Conversation: 697-002
Prev: 697-001 Next: 697-003Start Date: 30-Mar-1972 9:38 AM
End Date: 30-Mar-1972 11:10 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Kissinger, Henry A.; White House operator; Stennis, John C.;Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:03:06
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:38:17
NARA Description:
On March 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and John C. Stennis met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:38 am to 11:10 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 697-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 697-2
Date: March 30, 1972
Time: 9:38 am - 11:10 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
The President's schedule
-James E. Stewart
-Meeting
-Clark MacGregor
-Campaign
-Contributor
-Donald Jackson
-Resignation
-American Cancer Society meeting
-Joan Crawford
-Ann Landers
-Drugs
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Heroin
2
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Meeting with MacGregor
-James O. Eastland
-Charles W. Colson
-MacGregor
-Colson
-Kleindienst awareness
-Lawyer
-Eastland
-Talks with MacGregor
-Charles McC. Mathias, jr.
-Hiram L. Fong
-Close hearings
-Acting Attorney General versus confirmation
-Robert C. Mardian
-Talk with Eastland
-MacGregor and Kleindienst
-Talk with Colson
-MacGregor
-Kleindienst confirmation
-John N. Mitchell
-Mardian
-Eastland
-White House role
-MacGregor versus Eastland
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Campaign
-Talks with Kleindienst
-Acting Attorney General
-White House role
-Eastland
-Haldeman's talk with Kleindienst
-MacGregor's talks with Republicans
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Paul J. Fannin
-MacGregor
-Close hearings
-Votes
-Witnesses
-Sub-committee
-Edward M. Kennedy
3
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-Hugh Scott
-MacGregor and Colson
-Justice Department versus the White House
-Mitchell versus the White House
-John D. Ehrlichman
-San Diego
-White House
-Kleindienst
-Mardian
-Kleindienst confirmation
-Democrat Convention
-Eastland
-Vote
-The President
-Eastland
-Colson
-MacGregor
-Talk with Kleindienst
-Eastland
-Mardian
-Mitchell
-Eastland
-Votes
-Mitchell
-Kleindienst
-MacGregor
-White House
-Commitment
-Vote
-MacGregor
-Sub-committee
-Vote
-Kleindienst
-John L. McClellan
-Republicans
-Scott
-Witnesses
-Ehrlichman
-Scott
-Haldeman
-Talk with Kleindienst
-Talk with Mardian
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-John B. Connally
-Continue hearings
-Comments
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Contributions
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Humphrey
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 36s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************
ITT case
-Flanigan
-Letter
-Ervin
-Off the record conversation
Henry A. Kissinger entered at 9:58 am.
The President's comments on the People’s Republic of China [PRC] at reception
-Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Alsop
-Mrs. Alsop
-Kissinger
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Alsop
William V. Roth, Jr.
-Judge Stephen J. Roth
-Delaware
-ITT case
-Politics
-Republicans
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
Connally
-Press coverage
-Kissinger’s Texas trip
-Houston
-Dallas
-Taft Schreiber
Joseph Alsop
-Party
-Polls
-Liberals
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak
-David S. Broder
Cancellation of John C. Stennis meeting with the President
-MacGregor
-Melvin R. Laird
-Stennis
-Talk with the President
-Laird
-Possible Senate speech
-Troops in Europe
-Laird and Stennis plan
-Forthcoming Soviet summit
-Stennis
-Talk with the President
-Summit
-Bargaining position
-War powers
-Troop levels
-Joseph Alsop
-Laird
-William P. Rogers
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
The President’s forthcoming telephone call to Stennis
-Kissinger
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:58 and 10:10
am.
[Conversation No. 697-2A]
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
[See Conversation No. 22-47]
[End of telephone conversation]
Dinner for Hussein ibn Talal [Hussein, King of Jordan]
-Haldeman
-Kissinger's attendance
-Meetings
-Toasts
-George Washington
-Abraham Lincoln
-Hussein
-Publicity
Kissinger's schedule
-Texas
-Timing
-PRC
-William F. (“Billy”) Graham
-Comments
-Howard Linsell [sp?]
-Christianity Today
PRC
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-John A. Scali
-Rogers
-Communiqué
-Rogers
-Communiqué
-Objections
-Press coverage
-Conservatives
The President talked with Stennis between 10:10 and 10:12 am.
