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Conversation: 825-010

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Start Date: 16-Dec-1972 10:50 AM

End Date: 16-Dec-1972 11:08 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Butterfield, Alexander P.Ziegler, Ronald L.White House operator

Recording Device: Oval Office

825-010.mp3

NARA Description:

On December 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:50 am to 11:08 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 825-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 825-10

Date: December 16, 1972
Time: 10:50 am - 11:08 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

       The President’s schedule
            -Telephone calls
                  -Thomas G. Dunn
                         -The President’s conversation with Thomas G. Dunn, Jr. at reception
                          for 1972 election supporters
                         -Health
                               -Heart surgery
                         -Timing

       Elmer H. Bobst Library dedication
            -Possible telephone call to Bobst
                  -Rose Mary Woods’s view
                  -Cabinet members’ schedules
                                                -22-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. June-08)

                                                              Conversation No. 825-10 (cont’d)

                        -Cabinet dinner
             -The President’s letter to Bobst
                  -Handwriting

       [Signing documents]

       Harry S. Truman
            -Possible death
                  -White House press corps [?]
                        -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                  -The President’s schedule
                        -Church service, December 17, 1972
                              -John Cardinal Krol
                              -Possible cancellation
                                    -Cabinet dinner

       [Signing documents]

       Max Lerner

Ronald L. Ziegler entered and Butterfield left at an unknown time after 10:50 am.

       Henry A. Kissinger’s briefing
            -Ziegler’s conversations with Kissinger

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 10:50 am and
11:08 am.

[Conversation No. 825-10A]

[See Conversation No. 34-94]

[End of telephone conversation]

       Kissinger’s briefing
             -Ziegler’s conversations with Kissinger
                   -Timing
                   -Posture
                   -Press relations
                   -Kissinger’s “peace is at hand” statement, October 26, 1972
                                       -23-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. June-08)

                                                        Conversation No. 825-10 (cont’d)

                  -North Vietnam’s delays

Second term reorganization
     -John A. Scali
           -Announcement
                  -Leaks
                         -Washington Star article
                         -American Broadcasting Company [ABC]
                                -William A. Gill, Jr.
                                      -1970 report at United Nations [UN] by Scali
           -Press relations
                  -William P. Rogers’s view
     -Press relations
           -Patrick J. Buchanan’s news summary addendum
                  -Peter J. Brennan
                  -Scali
                  -Brennan
                  -Changes
                         -The President’s conversation with Haldeman
                         -Interior and Labor Departments
                         -Bureaucracy, Executive branch
                                -Franklin D. Roosevelt
           -Scali
                  -Ethnicity
           -Religion
                  -Catholicism
                         -Brennan, Roy L. Ash
                         -Scali
                                -Ambassadorship to UN
                         -Ash
                         -Cabinet
                                -Number
           -Haldeman
           -Charles W. Colson
           -Cabinet continuity
                  -Rogers
           -Cabinet changes
                  -Catholicism
                  -Italian-American [Scali]
                  -Labor leaders [Brennan]
                                       -24-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. June-08)

                                                        Conversation No. 825-10 (cont’d)

                        -Martin P. Durkin
                 -Number
                        -Rogers
                        -Rogers C. B. Morton
                        -Sub-cabinet
                 -Rogers
                 -Richard G. Kleindienst
                 -Morton
                 -George P. Shultz
                        -Treasury Department
                 -Departures
                        -Number
                               -Compared to previous administrations
            -Cabinet’s regional representation
                 -Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD]
                        -James T. Lynn
                               -Ohio
                               -The President’s reception for 1972 election supporters
                 -Shultz
                        -Illinois
                 -Massachusetts
                 -California
                 -South Carolina
            -White House staff cuts
                 -Haldeman
                 -December 16, 1972 article
                 -Timing
                        -Ziegler’s conversation with Haldeman
                        -Percentages
                 -Haldeman’s possible briefing

Kissinger’s briefing
      -Preparation
            -Ziegler’s role

Second term reorganization
     -Press relations
           -Cabinet changes
                  -Catholics, Italian-Americans
           -Under Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries changes
                                             -25-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. June-08)

                                                             Conversation No. 825-10 (cont’d)

                   -Cabinet changes
                         -The President’s role
                                -Haldeman
                         -Garnett D. (“Jack”) Horner
                         -Jerry Greene
                         -Significance
                         -Compared to Under Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries changes
                         -Bureaucracy
                   -Assistant Secretaries and Schedule C
                         -Lyndon B. Johnson’s view
                                -1964 election
                                -John B. Connally
                   -Ambassadors
                   -Ziegler’s staff
                   -William L. Safire

Ronald Ziegler left at 11:08 am.