Conversation: 654-001
Prev: 653-015 Next: 654-002Start Date: 24-Jan-1972 4:55 PM
End Date: 24-Jan-1972 6:09 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White, William S.; [Unknown person(s)]; Flanigan, Peter M.; White House operator;Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:00:32
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:09:29
NARA Description:
On January 24, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, William S. White, unknown person(s), Peter M. Flanigan, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 6:09 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 654-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 654-1
Date: January 24, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:55 pm and 6:09 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]
Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Secret talks
-Questions from press
-Public talks
John N. Mitchell
-Recent conversation with the President, January 24, 1972
-Mitchell’s previous conversations with Lee R. Nunn and Richard B. Ogilvie
[The President talked with William S. White between 4:59 pm and 5:02 pm.]
[Conversation No. 654-1A]
[See Conversation No. 19-54]
[End of telephone conversation]
Wilbur D. Mills
-The President’s recent conversation, January 24, 1972
-Mills’s health
-Dr. W. Kenneth Riland
-Return to Congress
-Timing
-Riland
-The President’s conversation with Abbie L. (Daigh) Mills and Wilbur Mills’s
granddaughter
-Ages
-Value
2
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
The President’s schedule, January 24, 1972
-Conversation with Frank T. Bow
-Meeting with Frank L. Rizzo
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[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 25s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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-Rizzo’s view of Democrats
-Rizzo’s view of blacks
-Rizzo’s opinion of Administration’s view
-Federal money
-John D. Ehrlichman
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[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 5s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
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The President’s schedule
-Haldeman’s suggestions for possible meetings
-Peter M. Flanigan
-January 26, 1972
-Trip to People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Changes to departure date
3
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Guam
-Hawaii
-Accommodations
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-[Forename unknown] Roth house
-Location
-Press
-Marine base on Oahu
-Commander’s [Brig. Gen. Victor Armstrong’s] house
-Location
-[Edwin W. Pauley’s?] house
-Coconut Island
-Landing
-Honolulu
-Commander’s house
-View
-Beach
-Security and communications considerations
-Signing of economic report
-PRC trip
-Background reading for the President
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Cabinet meeting
-Leaders meeting, January 26, 1972
-Cabinet and Congressional leaders breakfast meeting, February 8, 1972
-State of the World message
-Avoiding news
-Lincoln Day
-Press conference, February 10, 1972
-Trip to PRC
-Departure, February 17, 1972
-Bipartisan meeting
-Cabinet, leaders and governors
-Volunteers and Congress on American Business
-Construction industry committee, January 28, 1972
-Meeting place
-Labor Department
-Cabinet Room
-The President’s possible attendance
-Possible value
-Charles W. Colson’s work
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Size
-S. Zalman Shazar
-Presentation to the President
An unknown woman entered at an unknown time after 5:02 pm
-Flanigan
The unknown woman left at an unknown time before 5:18 pm.
-Shazar
-Presentation to the President
-Encyclopedia Judaica
-Yitzhak Rabin
-Israeli and American publishers
-Pope Paul VI
-[Elizabeth, Queen of England] Elizabeth II
-Kissinger
-Rabin
-Press coverage
-Value
-Extent of White House invitations to Jewish groups
-Jewish War veterans
Flanigan entered at 5:18 pm.
