Conversation: 820-016
Prev: 820-015 Next: 820-017Start Date: 12-Dec-1972 1:30 PM
End Date: 12-Dec-1972 1:55 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.; White House operator; Bull, Stephen B.; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On December 12, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:30 pm to 1:55 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 820-016 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 820-16
Date: December 12, 1972
Time: 1:30 pm - 1:55 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.
The President’s schedule
-Meeting [with Jewell S. Lafontant]
-Timing
-Items for the President’s signature
-Gen. Andrew J. Goodpastor
-Vietnam negotiations
-1973 Inauguration
-December 13, 1972
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Dr. W. Kenneth Riland
The President talked with the White House operator at 1:35 pm.
-45-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)
[Conversation No. 820-16A]
[See Conversation No. 34-52]
[End of telephone conversation]
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:30 pm.
The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Bull left at an unknown time before 1:36 pm.
The President’s schedule
-Cabinet dinner
-William E. Timmons
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Church service
-German children’s choir
-German ambassador
-Invitation
-Cabinet dinner
-Haldeman
-List
-The President’s review
-Assistants to the President
-Timmons
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Timmons
-Haldeman
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Invitations
-Flanigan
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Kissinger
-Flanigan
-Timmons
-Butterfield’s conversation with Haldeman
-46-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)
-Ziegler, Timmons
-Leonard Garment
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Ziegler
-Flanigan
-Timmons
Butterfield left and Haig entered at 1:36 pm.
The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewish, John H. Kauffmann and Michael J.
O’Neill
-Vietnam negotiations
Vietnam negotiations
-Haig’s conversation with Lewis, Kauffmann and O’Neill
-Cabinet Room
-Haig’s conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Report from Hanoi
-Kissinger’s instransigence
-Unresolved issues
-Settlement agreement
-Timing
-End of December 1972
-Kissinger’s view
-Effect on North Vietnam
-Context
-Constraint
-Christmas
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-Breakdown, recess in talks
-Issues
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Political prisoners
-Kissinger’s assurance
-North Vietnam’s tactics
-US concessions
-US civilians
-December 9, 1972
-47-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)
-Settlement agreement
-Le Duc Tho
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-The President’s call to Dobrynin
-Pressure
-Haig’s message to Kissinger
-Soviet Union
-Dobrynin
-December 11, 1972 meeting
-Kissinger’s report
-Issues
-Atmosphere
-Communists
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]-Soviet Union relations
-Chou En-Lai statement
-Peking
-Cease-fire
-Timing
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-US
-North Vietnamese in South Vietnam
-Tactics
-Haig’s and Kissinger’s view
-Shanghai Communique
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]
-Compromise
-Relationship with US
-Credibilty
-US public opinion
-Interests
-Unconditional surrender of North Vietnam
-Compared to honorable withdrawal and political victory
-Further conflict
-Thieu’s inability to win on battlefield
-US bombing
-Duration
-Soviet Union, PRC aid to North Vietnam
-Possible meeting with the President
-Timing
-48-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)
-Midway
-Settlement agreement
-Haig’s and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Status
-Kissinger’s concerns
-Concessions
-October 8, 1972
-The President’s view
-North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s view
-Haig’s conversation with Kissinger
-Timing
-Haig’s trip to Saigon
-DMZ
-North Vietnam’s tactics
-Compromise
-Exploitation
-Breakdown
-December 12, 1972 meetings compared to December 11, 1972 meetings
-Settlement agreement
-December 13, 1972
-Haig’s view
-1973 Inauguration
-Breakdown
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer’s conversation with the President
-Targets
-Communications
-1968
-Power plant
-1968
-Bridges
-Civilian airport
-Civilian casualties
-Military side
-Dam
-Targets
-Docks
-Smart bombs
-49-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)
-B-52s
-Power plant in Hanoi
-Transshipment point
-Moorer
-B-52s
-Casualties
-Radio Hanoi
-Hanoi
-Rail, maintenance shops
-Casualties
-B-52s
-Airfields
-Number
-Compared to Israel attacks in Egypt
-Soviet Union planes
-Military side of civilian field
-Buffer zone
-PRC
-Settlement agreement
-Haig’s view
-Thieu’s speech to National Assembly
-North Vietnam
-“Hurting” assumption
-US bombing and mining
-Uncertainty about US and the President’s actions
-Military actions
-January 1973
-Commitment to conventional strategy in South
Vietnam
-Breakup of units
-Cease-fire
-Vulnerability
-Thieu’s attacks
-Instructions to cadres
-Cease-fire
-Momentum
-Thieu
-Thieu’s speech to National Assembly
-Fear of political contest
-50-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)
-Settlement agreement
-Justification
-Force [by US]
-Sympathy of South Vietnam
-Compared to accusations of naiveté
-The President’s view
-The President’s speeches before Congress
-Tone
-Audience
-Record
-Reaction
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu’s possible successors’ view
-Kissinger’s message to Haig
-Timing
-Kissinger’s return to US embassy
Haig left at 1:55 pm.