Conversation: 764-001
Prev: 763-027 Next: 764-002Start Date: 7-Aug-1972 4:33 PM
End Date: 7-Aug-1972 5:21 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.; Kissinger, Henry A.; White House operator; Dobrynin, Anatoliy F.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On August 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and Anatoliy F. Dobrynin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:33 pm to 5:21 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 764-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 763-27/764-1
Date: August 7, 1972
Time: 4:33 pm - 5:21 pm
Location: Oval Office
[This conversation is continued from Conversation No. 763-27]
The President met with John D. Ehrlichman.
[This conversation began in progress.]
White House staff
-Ehrlichman
-Herbert Stein
-Political group
-Cabinet
-Previous briefing for White House staff
-Attendees at forthcoming meeting
-John N. Mitchell
-Maurice H. Stans
-Clark MacGregor
-Robert J. Dole
-Political involvement
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Stein
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Ehrlichman
-The President’s view
-Forthcoming meeting
-William E. Timmons
-H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Purpose of meeting
-Cabinet role
-Previous briefing for White House staff
-MacGregor
-Frederic V. Malek
-Ethnic groups
-Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Media
-Congressional relations
2
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Youth coordinator [Kenneth S. Rietz]
The President's schedule
-The President's forthcoming dinner for the Cabinet
-Cabinet meeting
-Briefing by George W. Romney
-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-William P. Rogers
-Briefing by Romney
-Situation in Wilkes-Barre
-Previous memorandum to Romney
-Tone
-Distribution
-Romney’s forthcoming trip to Wilkes-Barre
-Romney’s request for staffing increase
-Mortgage applications
-Romney’s efforts
-Office of Emergency Preparedness [OEP]
assessment
-Ehrlichman’s view
-Possible attendance by staff and Cabinet members
-Cabinet meeting
-Cocktails
-Separate dinner for staff
-The President’s dinner with the Cabinet
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Herbert G. Klein
-Stein
-Kissinger
-Ehrlichman
-Flanigan
-Romney’s forthcoming report to the Cabinet
-Briefing
-Malek, Magruder, Rietz
-Alexander P. Butterfield
-Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
-Senior policy advisors
-Ehrlichman, Flanigan, Kissinger, and Stein
-Domestic Council
-Foreign Affairs Council
3
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Council of Economic Advisors [CEA]
-Stein
-Importance
-Harry S. Dent
-Charles W. Colson
-Robert J. Brown
-Ziegler
-Published list of attendees
-Staff attendance
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-Flanigan
-Kissinger
-Stein
-Timmons
-Klein
-Ziegler
-Brown
-Colson
-Dent
-Butterfield
-Timmons
-MacGregor
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-Flanigan
-Kissinger
-Stein
-Ziegler
-Klein
-Haldeman
-Position of “Assistant to the President”
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-Flanigan
-Kissinger
-Stein
-Ex officio status
Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 4:33 pm.
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
Kissinger’s schedule
-Previous meeting with unknown ambassador
-Vietnam
The President’s schedule
-Forthcoming dinner with the Cabinet
-Staff attendance
-Haldeman
-Role at dinner
-Separate staff dinner
-Mitchell
-Romney
-Request for increase of staff
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Location of dinner
-Conference room
-Dining room
-Location of staff dinner
-Old Laurel Cabin
-Participation of staff in briefing
-Romney
-Report on Wilkes-Barre situation
-Department of Transportation
-Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
-Domestic Council
-Agnew
-Possible postponement
-Request for increase of staff
-Haldeman
-Number in attendance
-Staff attendance
-Magruder, Malek, Rietz
-Ziegler
-Klein
-Briefing
-MacGregor
-Ziegler
-Publicity
-Topics of discussion
-Absence of substantive topics
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Romney
-Absence of legislative topics
-Repeat of staff briefing
-Timmons
-Republican National Convention
-Colson
-Cabinet and former Cabinet officers
-Haldeman
-John B. Connally
-Invitations
-Brown
-Cole
-Stein
-Timmons
-Kissinger
-Stein
-Butterfield
-Scheduling
-Butterfield
-Romney
-Cole
-The President’s forthcoming return from Camp David
-Timing
-The President’s possible meeting with Boris V. Petrovsky
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Timing
-Possible photograph
-Length of meeting
Ehrlichman left at 4:52 pm.
Kissinger talked with the White House operator at an unknown time after 4:52 pm and before
5:21 pm.
[Conversation No. 763-27/764-1A]
Request for a call to Dobrynin
[End of telephone conversation]
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
International trade
-The President’s previous meeting with Flanigan
-Forthcoming Council on International Economic Policy [CIEP] meeting
-Possible agenda
-Peter G. Peterson
-Brezhnev
-William D. Eberle
-Kakuei Tanaka
-US relations with the European Economic Community [EEC]
-The President’s view
-Peterson
-Brezhnev
-Eberle
-Tanaka
-State Department
-US-EEC relations
-Forthcoming studies
-International monetary situation
-George P. Shultz
-CIEP
-The President’s view
-Peterson
-Possible report
-State Department
-Leaks
-The Administration’s high-level negotiations
-Relations with State Department
-Example of North Vietnamese offer
-Peterson
-Europe
White House staff
-Number of advisors
-Ziegler, Klein, John A. Scali, Richard A. Moore
-Access to the President
CIEP
-Flanigan
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 4:52 pm.
