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Conversation: 714-002

Prev:  714-001 Next: 714-003

Start Date: 20-Apr-1972 8:41 AM

End Date: 20-Apr-1972 9:38 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")[Unknown person(s)]Woods, Rose MaryBull, Stephen B.

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:02:12

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 00:55:36

714a.mp3

714b.mp3

714c.mp3

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.