[Conversation No. 697-2B]
[See Conversation No. 22-48]
[End of telephone conversation]
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
Stennis
-Meeting with the President
-Kissinger
-Laird
-MacGregor
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Defense Department
-Investigation
-Cost overruns
-Personnel compared to hardware
-Soviets
-Europe
-Defense cuts
-Summit
-Bargaining
-The President's contacts with Brezhnev
-Rogers
-Laird
-Kissinger's talks with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-MacGregor
-Richard B. Russell
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 8s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
**********************************************************************
Kissinger's schedule
-Previous meeting with religious conservatives
-PRC
-Graham
-Dallas and Houston
-Connally
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-Chicago
-West Coast
-Media
-Regional television
-Los Angeles
-George Putnam
-San Francisco
-Pacific Union Club
-Richard P. Cooley
-David Packard
-Pacific Union Club
-Bohemian Grove
-Timing
-Texas
-San Francisco
-Chicago
-Trip to Japan
-Ottawa
-San Francisco
-Timing
-Los Angeles
-Orange County, California
-San Diego
-Schreiber
-Dorothy Chandler
-Pasadena and Glendale, California
-Marilyn B. (“Missy”) Chandler
The President's previous meeting with the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control
and Disarmament
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-John J. McCloy
-Gen. Lauris Norstad
-William Scranton, II
-Jack Ruina of Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]
-Nuclear test ban
-Verification
-Arms Control and Disarmament Agency [ACDA]
New York establishment
-Democrats
-Economy
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-Kennedy
-Muskie
-Council on Foreign Relations [CFR]
-Possible meeting with the President
-Private compared to public
-Dinner
-Media
-Possible meeting with Congressmen and Senators
-Topics
-The President’s meetings with world leaders
-World situation
-The PRC initiative
-Soviet summit
-Alsop's comments to Kissinger
-Division of America
-Influence
-Dinner
-Balance of power
-George W. Ball
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Clergymen
-Ball
-Alliances
-British
-Allies
-1950's
-Meeting with the President
-Previous dinner
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Meeting with the President
-Questions
-Location
-New York City
-Questions
Kissinger's schedule
-Meeting with Dobrynin
-Meeting with the Chinese
-Forthcoming trips to the PRC by Senators and Congressmen
-Arthur K. Watson
-Scott
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-Paris
-Timing
-Watson
-Michael J. Mansfield and Scott
-State Department
-Watson
-Schedule
-Marakesh
-Watson’s subordinate
-Backchannels
-State Department
Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-Bombing
-Weather
-Fire support bases
-Surface-to-air- missiles [SAM] sites
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] performance
-Possible bombing of SAM sites
-Meeting in Paris
-William J. Porter
-Kissinger's schedule
PRC
-Scott's visit
-Timing
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with the PRC representative in New
York [Huang Hua?]
-Vietnam
-Norodom Sihanouk
Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Timing
-Laos comparison
-Long Tien
-North Vietnamese
-Supplies
-Possible counterattack
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-Air strikes
-Timing
-DMZ
-B-3
-SAM
-Gun ships
Kissinger's call to Stennis
Soviet trip
-Dobrynin's meeting with Kissinger
-Brezhnev's letter to the President
-Tone
-SALT
-Poland
-Stopover
-Vietnam
-Attack
-Possible effect
-Brezhnev's letter
-The President's instructions
-Possible bombing
Vietnam
-Possible bombing
-Timing
Kissinger left at 10:42 am.
PRC
-Scott and Mansfield
-State Department
-Rogers
-Leaks
Kissinger
-J. William Fulbright
-Possible meeting with the Foreign Relations Committee
-Recorder at meeting
ITT case
-Colson and MacGregor
12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-White House involvement
-Colson
-Vacation
-Camp David
-White House versus Justice Department
-Kissinger example
-John C. Whitaker
-Ehrlichman
-Kleindienst
-Talk with Haldeman
-MacGregor
-Votes
-Eastland
-Mardian
-Mitchell
-Close hearings
-Eastland
-Kennedy
-Witnesses
-Eastland
-MacGregor
-MacGregor
-Haldeman’s conversation
-Colson
-Meeting with MacGregor
-Confirmation
-Colson and MacGregor
-Mitchell
-Colson's office
-Leaks
-Leaks
-Meeting with the President
-Meeting with Haldeman
-MacGregor
-Votes
-Committee
-Outcome
-Meeting with Haldeman
-Eastland
-Calls to MacGregor
-Eastland
-White House staff
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
-Mardian
The President's schedule
-Gridiron dinner
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Edgar A. Poe
-Florida
-Rogers
-Toasts
-Warren E. Burger
-Rogers
-Florida
ITT case
-MacGregor
-Kleindienst
-Meeting with Haldeman
-Republicans
-Sub-committee
-Eastland
-Acting Attorney General
-Mitchell
-Justice Department
-MacGregor
-Colson
-Confirmation
-Filibuster
-Vacation
-Plans
-Kissinger
-Meeting with MacGregor
-Content
-The President's meeting with Kleindienst
-Colson
-Mitchell
-Previous problems
-Supreme Court nominations
-Success
**********************************************************************
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 697-2 (cont.)
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 6m 24s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
**********************************************************************
ITT case
-Haldeman's meeting with MacGregor
-Kleindienst
-Rule
-Colson
-Involvement
-Leaks
-MacGregor
-Votes
-Wallace H. Johnson
-Haldeman
-Haldeman's talk with MacGregor
-Eastland
-Colson
-Vacation
Haldeman left at 11:10 am.