Flanigan’s schedule
-Meeting with Terence Cardinal Cooke
Campaign and aid to parochial schools
-Catholics
-John B. Connally’s views
-Administration effort to get votes
-Voting preferences
-Religion
-Edmund S. Muskie
-The President’s conversation with Connally
-1968 election
-Richard J. Cardinal Cushing
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Cooke’s talk with Flanigan
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Muskie
-Bishops’ resolution
-Cooke’s work
-Protestants
Flanigan
-New position with administration
-Connally
-Difficulty
-Sensitivity
-Peter G. Peterson
-William P. Rogers
-Connally
-Kissinger
-Need to work as insider
-Constituency
-Connally
-Confidence
-Responsibilities in international economic matters
-Staff
-Relations with Cabinet department and White House
International economic matters
-Organization and responsibilities
-Kissinger and National Security Council [NSC]
-Peterson’s previous record
-Kissinger and NSC
-Duties
-Relations with State Department and Connally
-Flanigan
-Expropriation, trade
-Broker role
-Kissinger
-Connally
-Connally
-Administration policy
-The President’s schedule and knowledge
-Connally’s concerns
-Trade
-Expropriation
-Foreign loans
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Export-Import [Ex-Im] Bank
-East-West trade
-Soviet Summit
-Peterson
-Politics
-Kissinger
-Conflicts
-US policy toward underdeveloped nations
-Connally
-Staff
-Socialist countries
-Japanese and European examples
-Flanigan’s new position
-Difficulty
-Compared with Richard V. Allen in job
-Connally’s confidence
-Kissinger’s confidence
-Visibility of job
-Future role outside White House
-State and Treasury Departments
-Coordination with Kissinger, [Peterson], Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Value
-Coordination with other duties
-Frederic V. Malek
-Work with US Ambassadors
-The President’s recent appointments
-Somalia
-Maurice H. Stans
-Unknown country
-Unknown person
-Disposition of former duties
-Flanigan’s view
-Flanigan’s previous talk with Haldeman
-Peterson’s previous position
-Commerce Department
-Confirmation
-Ehrlichman’s view
-Work with Connally
-Connally’s confidence
-Connally’s views on US policy
-The President
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-State Department
-Peterson
-Connally’s efficacy
-Treasury Department staff
-Connally’s efficacy
-Visits of businessmen to White House
-Peterson’s views
-Time required
-Donald McI. Kendall and Thomas Watson
-Time required
-Ehrlichman
-George P. Shultz
-Herbert Stein
-1972 election
-Contact at White House
-Ehrlichman
-Domestic policy
-Staff meeting
-Ehrlichman, Shultz and Stein
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Robert H. Finch
-Soviet Union [?]
-Rumsfeld
-Domestic Council, Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
-Colson
-Trade associations
-Division of labor
-Staff
-Peterson
-Recruiting at White House
-Financing of operation
-Departments
-Congress
-Foreign Relations Committee
-White House
-Allen
-Tenure
-Possible role
-Flanigan’s view
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 14s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
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Allen
-Possible ambassadorship
-Marital status
-Children
-Background
-Portugal
Ambassadors
-Ridgeway B. Knight
-Career
Allen
-Value
-Forthcoming campaign
-Ambassadorial position
-Contact with businessmen
-Present role
-Peterson
-Request to see Haldeman
-Haldeman’s staff
-Present role
-Allen
-Peterson
-Knowledge
-Congress
Businessmen
-Contact with White House
-Points of view
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-View of Administration, Congress, regulatory agencies
-Making distinctions
-Allen
-Tenure
Knight
-Tenure in Portugal
Allen
-Possible Ambassadorship position
-Portugal
-Talks with Flanigan
-Forthcoming campaign work
Portugal
-Appeal of ambassadorship
-Government
-Conservatism
-Beauty of country
-Mozambique and Angola
Wiley T. Buchanan, Jr.
Jerome H. Holland
-Sweden
-Dr. Ralph J. Bunche’s former position at United Nations [UN]
-Availability
-Football career
-Cornell University
-Rogers’s view
-Meetings with the President
-Sweden
Edward M. Korry
-Rogers’s view
-Overseas Private Investment Corporation [OPIC]
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
[National Security]
[Duration: 14s ]
INTELLIGENCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
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-Views of Irving Kristol and William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Conservatives
-OPIC
-Possible Ambassadorial post
-Ceylon [Sri Lanka]
-Rogers’s view
-Flanigan’s, Kissinger’s and Haldeman’s possible influence
-Appointment by John F. Kennedy
-Economic matters
-State Department
-Memoranda to the President
-Ethiopia
-State Department’s Africa department
-Writing
-Chile
-US policy
-Kissinger’s view
-1972 election
-OPIC
-Bradford Mills
-Duration of Korry’s job
-Connally
-Possible study
-Raw materials
-Compared to other ambassadors
-Mills
-Possible role with Flanigan
-Forthcoming meeting
-Relationship with the President
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
Ambassadorial positions
-West Germany
-William P. Clements, Jr.
-Charles D. (“Tex”) Thornton
-Unknown charge d’affairs
-Kissinger’s view
-Richard M. Paget
-Walter N. Thayer
-Frederick R. Kappel
-Age
Willy Brandt
-Political orientation
-[David] Kenneth Rush’s view
-Relations with businessmen
-George C. McGhee
Ambassadorial positions
-Paget
-Consulting firm
-Purchase by First National City Bank
-Roy L. Ash Council
-Possible call from Connally
-Relations with Connally
-Ash Council
-Connally’s view
-Patrick E. Haggerty
[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:18 pm and
5:47 pm.]
