -Highway

     Use of the President's name
          -Compared to Johnson's
                -Johnson Forest
          -Image
                -Panama highway

Haldeman left at 9:10 am.