Conversation: 714-002
Prev: 714-001 Next: 714-003Start Date: Thursday, April 20, 1972 1:41 PM
End Date: Thursday, April 20, 1972 2:38 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); [Unknown person(s)]; Woods, Rose Mary; Bull, Stephen B.Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:02:12
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 00:55:36
NARA Description:
On April 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Rose Mary Woods, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:41 am and 9:38 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 714-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 714-2
Date: April 20, 1972
Time: 8:41 am - unknown before 9:38 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Weather
-Weekend
The President's schedule
-Meeting with John B. Connally
-Confirmation
-Time
-Duration
-Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 8:41 am.
-Meeting with Connally
-Arrangements
-Time
-Delay
-The President's briefing
-Haig
-Time
2
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 8:42 am.
William P. Rogers
-Meeting with Haldeman and Haig
-Value
-Advantages
-Subjects
-Message from Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Yuli M. Vorontsov
Rose Mary Woods entered at 8:42 am.
Message for Henry A. Kissinger
-Preparation
-Copies
-Review
-Corrections
Woods left at 8:43 am.
Vietnam
-Rogers's meeting with Haldeman and Haig
-Message from Brezhnev
-Contents
-Form
-Vorontsov
-References to North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s view
-Negotiations
-Soviet involvement
-Meeting with Rogers
-Haig’s briefing
-Rogers’s reaction
-Course of negotiations
-Camp David meeting
-The President’s comments
-State Department
-The President’s trip to Canada
-Speech before Parliament
-Negotiations
-Rogers’s questions
-Tanks and troops
3
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
-Secrecy
-Briefing of Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Rogers’s assurances
-Herbert Brownell
-Kissinger
The President's meeting with Connally
-Connally's statement on resignation
-Arrangements
-Work with Haldeman
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 30s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
-George P. Shultz
Haig
-Abilities
-Dealings with Rogers
Connally
-Date of resignation
The President's schedule
-Press conference
-Day
-Wisconsin visit
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 8:43 am.
-Dr. W. Kenneth Riland
-Rescheduling of appointment
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Bull left at an unknown time before 9:26 am.
International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Jack Gleason
-Edgar Gillenwaters's testimony
-Birch E. Bayh, Jr.'s reaction
-Bayh's criticism of Gillenwaters
-Edwin Reinecke
-Gillenwaters's response
-Gillenwaters's reputation and credibility
Law enforcement
-John N. Mitchell
-Press coverage
-Television
-Washington Post
-Jerry V. Wilson
-Award
-Coverage
-Benefits
Press
-Washington Post and New York Times
-Articles on Gross National Product [GNP]
-Differences
-Comparison
-GNP increase
-Wire stories
-Inflation
-Networks
-Washington Post coverage
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Confrontation
-Press questions
-Compared with Ronald L. Ziegler
-Kissinger
-Position after election
-Communications work
-Herbert G. Klein
White House staff
-Ziegler
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
-New job
-Network job
Giovanni Battista Motini [Pope Paul VI]
-Message from the President
-Terence Cardinal Cook and John Cardinal Krol
-Papal nuncio
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Haig
-Cook
-Conversation with Flanigan
-Charles W. Colson
-Conversation with Krol
Press conference
-"Three on one" press conference
-Arrangements
Connally
-Announcement of resignation
-Scheduling
The President's schedule
-Public schedule
-Dissemination
-Nellie L. Yates
-Newspapers
Connally resignation
-Dissemination of announcement
-William F. (“Billy”) Graham
American Society of Newspaper Editors [ASNE] reception
-Cabinet officers
-Celebrities
-Officers
-Presence
War protests
-Handling
-Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO] and Department of Health, Education
and Welfare [HEW]
-Ehrlichman
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
