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Conversation: 799-009

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Start Date: 16-Oct-1972 9:33 AM

End Date: 16-Oct-1972 10:12 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kissinger, Henry A.White House operatorAbrams, Creighton W., Jr. (Gen.)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")

Recording Device: Oval Office

799-009.mp3

NARA Description:

On October 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr., and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:33 am to 10:12 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 799-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 799-9

Date: October 16, 1972
Time: 9:33 am - 10:12 am
Location: Oval Office


The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

        Kissinger's schedule
            -Forthcoming schedule
                -Preparation

The White House operator talked with the President at an unknown time between 9:33 am and
10:12 am.

[Conversation No. 799-9A]

[See Conversation No. 31-49]

[End of telephone conversation]

        Vietnam negotiations
            -Military supply package
                -Melvin R. Laird
                     -Number of aircraft

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 3s ]


        INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
                                           9
                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. Nov-03)

*****************************************************************

          -Settlement
               -Kissinger's meeting With U. Alexis Johnson
                   -Coalition government
                   -Nguyen Van Thieu
                        -Possibility of retaining power
                             -Government of Vietnam [GVN]
               -Revelation of Political terms
               -Use of term coalition government
               -Kissinger's schedule
                   -Saigon, Hanoi
                   -Paris
                        -Xuan Thuy
                   -Saigon
                   -Washington, DC
                   -Paris
                        -Hanoi
               -President’s announcement
                   -Timing
                        -October 31, 1972
               -Kissinger’s upcoming meeting with Thieu
                   -Hanoi
               -Leaks
                   -Press reaction
               -US public
                   -The President’s television appearance
                   -New York Times's hypothetical article
               -Kissinger's meeting with Thieu
               -Thieu's possible meeting with the President
                   -Timing
                        -1972 campaign
                   -Hawaii
                   -Midway
                        -Significance
                        -Announcement
                             -West Coast
          -Soviet Union
          -North Vietnamese prisoners in South Vietnam
               -Thieu
          -Thieu
               -Claim of victory
                                 10
         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                         Tape Subject Log
                           (rev. Nov-03)

-1972 campaign
     -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
         -Importance
-Midway meeting
     -William P. Rogers
     -The President, Thieu
         -Rogers
     -Kissinger’s meeting with Thieu
-Thieu's position
     -US position
-World War II
     -Japan
     -West Germany
     -Malaysia
-Sir Robert Thompson
     -Paris
-Effort
     -Compared to a football game, chess match, political campaign
         -Winning or losing
-Timing
     -1972 election
         -Bombing
     -Thieu, North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s schedule
     -Possible trip to Hanoi
     -Thieu
     -Consultation with the President
-Possible Meeting
     -The President, Thieu
         -Midway
         -Possible coup
         -San Clemente
              -Post-1972 campaign
         -Kissinger's schedule
              -Saigon
              -Paris
              -Hanoi
-Message for North Vietnamese
     -The President’s relations with the People's Republic Of China [PRC],
      USSR
-Kissinger's schedule
     -Hanoi
                                              11
                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Nov-03)

                 -Thieu
             -Military situation
                 -Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
                      -Previous conversation with Kissinger
                           -Abrams’s location
             -Possible meeting with Abrams
                 -Laird, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:33 am and
10:12 am.

[Conversation No. 799-9B]

[See Conversation No. 31-50]

[End of telephone conversation]

        Vietnam negotiations
            -The President's meeting with Abrams
                 -Kissinger's schedule
            -Settlement
                 -Abrams’s view
                     -Political terms
            -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                 -Kissinger
            -Abrams
                 -Thieu
            -Haig
                 -Swearing-in
            -Kissinger's schedule
                     -The President’s possible meeting with Haig
                          -Laird
                 -Saigon
                 -Le Duc Tho
                     -Paris
                 -Thieu
                     -Possible meeting with the President

Kissinger talked with Abrams at an unknown time between 9:33 am and 10:12 am.

[Conversation No. 799-9C]
                                            12
                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. Nov-03)

[See Conversation No. 31-51]

[End of telephone conversation]

        The President’s forthcoming meeting with Abrams
            -Thieu

Haldeman entered at an unknown time after 9:33 am.

        The President’s schedule
            -Meeting of National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in
            Southeast Asia
                -Kissinger
                -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
                -News coverage
                     -Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT] II announcement
                          -Donald H. Segretti
                -Carlyle Hanson's speech, October 15, 1972
                     -Support for the President
                -Reaction by League to Cora Weiss's and David Dellinger's efforts
                -Kissinger
                     -Newsworthiness
                -McGovern
                -Possible statement by the President
                     -Speechwriters
                          -Amnesty
                     -Return of three Prisoners of War [POWs]
                     -League's stance
                     -Progress
                -Kissinger's schedule
                -The President's 1971 visit
                -Dinner
                -Kissinger’s schedule
                -Political effect of raising POW issue
                -Kissinger’s schedule
                     -Paris
                -Kissinger's possible remarks
                     -POW issue
                     -Support for the President's policies
                          -“Peace with Honor”
                     -Unknown person
                     -The President's policies
                                            13
                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. Nov-03)

                         -May 8, 1972 decision
                             -Support of POW families
                     -Kissinger’s schedule

Haldeman left at an unknown time before 10:12 am.

                -Possible interpretation
                -Kissinger’s schedule
                    -Possible remarks
                         -POW’s
                              -Abandonment
                                   -McGovern
                              -Return
                         -Missing in action [MIA’s]
                -The President’s 1971 visit
                -Media coverage
                    -Haldeman
                -Kissinger's schedule
                    -Paris

        1972 election
            -New Establishment
            -Life editorial board endorsement of the President
            -Kissinger’s treatment of Life, Time
            -The President's opponents
                 -Bureaucracy
                 -Universities
                      -East
                 -Media
                      -Character
            -National character
                 -The establishment
            -The President’s May 8th, 1972 decision
                 -Reaction
                      -Ivy League
                      -Press, media
                      -Schools, churches
                      -Media
                           -Chicago Tribune, Smith Hempstone, Jr., New York Daily News
                      -Agnew
                      -John B. Connally
                 -Effect
                                                  14
                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. Nov-03)

                  -Advice of Rogers, Laird, Richard M. Helms
                  -Effect
                      -South Vietnam
                      -The President’s trip to the Soviet Union
                          -Dacha meeting

         Forthcoming announcements
             -SALT, US-Soviet Union trade agreement

         Kissinger's schedule
             -National League of Families
                 -The President’s schedule
                       -Possible interpretation

Kissinger left at 10:12 am.