Conversation: 683-004
Prev: 683-003 Next: 683-005Start Date: Monday, March 13, 1972 3:15 PM
End Date: Monday, March 13, 1972 5:01 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Butterfield, Alexander P.; Bull, Stephen B.; Ziegler, Ronald L.; White House operator; Noyes, Croby S.; Stuart, Constance M.; Kissinger, Henry A.Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:53:47
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 02:38:41
NARA Description:
On March 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House operator, Croby S. Noyes, Constance M. Stuart, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:15 am to 12:01 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 683-004 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 683-4
Date: March 13, 1972
Time: 10:15 am - 12:01 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Alexander P. Butterfield.
Swearing-in ceremony
-Marina von N. Whitman
-Religion
-Bible
-Father’s name
Butterfield left at an unknown time before 10:22 am.
Whitman
Busing
-Draft
-Timing
William P. Rogers
-Henry A. Kissinger
-William S. White column
-The President’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Clark MacGregor
-Kissinger’s meeting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee
-MacGregor’s dinner with Rogers
-State Department
-Clement J. Zablocki
-William S. Mailliard
-Wayne L. Hays
-Comments
-Rogers’s forthcoming testimony before the committee
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Rogers’s call to Haldeman
-Peter M. Flanigan
-House of Representatives
-Senate
-Kissinger
-MacGregor
-Stewart J.O. Alsop
-Newsweek article
-Rogers’s possible resignation
-Mao Tse-tung meeting with the President
-Chou En-lai meeting with Rogers
-Kissinger
-Secretary of State
-Kissinger
-Previous conversation with Alsop
-Meeting with Rowland Evans
-Joseph C. Kraft
-Walter W. Rostow
-The President’s view
-Evans’s talk with Kissinger
-Richard G. Kleindienst’s confirmation as Attorney General
-Possible Democratic attacks on Kissinger
-Secret diplomacy
-Kissinger’s talks with members of the Senate
-Possible resignation
-Timing
Butterfield entered at 10:22 am.
Whitman
-Bible to use in swearing-in ceremony
-Background
-Caspar W. Weinberger
-Ezra Solomon
-Arnold R. Weber
-Weinberger
-Herbert Stein
-Jewish identity
-Solomon
-Stein
Butterfield left at an unknown time before 11:10 am.
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
Kissinger
-Possible resignation
-Effect
-Evans
-Rogers’s call to Haldeman
-MacGregor
-Soviet trip
-The President’s view
-Secretary of State
-Management skills
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Rogers
-Robert J. McCloskey’s call to Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Protocol
Rogers
-The President’s view
-White story
-Soviet trip
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Possible trip to the US
-Aleksei N. Kosygin
-United Nations [UN] visit
-Possible meeting with the President in Glassboro, New Jersey
-Brezhnev
John N. Mitchell
-Schedule
-Possible trip to Florida
-Daughter
The President’s schedule
-Florida
-Easter
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
[Duration: 8s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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-Camp David
-Timing
-The President’s forthcoming press conference
-John B. Connally
-Trip to Texas
-Timing
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 6s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
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-Texas
-Timing
-White House correspondents dinner
-[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
-Soviet trip
-White House photographers dinner
-American Society of Newspaper Editors [ASNE] dinner
-Camp David
-Gridiron dinner
-Connally
-Unknown person
-Walter H. Annenberg
-Palm Springs
-Weather
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Florida
-Connally
-Mitchell’s schedule
-School
-Timing
-Camp David
-Easter
-Gridiron dinner
-Press conference
-California
Rogers
-Kissinger
Meetings with senators and congressmen
-Zablocki
-Hays
-MacGregor
-Dinner
-Blair House
-Armed services representation
-Thomas E. (“Doc”) Morgan
-J. William Fulbright
-John Sherman Cooper
-Testimony
-Kissinger
-The President’s press conference
-Nguyen Van Thieu’s possible resignation
-Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with Fulbright’s committee [Senate Foreign
Relations Committee]
-Blair House
-Testimony
-Kissinger’s meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-Timing
-Kissinger’s “secret activity”
-Kissinger’s possible resignation
-The President’s view
-Alsop article
-White
-News summary
-The President’s previous conversation with Ronald L. Ziegler
-Martin Z. Agronsky’s show
-Joseph C. Kraft column
12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-George Putnam’s show
-Compared to Agronsky’s show
State Department
-Leaks
-Kissinger’s report
-Cambodia
-State Department cables
-Lon Nol
-[Emory C. Swank]
Press
-News summaries
-Effect on the President’s approval rating
-Television
-Columns
-Ziegler
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
-The People’s Republic of China [PRC] trip
-Clayton Fritchey
-News stories
-New Hampshire primary
-Bombing of an airplane
-Announcement of US-PRC communication channel
-ITT
-Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr. and Harrold G. Carswell
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Kissinger
-Alsop column
-The President’s view
-Rogers
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Stewart Alsop
-Kissinger
-State Department
The President’s schedule
-Gridiron dinner
-Herbert G. Klein
-Ziegler
-Seating list
-Women
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Liberation movement
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Constance M. Stuart
-Nancy Hanks
-Helen Bentley
-Unknown woman
-Mrs. Nixon
-Elinor I. (Judefind) Agnew
-Bentley
-PRC trip
The President left at an unknown time after 10:22 am.