-Cuts in Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] subsidy
-Shultz
-Resistance
Higher education
-Cuts in budget
-Nuclear reactors
-Shultz
-Strategy
Demonstrators
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 45s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
Tricia Nixon Cox’s schedule
-University of Maryland table tennis appearance
-Problems
-Audiences at universities
-Golf games
-Tennis audiences
-Problems
-Tennis players
-Compared with golfers
-The President’s constituency
-[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
Haldeman's handling of Rogers
-Administration backing
-Connally
-Publicity
-Washington Post and New York Times
-Radio and television
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
-Speech to newspaper editors
The President's schedule
-Trip to Moscow
-Press conference
-Time
-Television coverage
-Duration
-Advantages of short time
-Best times
-Moscow trip
-Visit to church
-Arrangements
-Kissinger
ITT case
-Senate investigation
-Gleason's testimony
-Contributions
-Questions
-Objections
-Roman L. Hruska
-Edward M. Kennedy
-James O. Eastland
-Bayh
-Statements on case
-Clark MacGregor
-Flanigan
-Testimony
-Richard G. Kleindienst confirmation
-Favorable report
-Administration counterattack
-Colson
-Timing
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Committee hearings
-Termination
-Democrats' reaction
-Report to Senate
-Thursday
-Delays
-Advantages
-Ervin and Robert C. Byrd
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Haig
Vietnam
-New York Times
-Colson
-House debate
-Partisanship
-John C. Stennis and Samuel S. Stratton
-Democratic caucus
-Resolution
-Counterattack
-Condemnation of North Vietnam
-Barry M. Goldwater
-News summary
-Blame for invasion
-Cartoon
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Administration stance
-Rogers, Laird, Connally and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-The President’s memorandum for Kissinger
-Kissinger’s speeches for Vietnamese, People’s Republic of China [PRC] and
Soviet Union visits
-Soviets
-Involvement in negotiations
-Kissinger’s contacts with Brezhnev and Andrei A. Gromkyo
-Summit
-Kissinger’s visit
-Brezhnev
-Compared with Chou En-lai
-Kissinger
-Role in negotiations
-Limitations
-Historical consciousness
-Meeting with Brezhnev
-View of Cold War
-Harvard University
-Meeting with Brezhnev
-Chou En-lai
-Subjects of discussion
-Concerns
-Guidelines
-Summit
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
-Dobrynin
-Vietnam settlement
-Soviets
-Relation of Vietnam to summit
-Kissinger’s meeting with Brezhnev
-Length of opening speech
-Vietnam
-Other topics
-Negotiations
-Kissinger
-Handling
-Rogers
-Contrast with Kissinger
-Limitations
World War II
-Unknown book
-Winston S. Churchill
-Age
-Work routine
-Cables
-Relaxation
-Style of leadership
Connally
-Comments on the President
-Danger of over reaction to critics
-Connally's actions
-The President's level of thinking
-Ability to generalize
-Contrast with Connally's performance as governor
News summary
-Lyndon K. ("Mort") Allin and Patrick J. Buchanan
-The President's perusal
-Delivery to Camp David
-Negative news
The President's schedule
-Periods of rest
-Periods of strenuous mental activity
-1960 and 1968 campaigns
-James E. Bassett
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
-Herbert G. Klein
-Bassett
-1956
-News stories
-Concern over criticism
-ITT case
-Time and effort spent
-Impact
Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
-News stories
-Value
-World report
Rose Mary Woods entered at 9:26 am.
A message to Kissinger
-Copies
-The President's revisions
-Text
-Dictating omission
-Kissinger's opening statement
-Length
-Delivery
-Haig
-Kissinger
-Confidentiality
-Marjorie P. Acker
-Transmission to Kissinger
Woods left at 9:27 am.
-Content
-Meeting with Brezhnev
-General theme
-Advice to Kissinger
-Vietnam
-Dobrynin
-Gromyko
-Contacts with Brezhnev
-Kissinger’s objectives in discussion
-General discussion
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)
Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:27 am.
The President’s schedule
Bull left at an unknown time before 9:38 am.
Message to Kissinger
-Content
-Vietnam
-Instruction to Kissinger
Meeting with Connally
-Delay
-Explanation from Haldeman
-Vietnam message
-Air strikes
Haldeman left at an unknown time before 9:38 am.