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Conversation: 665-008

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Start Date: 3-Feb-1972 2:25 PM

End Date: 3-Feb-1972 4:10 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Ziegler, Ronald L.Kissinger, Henry A.Yevtushenko, YevgenyZarechnak, Demitir

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 04:03:19

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 05:47:53

665a.mp3

665b.mp3

665c.mp3

665d.mp3

NARA Description:

On February 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Demitir Zarechnak met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:25 pm to 4:10 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 665-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 665-8

Date: February 3, 1972
Time: 2:25 pm - 4:10 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Ronald L. Ziegler.
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

     Vietnam
          -Edmund S. Muskie’s speech
              -William P. Rogers’s statement
                    -Michael J. Mansfield
                    -Ronald Ziegler’s conversation with Rogers
                          -Reaction
                                -State Department
                    -Roles of John A. Scali and Charles W. Colson
              -Democrats’ possible reaction
              -Possible response
                    -Mansfield
                    -Patrick J. Buchanan’s opinion
                          -Robert J. Dole, Barry M. Goldwater
                          -Ronald W. Reagan
                    -John Sherman Cooper, Charles H. Percy
                    -Edward W. Brooke
                    -Robert A. Taft, Jr.
                    -William B. Saxbe
                          -Toughness
                    -Nelson A. Rockefeller
                    -Walter R. Meares
                    -William E. Brock, III
                    -Democrats’
                          -John C. Stennis
                          -Rogers
                    -Henry M .(“Scoop”) Jackson

     Public relations
                                          41

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 10/06)
                                                           Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


     -Administration counterattacks

Rogers
    -Forthcoming television appearance, February 6, 1972
          -Xuan Thuy
          -Time allotment
          -Face the Nation
    -Statement, February 3, 1972
          -Muskie
               -Responsibility
          -Vietnam negotiations
          -Public reaction to Muskie statement
          -Henry A. Kissinger
               -Involvement
                     -Unknown executive at Sans Souci

Vietnam
     -Negotiations
          -Viet Cong proposal
                -Media focus
                -Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu
                      -Possibility of leaving office
                -Prisoners of war [POWs]
                      -Possible exchange
          -US position
                -Possible withdrawal date
          -Viet Cong proposal
                -Strategy
                      -Potential for criticism
                            -Propaganda
                -Thieu
                -Cease-fire
                -US-Vietnam strategy
                      -Possible cease-fire
                -William J. Porter’s response
                -Ziegler’s comments to press
          -US position
                -Election Commission
                      -Thieu
     -Rogers’s comments on Muskie’s speech
                                             42

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


     Elliot R. Richardson
           -Statement concerning welfare reform, February 3, 1972
                 -Compromise
                 -House Resolution [HR] 1
                 -Pilot programs
                 -Abraham A. Ribicoff

     Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
          -Press questions
                -Possible differences of opinion between Agnew and the President
                -Legal services
                -Ziegler’s comments
                     -Legislation

     White House Conference on Drug Abuse
          -Press coverage

     Television

     Leonard H. Goldenson and Elton Rule
         -Conversation with Ziegler, February 3, 1972
         -Previous meeting with Colson and Peter M. Flanigan
         -Conversation with Ziegler
               -Television news
         -Daniel L .Schorr
               -Claim
               -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]

Ziegler left at 2:45 pm.

     President’s schedule
          -Florida
          -Previous meeting with athletes
                -Press coverage
                -Bowie K. Kuhn, Alvin R. (“Pete”) Rozelle
                -President’s comments
                      -Effect
                           -Emulation of the President
                      -Athletes in commercials
                -Blacks
                      -Competition
                                            43

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. 10/06)
                                                              Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


         -Introduction of the President
               -Possible changes suggested by the President
               -Military aide
               -Signal corpsman
               -Trained announcer
                     -British system
                           -Example
                           -Professionalism
         -Army Chorus
               -Selection of songs


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 35s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


    White House social events
         -Music
             -Prayer breakfast
                   -America
             -DeWitt Wallace dinner
                   -Incident
                         -God Bless America
             -Army Chorus
                   -Road to Mandalay


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 3s ]
                                             44

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                              Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)



END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


    Music
        -Walter E. (“Walt”) Disney
        -Churches

    Prayer breakfast
         -Two black girls with guitar
               -Ethel Waters
                     -Performance

    Yevgeny Yevtushenko
        -Kissinger
        -Background
        -Babi Yar
             -Theme

    Jews

    Peter G. Peterson
          -Role with administration
               -John B. Connally


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 57s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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

    President’s previous meeting with athletes
         -Importance
                                             45

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


                 -Briefing

Kissinger entered at 3:01 pm.