[No conversation]
The President entered at an unknown time before 11:10 am.
The President’s schedule
-Gridiron dinner
-Administration staff
-Virginia H. Knauer
-Gridiron Club
-Mixed reactions
-Examples of Hillcrest
-The President’s attendance
-Public reaction
Press relations
-Left and right wingers divided
-Evans
-Kissinger
-Foreign policy
-Kissinger
-Kraft
-Ziegler
-The President’s trip to the PRC
-Hugh S. Sidey
-The President’s visit to the Great Wall of China
-Kraft
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Dallas News
-Peter Lisagor
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
Rogers
-Kissinger
-Foreign affairs meeting
-Postponement
-Morgan
-Schedule
-Senate and House
-Congress
-Anti-ballistic missiles [ABM]
-Cambodia
-Michael J. Mansfield’s resolutions
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-[Vietnam]
-Kissinger
-The President
-Soviet trip
-Rogers’s meeting with Haldeman
-House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee
-Morgan
-Kissinger
-MacGregor
-Leaders
-Armed Services Committee
-Leaders of the Senate
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Gerald R. Ford
-Speaker of the House [Carl B. Albert]
-Rogers
-Kissinger
-Kissinger’s backgrounder
-Rogers’s reading of transcript
-Briefing papers
-Foreign policy
-The President’s speech on Soviet television
-Kissinger’s background
-Shanghai Communiqué
-Chinese audience
-The President’s appearance on Soviet television
-Soviet audience
-The President’s memorandum
-Haldeman
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Kissinger’s backgrounders
-Qualities of the President
-Rogers
-MacGregor’s view
-Soviet Trip
-Sightseeing by the President
-Tbilisi
-Mrs. Nixon
-Rogers
-Kraft
Press
-Kissinger’s view
-Kraft
-Evans and Robert D. Novak
-Ziegler
-Report on a Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] special
-Dan Rather
-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Ziegler
-Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.
-Shanghai Communiqué
-John F. Kennedy’s administration
-Rhetoric
-Relationship with the present administration
-New York Times
-PRC trip
-Significance
PRC
-Mrs. Nixon’s talk with Chou En-lai
-Pandas
-Washington National Zoo
-Environment
-Previous animals given as state gifts
-Musk oxen
-Director [Theodore H. Reed]
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:22 am.
The President’s schedule
-Ziegler
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Meeting with the President
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:10 am.
Pandas
-Washington National Zoo
-Smithsonian Institution
-National Park Service
-San Diego
-St. Louis
-Bronx
Ziegler entered at 11:10 am.
Current press briefing
-Gerald L. Warren
-News story
-Washington National Zoo announcement
-Pandas
-Mrs. Nixon
-Selection process
-Other zoos
-Gift to the nation
-Environment of Washington, DC
-Timing of announcement
-Washington Star editorial
-Musk oxen
-Reed
Ziegler left at 11:12 am.
-Morning press briefing
-Haldeman’s view
-Panda story
-Washington Star
-Washington Post
-Crosby S. Noyes
-Newbold Noyes
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:12 am and
11:16 am.
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
[Conversation No. 683-4A]
[See Conversation No. 21-49]
[End of telephone conversation]
The Washington Star
-Crosby Noyes
-Columnist
-Newbold Noyes
-Editor
-Crosby Noyes and Smith Hempstone, Jr.
-Compared to Los Angeles Time
Kissinger
-Schedule
-Forthcoming trip to Acapulco
-New York
Ziegler entered at an unknown time after 11:12 am
Pandas
-Washington National Zoo
Ziegler left at an unknown time before 11:16 am.
Pandas
-Chinese host explanation
-Mating habits
-Food
-Bamboo and sugar cane
Rogers
-Kissinger
The President talked with Crosby Noyes between 11:16 am and 11:21 am.
[Conversation No. 683-4B]
[See Conversation No. 21-50]
[End of telephone conversation]
18
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
Vietnam
-Troop withdrawal
Pandas
-Crosby Noyes
-Washington Star
-Mating habits
-Chicago
-Quantity outside China
-London
-Life span
-Compared to bears, dogs, cats and horses
-Mrs. Nixon’s role
-Haldeman’s forthcoming call to Stuart
Haldeman talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:21 am and
11:25 am.
[Conversation No. 683-4C]
[See Conversation No. 21-51]
[End of telephone conversation]
Pandas
-Mrs. Nixon’s role
Rogers and Kissinger
-MacGregor
Bull [?] entered and left at an unknown time before 11:21 am.