[Conversation No. 654-1B]
[See Conversation No. 19-55]
[End of telephone conversation]
Ambassadorial positions
-Haggerty
-Connally’s views
12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Talk with Flanigan
-Age
-Compared with Paget
-Scholarly inclination
-Paget
-Wilson Allen Wallis
-As scholar
-College presidents supporting the President
-William J. McGill
-Flanigan’s view
-Columbia University
-Chancellor, University of California at San Diego
-Performance at Columbia
-West Germany
-Importance
-Rush
-Bonn
-Rush’s view
-State Department
[The White House operator talked with the President at 5:47 pm.]
[Conversation No. 654-1C]
[See Conversation No. 19-56]
[End of telephone conversation]
Ambassadorial positions
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Qualifications
-Reader’s Digest
-Profitability
-Mail rates
-Usefulness to the President
-Committee for a New Prosperity
-Relations with publishing industry
-Lewis’s support for the President
-New York
-California residents
-Henry Salvatori
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Desired post
-Italy
-Possible post
-West Germany
-Ostopolitik
-Salvatori’s conservatism
-Brandt
-View of businessmen
-Franklin D. Murphy
-Qualifications
-Publishing business
-President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board [PFIAB]
-Relations with Kissinger
-Medical profession
-Possible view of Brandt
-Nobel Prize
-Connally’s views
-Wallis
-Selection process
-The President’s forthcoming talk with Connally
-Paget
-Haggerty
-Paget
-Business connections
-Qualifications
-Personality
-Company
-Cresap, McCormick and Paget
-First National City Bank
-McKenzie and Company
-Booz, Allen & Hamilton
Stein
-Compared to Paul W. McCracken
-Wife, Mildred Stein
-Recent conversations with Haldeman
-Press
-Conversations with [Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Call to television station
-Intelligence
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
Marina von N. Whitman
-Children
-School
-Stein’s view
-Age
-University of Pittsburgh
-Council of Economic Advisors CEA] staff
-Price Commission
-Husband, Robert F. Whitman
-Position
-Foundation for the Humanities
-Children
-Stein
-Talk with Flanigan
-Haldeman
-Sidwell Friends School
-Sidwell Friends School
-Rogers
-Haldeman’s son’s experience
-Father, John von Neumann
-Intelligence
-Death
-Mathematician
-Comparison with Albert Einstein
-The President’s view
-Children
-Intelligence
-Sidwell Friends School
-Haldeman’s son’s experience
-Liberal intellectualism
-Scholarships
-Von Neumann
-Rogers’s influence
-Stein
-Adele (Langston) Rogers
-Rogers C. B. Morton
-Adele Rogers
-Forthcoming call from Flanigan
-Instructions from the President
-Marina Whitman
-Foreign economics
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Possible foundation grant for research
-The President’s interest
-Haldeman’s experience
-William Rogers’s call
-Age
-Von Neumann
-Death
-Age
-Relationship with daughter
-Cancer Research
-Robert Whitman
-Book on Christopher Marlowe
-Grant
-Foundation for the Humanities
National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities
-Nancy Hanks
-National Endowment for the Arts
-Ronald S. Berman
-National Endowment for the Humanities
-Conservatism
-Academic qualifications
Women in administration
-CEA
-Supreme Court
-CEA
-Breakthrough
-Marina Whitman
Marina Whitman
-Appearance
-Qualifications
-William Rogers
-Adele Rogers
-Flanigan’s forthcoming call
-Children
-Adele or William Rogers’s call to Sidwell Friends School
-The President’s role in suggesting Marina Whitman
-Importance of appointment
-Von Neumann
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
Paget
-Possible ambassadorial post
-West Germany
The President’s schedule
-Shipbuilder conference announcement
-Timing
Flanigan
-New post
Robert S. Ingersoll
-Ambassador to Japan
-The President’s comments
-Ingersoll’s and Shultz’s reaction
-Shultz
-Background
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 21s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
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Skiing
Flanigan left at 6:05 pm.
Flanigan
-Willingness to take new post
-Compared to White House staff
-New post
-Benefits
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 654-1 (cont.)
-Contact with businessmen
-Future role
-Undersecretary positions
-Cabinet
The President’s schedule
-Vietnam peace plan speech, January 25, 1972
-Length
-The President’s preparation
-Bipartisan leaders
-Kissinger briefing
-The President’s departure
-The President’s TV appearance
-News
-Announcements
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Kissinger’s Vietnam negotiations in Paris
-Publicity
-Announcement and briefing
-Foreign policy statement
Haldeman left at 6:09 pm.