Conversation No. 658-3

Date: January 27, 1972
Time: 9:10 am - 10:05 am
Location: Oval Office

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

     Vietnam negotiations
          -Henry A. Kissinger
               -Recent press conference
               -Schedule
          -Opposition
               -Clark M. Clifford
               -Unknown person’s comment
          -Ceasefire
               -Terms
               -Reaction by the North Vietnamese
          -George S. McGovern
               -Nguyen Van Thieu overthrow
          -Kissinger’s recent briefing

     Middle East
         -Rogers view
               -Airplane delivery
                     -Haldeman’s talk with Rogers
                           -Political signals
                     -Joseph J. Sisco
                     -Schedule of delivery
                     -Israeli view
         -Kissinger’s view
               -Memorandum
               -Problems
                     -Sisco
                           -Bargaining chip
               -Bargaining chip
         -The President’s conversation with Golda Meir
         -Israeli’s conferences with Arab nations
               -Timing
               -US participation
               -Anwar El-Sadat participation
                     -Student uprisings
                                        3

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                 Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


          -US strategy
                -Use of conferences
                      -Soviet Union
     -Kissinger’s view
          -Haldeman’s briefing
          -Rogers
          -Overreaction
          -Plane deal

Media conference by Rogers
    -Kissinger
    -Television
          -John A. Scali’s skill
          -Kissinger
               -Scali
               -Clark MacGregor
               -View of questions

Dinner, January 26, 1972
     -The President’s telephone call to Kissinger during dinner
           -The President’s talk with Kissinger
           -Effect
                 -Impression
                      -Tape
                 -News coverage
     -The President’s possible presence
           -John D. Ehrlichman’s view
     -Gridiron-type dinners
           -Women’s view
     -Frank F. Church’s comments
     -Kissinger’s comments
           -Paul W. Keyes
           -Delivery
                 -Accent
     -Church comments
           -Kissinger references
                 -Forthcoming People’s Republic of China [PRC] trip
     -Kissinger’s comments
           -Protocol

Forthcoming dinners
                                               4

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                               Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


         -Gridiron
                -Attendance
                      -Herbert G. Klein
                      -Edgar Allan Poe
                      -Barry M. Goldwater
         -White House photographers
         -White House correspondents
                -Ronald L. Ziegler
         -Gridiron
                -Poe
                      -Loyalty
                -Previous dinners
                      -Democrats’ behavior
                      -Press relations
                -The President’s attendance
                      -Drop-in appearance
                           -Poe
                           -Show
     Rogers’s briefing

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:10 am.

          -Timing

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:30 am.

     Kissinger’s recent press conference
          -Advisability
          -Television appearance
                -Pros and cons
                -Necessity
                -Rogers
          -Impression of Kissinger
                -Public perception
                      -Bryce N. Harlow’s view
                      -Television
          -Press coverage
                -John B. Connally
          -Kissinger delivery
                -Pros and cons of television appearances
                      -Direct answers
                                                 5

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


                             -Compared to the President

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:10 am.

     Rogers
         -Schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:30 am.

          -Kissinger
               -Vietnam
          -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

     Oval Office
          -Position of sun

     Agnew
         -Ehrlichman’s view
         -Criticism of administration policy
               -Congressional leaders meeting
               -Input to policy making
         -Role with administration
         -Congressional relations
               -Harlow
               -Agnew’s view
               -Presiding over the Senate
                     -The President’s experience
                     -Vice President’s job
         -Outlook
         -Associates
               -Patrick J. Buchanan
               -John Birch Society members
         -Republican Governors Dinner
               -Attendance
                     -White House staff
                     -Ehrlichman
                     -George P. Shultz
                     -Cabinet
                     -Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
                     -White House staff compared to Cabinet
         -Rogers
                                                 6

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)



Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:10 am.

     Unknown request

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:30 am.

     Personnel management
          -Partisanship
                -Unknown person
                     -Transfer
                     -Donald H. Rumsfeld

     Senate action on equal opportunity bill
          -The President’s memorandum to Ehrlichman
                -House of Representatives
                -Possible veto
          -Radicals
          -Rev. Theodore S. Hesburgh Commission
                -Business harassment
                -Black reaction
                      -Votes
                      -Leonard Garment
                      -William L. Safire
                      -Ehrlichman
          -MacGregor
          -Possible veto
                -Compared to 18 year old vote amendment
                -Liberals
                -Frank L. Rizzo

     The President’s schedule
          -Graham A. Martin meeting
               -Kissinger’s view
          -Future meetings with members of Foreign Service officers, prime ministers
          -Reasons for Martin meeting
               -Vietnam
                      -Presidential elections

Kissinger entered at 9:30 am.
                                          7

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                                    Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


Dinner, January 26, 1972
     -Telephone call from the President
     -Church comments
           -PRC trip
           -Herbert J. (“Jackie”) Gleason
           -Keyes
           -Partisanship
           -Crowd reaction
           -Kissinger’s theme
                 -Call for national unity
           -Art Buchwald
                 -Today show
                 -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] news

Distribution of Questions and Answers [Q&A] sheet
      -Completion
      -Distribution
            -Rogers
            -Timing
            -MacGregor
      -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s telephone call to Theodore L. Elliott
            -Briefing
            -State Department responsibility
                  -Haldeman’s talk with Rogers

Kissinger’s recent press conference
     -Television
     -Media coverage
     -Rogers briefings
           -Compared to Kissinger’s

Vietnam
     -Ceasefire demand
          -Clifford’s proposal
          -North Vietnamese position
                -Point Seven
                -Kissinger’s briefings
                      -Timing of ceasefire
                           -Settlement
          -Accuracy of criticism
          -Administration rebuttal
                                    8

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 10/06)
                                                             Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