     Muskie
         -Rogers’s comments February 3, 1972 concerning speech on Vietnam
              -Quotes
                    -Mansfield

     Vietnam
          -Negotiations
              -Viet Cong proposal
                     -President’s conversation with Ziegler
                     -W[illiam] Averell Harriman
                     -Withdrawal
                           -POWs
                     -Thieu
                           -Possible resignation
                     -US position
              -US position
              -Viet Cong proposal
                     -Ceasefire negotiations
              -US position
                     -Kissinger’s view
                     -Kissinger’s conversation with Mansfield, February 3, 1972
              -Viet Cong proposal
                     -Possible US response
                           -Press
                           -US proposal
                                -October 1971

     Cuba
            -Ad hoc approach

Haldeman left at 3:07 pm.

Yevtushenko and Demitri Zarechnak entered at 3:07 pm.

     Photograph opportunities

     Cuba
                                         46

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)



Seating
     -Andrei A. Gromyko
          -Other Heads of State
                -Seating

Yevtushenko
     -Visit to US
     -Poetry readings
           -Language
     -Background

Local pride
     -Yevtshenko’s hometown
           -Location
                -The President’s travels
                     -Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk
           -Comparisons to the US

President’s college experience
     -Leo Tolstoy

Russian literary tradition
     -Dr. Zhivago
            -Description

President’s 1959 visit to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
     -Nikita S. Khrushechev
     -President’s speech
           -Sincerity
           -Understanding of conditions in USSR
           -Tone
           -Effect

Yevtushenko’s poetry

Values of USSR people
     -Yevtushenko’s view

Unite of mankind
                                        47

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
     -Effect

Yevtushenko’s visit to Chile in 1968
     -Reception
          -Accusations from left and right

Yevtushenko’s visit to Library of Congress in 1966
     -Robert S. Mcnamara
          -Photograph caption

The President’s forthcoming trip to the PRC
     -Effect
          -USSR
          -Vietnam

USSR invasion of Prague
    -Historical relevance

USSR relations with US
    -Propoganda
          -Khrushchev
          -Josef V. Stalin

Anti-American propaganda
     -Worldwide Leftist movement
          -Yevtushenko’s previous visit to South America
               -Yevtushenko’s opinion
          -Socialists
          -USSR relations with US
               -Apparent closeness
          -The President’s forthcoming trip to the PRC
               -Meeting with Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai
                      -Effect

President’s meeting with Yevtushenko
                                            48

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


President’s forthcoming visit to USSR
     -Kissinger
     -Duration
     -USSR intelligentsia
     -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
           -Classical ballet
     -Itinerary

Theatre
     -Moscow
     -Receptions

Kissinger’s visit to USSR

President’s visits to Paris, London, Bonn
     -Timing

President’s forthcoming visit to USSR
     -Itinerary
     -Meetings with leaders
           -Cultural exchange
                 -Bureaucracies

Russia
     -Abolition of serfdom
          -Freedom
          -October Revolution
          -Tsar
          -Interim government
          -Maxim Gorky’s letter to Vladimir Ilich Lenin [Ulyanov]
          -Censorship
                -Civil War

Slavery in US
     -Effect

USSR
    -History
          -Ideals compared to reality
    -Political conditions
                                             49

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


     Leonid I. Brezhnev
          -Desire to visit US
                -Possible timing

     President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
          -France [?]

     Kissinger’s schedule
          -Connally

Kissinger left at 3:55 pm.

     President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
          -Itinerary
                -Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                -Recommendations
                      -President’s reputation

     President’s 1967 visit to USSR
          -Cultural exchange
                -Moscow
                -Samarkand
                -Alma-Ata

     US-USSR relations
         -Common interests

     President’s forthcoming visit to PRC
          -Possible USSR reaction
          -President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
          -Possible PRC reaction
          -The President’s pragmatism
          -Importance
                -US differences with PRC, USSR
          -Intelligentsia

     President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
          -Brezhnev
                -Khrushchev
          -Aleksei N. Kosygin
          -Agenda for talks
                                                50

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                          Tape Subject Log
                                            (rev. 10/06)
                                                                  Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)


                -Arms limitation, trade
          -Spirit of visit
                -World War II

     US-USSR relations
         -Korea

     World peace
         -“Watershed”
         -President’s forthcoming trips
               -Possible impact on viewing PRC and USSR leaders
         -Brezhnev’s possible trip

     Yevtushenko’s poetry
          -Suggestions from Yevtushenko

     Nancy Hanks
         -Role with Administration

     President’s 1967 visit to USSR
          -Samarkand
                -Conversation with one-legged man

     Presentation of gifts by President
          -Cufflinks

     World peace
         -US, USSR, PRC

     Yevtushenko’s book

Yevtushenko and Zarechnak left at 4:10 pm.
                                               51

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)