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
Refreshments
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 5:21 pm.
US-Japan trade relations
-Eberle
-The President’s forthcoming meeting with Tanaka
-Yasuhiro Nakasone
Kissinger talked with Dobrynin at an unknown time between 4:52 pm and 5:21 pm.
[Conversation No. 763-27/764-1B]
[See Conversation No. 29-34]
Kissinger conferred with the President at an unknown time between 4:52 pm and 5:21 pm.
The President’s forthcoming meeting with Petrovsky
-Timing
[End of conferral]
[End of telephone conversation]
The President's schedule
-Possible meetings with Soviet officials
-Brezhnev’s previous meetings with US officials
-Compared to hypothetical meeting with official from Upper Volta
Israel
-Previous message to Golda Meir
-Soviet Union withdrawal [from Egypt]
-Response from Meir
-Stability in region
The President's forthcoming meeting with Tanaka
-Possible agreements between the US and Japan
-Trade missions
-Timing of agreements
-Nakasone
-Flanigan
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Peterson
-David M. Kennedy
-The President’s previous meeting [with Eisaku Sato]
-San Clemente
Vietnam negotiations
-US proposal
-North Vietnamese
-Possible breakoff of negotiations
-Timing
-George S. McGovern
-1972 election
-Publication of negotiation records
-McGovern
-Imposition of a Communist government on South Vietnam
-Disadvantage of continued negotations
-May 8,1972 decision
-Erosion of support
-Troop withdrawals
-Announcements
-Reduction of US casualties
-Kissinger’s previous meetings with North Vietnamese in Paris
-North Vietnamese concessions
-Troop withdrawals
-North Vietnamese goal of political victory
-1972 election
-Impact on negotiations
-The President’s desire for aggressive action
-Perception of progress in the Administration’s foreign policy
-Kissinger's forthcoming trip to Saigon
-The President's forthcoming meeting with Tanaka
-Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Possible stalemate
-Option of continuing talks
-Option of breaking off talks
-McGovern
-Possible resumption of talks on November 9, 1972
-Cessation of bombing north of 20th Parallel
-The President’s view
-Kissinger's previous talk with Connally
-Level of information to be shared with Connally
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Connally's view
-McGovern
-Kissinger's proposal
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-US acceptance of some North Vietnamese proposals
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Saigon
-Kissinger's forthcoming trip to Moscow
-Announcement
-Domestic impact of proposal
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-North Vietnamese
-Possible negotiations with Thieu
-Election
-Commission of national reconciliation
-Organization of new elections
-Election
-The Administation’s January 25, 1972 proposal
-Resignation of Thieu
-Cabinet seats proportionate to electoral results
-Commission of national reconciliation
-New constitution
-Thieu
-Provisional Revolutionary Government [PRG]
-Possible rejection by North Vietnamese
-Publication of negotiations
-McGovern’s possible response
-Possible acceptance by North Vietnamese
-Thieu
-Possible breakdown of subsequent negotiations
-Resumption of negotations after 1972 election
-May 8, 1972 proposal
-Possible bombing of North Vietnamese dikes
1972 election
-Possible nuclear treaty
-Vietnam issue
-The public’s negative reaction to the Administation’s policy
-Congress
-Withdrawal of US forces
-Residual forces
-North Vietnamese proposal
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Private talks
-Progress
Vietnam
-Post 1972 election plans
-Actions to end war
-Kissinger's previous talk with Joseph W. Alsop
-Forthcoming response of intellectuals to the President’s policy
McGovern
-Appearance during speech
-Kissinger’s view
-Liberace
Vietnam
-The President's moral position
-Connally
-Reduction of US casualties
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Use of US military power
-Mining
-Bombing
-Kissinger’s view
-Kissinger's forthcoming meeting with Gen. John W. Vogt, Jr.
-Use of B-52s
-Issue of bombing of North Vietnamese dikes
-The President’s forthcoming speech to the American Legion
-McGovern's plans to end war
-Possible breakoff of negotiations
-Possible publication of negotiations
-Effects of previous negotiation publicity
-Effect of cease fire
-Mines
-Timing of deactivation
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Analysis of mining and bombing
-The President’s view
-Mining
-The President’s note in the news summary
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Effectiveness of mining
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Publicity
-North Vietnamese
-The President’s forthcoming trip to Hawaii
-The President’s possible meeting with Bunker
-Gen Frederick C. Weyand
-Melvin R. Laird
-Rogers
-Japanese Foreign Minister [Masayoshi Ohira]
-Tanaka
-Bunker
-Thieu
-Rogers
-Knowledge of negotiations
-Kissinger’s view
-January 25, 1972 proposal
-White House staff
-Information about negotiations
-The President’s view
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-Klein
-Connally
The President's schedule
-Executive Office Building [EOB]
The President and Kissinger left at 5:21 pm.