            -Ziegler
            -Rogers’s responsibility
                  -Telephone call from Kissinger
     -News summary
     -Part in overall plan
            -North Vietnamese position
-Edward M. Kennedy attack
     -Prisoners of War [POW] return for withdrawal
            -Rogers’s possible rebuttal
                  -Ceasefire
            -North Vietnamese position
                  -US proposal of May 31, 1971
     -Rogers’s possible rebuttal
     -Ziegler
     -US offers
            -Negotiating tactics
-New York Times editorial
-Washington Post article
     -Inaccuracy
            -Current proposal
                  -Compared to October 7, 1970
                       -Nguyen Van Thieu
                       -Ceasefire
                             -Timing
                       -Electoral commission
                       -Deadline
                       -Mutual withdrawal
                             -Compared to unilateral withdrawal
-Possible letter to Washington Post
     -Authorship
            -State compared to Kissinger
                  -Rogers
                  -Marshall Green
                  -Kissinger’s preparation
     -Content
     -Administration initiative
-Washington Post
     -Alternative to the Washington Post
     -Washington Star editorial
            -Smith Hempstone, Jr.
     -New York Times
                                         9

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


                -Editorials
           -Benjamin C. Bradlee
           -Representation on PRC trip
                -Consequences of invitation

Reporters on PRC trip
    -Ziegler effort
    -The President’s friends
           -Nicholas P. Thimmesch
           -Richard (“Dick”) Wilson
    -Exclusion of Washington Post
           -Washington Star
           -Hugh S. Sidey
           -United Press International [UPI], Associated Press [AP]
           -Instruction for Ziegler
    -Instruction for Ziegler
           -Unknown reporter
           -Marquis Childs
           -Washington Post’s policy
           -Notification of reporters
                 -The President’s approval of list
    -Criticism
           -Fairness
    -Television
    -Exclusion of Washington Post
    -PRC view

Vietnam
     -Terms of settlement
          -Rogers
          -North Vietnamese reaction
                -Request for surrender

PRC
      -Interest at dinner, January 26, 1972
            -Washington Post
            -Entertainment
            -Theme
      -Soviet Union trip compared to PRC trip
            -Substance
                                                 10

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


     Q&A prepared by Rogers
        -Staff meeting
              -News summaries
        -Vietnam ceasefire
              -Clifford
              -Negotiating point
        -Kennedy’s criticism
              -North Vietnamese position
                    -POWs for withdrawal
              -Ziegler
              -History of proposal
                    -Military and political issues
                          -Linkage
                               -New York Times
        -Kissinger’s telephone call to Rogers
              -Forthcoming briefing

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:30 am.

     List of reporters on PRC trip
           -Delivery
           -Ziegler
                 -Haldeman

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:52 am.

     Vietnam
          -Opinion of the President’s program by news community
               -January 26, 1972 dinner reception
               -The President’s efforts
               -Tone
               -The President’s efforts
                    -The President’s talk with Charles W. Colson, January 26, 1972
                           -Colson’s view
               -David Brinkley
               -James Doyle of the Washington Star
          -Unknown captain’s comments
               -Sacrifice for POWs
               -South Vietnam
                    -Communism
          -Kennedy
                                               11

                               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. 10/06)
                                                                    Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


           -Possible administration counter-attack
                -Attack on Democrats
                      -Surrender
                      -Michael J. Mansfield
                      -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
                      -Robert J. Dole
                      -Communism in South Vietnam
                -Need for initiative
                -Advantages
                      -Audience size
                      -Media support
                      -Hubert H. Humphrey criticism
                      -Edmund S. Muskie criticism
                -Ceasefire terms
                      -Negotiating point of North Vietnam
                      -Clifford criticism
                -Overall plan
                      -POWs
                -Administration strategy
                      -North Vietnam, Vietcong, Democrats
                -Nancy (Hanschman) Dickerson
                      -Talk with Kissinger at dinner
                            -Press

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 9:52 am.

           -Response to Washington Post editorial
                -Ziegler
                -Marshall Green
                     -Dictation of letter
                          -Authorship
                                -State Department

Kissinger left at 9:55 am.

     Press list for PRC trip
           -Washington Post
                  -Stanley Karnow
           -Review

Butterfield left at 9:55 am.
                                                 12

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)



     Vietnam
          -Kissinger
               -State Department reply to Washington Post editorial
          -Haldeman meetings with Colson, Ziegler, Scali
               -Analysis of and responses to coverage
                     -PRC trip
          -Foreign policy line
               -Camp David
               -Politics and peace
                     -Administration critics
                           -Partisanship
                                 -POWs
                     -Written statement
                           -Buchanan
                           -Noel C. Koch
                                 -Colson
                           -Buchanan
                           -Lee W. Huebner

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:55 am.

     The President’s schedule
          -Signing ceremony
               -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins
                      -Press
                           -Announcement
               -Maurice H. Stans

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:05 am.

          -Haldeman’s attention to scheduling
               -Bull
               -Ziegler

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:52 am.

          -Signing ceremony
               -Details of photograph session
                     -Time limit
                     -Removal of photographers
                                                 13

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. 10/06)
                                                                 Conv. No. 658-3 (cont.)


                               -January 26, 1972 event

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:05 am.

Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 9:52 am.

           -Peter G. Peterson replacement
                 -Knowledge by Cabinet
                       -Notification
                 -Announcement
                 -Peter M. Flanigan

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 10:05 am.

     Vietnam
          -Counter to Democratic criticism
              -PRC trip
              -Surrender, communism, defeat
              -Sustaining attack
              -Washington Post
              -Administration supporters
                     -Mailings
                          -Kissinger
              -Public confusion

     Press list for PRC trip

The President and Haldeman left at 10:05 am.