Request for MacGregor to some to the Oval Office
-Dinner
-Leaders
Haldeman talked with Stuart between 11:21 am and 11:25 am.
[Conversation No. 683-4D]
[See Conversation No. 21-52]
19
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
Bull [?] entered at and left at an unknown time before 11:25 am.
MacGregor’s schedule
[End of telephone conversation]
MacGregor’s schedule
Kissinger and Rogers
-MacGregor
-Dinner
Kissinger entered at 11:25 am.
PRC
-Arthur K. Watson
-Meeting with the Chinese
-Press
-Two forthcoming ambassadorial meetings
-British recognition
-Peter G. Peterson and Flanigan
-Meeting with Kissinger
Cambodia
-Lon Nol
-Llewellyn E. (“Tommy”) Thompson, Jr.
-News summary
-US embassy cables
-Leaks
-State Department
-Emory C. Swank
-Jack N. Anderson
-Norodom Sihanouk [?]
-Thompson
-State Department
-Separate negotiations
-Sihanoukville
-Lon Nol
-Marshall Green
-Lon Nol
-Leaks
20
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Evans
PRC
-Taiwan, Republic of China
-Washington Daily News
-Taiwanese independence movement
-Chiang Kai-Shek
-Chinese
-Japanese
-Kissinger’s view
-New York Times editorial
-State Department papers
-Rogers
-Shanghai Communiqué
-US Support
Soviet trip
-Flanigan and Peterson
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Haldeman
-Trade
-Commerce Department
-Rogers
-Connally
-Flanigan
Kissinger’s schedule
-Acapulco
Busing
-Statement
-Leonard Garment
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Domestic policy statements compared to foreign policy statements
-Chicago
-Blacks
-David Rockefeller
-Call to Kissinger
Press
-PRC trip coverage
-Kissinger’s schedule
21
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-New York
-News summary
-ITT
-Announcements
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Soviet summit
-PRC summit
-Berlin
-Biological weapons
-The PRC trip
-Television
-Rockefeller
-Kissinger’s dinner at Cote Basque Restaurant
-Unknown woman
-Head of programming, American Broadcasting Company
[ABC]
-Comments
-Wife
-People in restaurant
-Rockefeller
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Vice President of National Broadcasting Company [NBC],
[Herbert S. Schlosser]
-News summary
-Columns
-Agronsky’s show
-The PRC trip
-Sidey
-The President
-Notes
-Chou En-lai
-Kissinger
-Stewart Alsop column
-Rogers
-Kissinger’s previous telephone conversation with Alsop
-Secretary of State
-Ziegler
-Kraft
-Stewart Alsop
-Impact of columns
Kissinger
22
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Testimony
-Meetings with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate
-MacGregor
-Morgan
-State Department
-Senate
-Hugh Scott and Mansfield
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-John C. Stennis
-Fulbright
-Ford
-Albert
-Boggs
-Rogers’s testimony
-Motive
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-Number of meetings
-Armed Services Committee
-Dean Rusk
-Senate
-Rogers
-Previous briefing
-Fulbright
-Rogers’s testimony
-MacGregor
Kissinger left at 11:44 am.
Kissinger
-The President’s view
-Rogers
State Department
-Soviet trip
-Planning
-Haldeman’s call to Rogers
-McCloskey’s call
ITT case
-Columnists
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Newsweek and Time
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Dita D. Beard
-Cleared to testify
-Ehrlichman
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Finance issue
-Maurice H. Stans
-Talk with Mitchell
-Contributions
-Reporting
-Mailing
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Private committee for the reelection of the President
-According to the law
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 17s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
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Campaign contributions
-Mitchell
-Stans
-Reporting
-Timing
-Public relations people
-Stans
-Ziegler
-Muskie’s reporting schedule
-Stans
-Reporting
-Statement
-William L. Safire
-Stans
-Consistency
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Mitchell
ITT case
-Marlow W. Cook
-Executive session
-James O. Eastland
-Beard testimony
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 38s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
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Campaign contributions
-Reporting
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 41s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
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Kissinger
-Schedule
-MacGregor
-Relationship with the State Department
-Rogers
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug-01)
Conv. No. 683-4 (cont.)
-Meeting
-Morgan
-Rogers’s testimony
-Hays
-Rogers
-MacGregor’s dinner
MacGregor
-Dinners
-Democrats
-Press
-Social occasions
-Compared to Gridiron dinner
Campaign contributions
-Mitchell
-Favors
-Reporting
-Democrats
The President’s schedule
-Forthcoming meeting with Ronald S. Berman
-National Endowment for the Humanities [NEH]
-Haldeman’s view
White House staff
-Efforts
-News summary
-Balance needed
-Kissinger
Haldeman left at 12:01 pm.