Conversation No. 831-3

Date: January 3, 1973
Time: 9:49 am - 10:50 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Weather in Florida
            -Palm Springs, Florida

       Press conference
                                -3-

      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                        Tape Subject Log
                          (rev. Oct.-08)

                                            Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-Democratic Caucus
      -Vietnam negotiations
      -Congressional lines of attack
             -Administration response
      -Past votes on resolution
-The President’s policy
      -Henry A. Kissinger
      -Bombing
      -May 8, 1972 decision
      -Three conditions
             -Prisoners of War [POWs]
             -Cease-fire
             -Free elections
      -Peace with honor
      -Moscow Summit
      -1972 campaign
             -George S. McGovern’s policy
-Vietnam War
      -Progress
      -Ground combat
      -Draftees
      -Serious negotiations
             -Paris
      -Settlement
             -“Peace with honor”
      -May 8, 1972 decision
             -Questions
                    -Nuclear weapons
                    -Bombing
                    -No comment
-Ziegler’s conversation with Kissinger
      -US response
      -Press perception of US policy
      -May 8, 1972 decision
-October negotiations
      -North Vietnamese tactics
             -US response
                    -Settlement
-Bombing
      -Purpose
                                              -4-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                               Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

             -May 8, 1972 decision
                  -Limitation of force
                  -Serious negotiations
                  -POWs
                  -Cease-fire
             -Negotiations
                  -Delaying tactics
                  -Congressional relations
                        -Interference
                        -Sensitive period
                        -Responsibility

Kissinger entered at 9:57 am.

             -POWs
                   -Delicacy of issue
                   -Nguyen Van Thieu
                   -Exchange
                   -Release of political prisoners
                   -May 8, 1972 decision
             -Congressional relations
                   -Democrats
                         -Number opposing resolution
                   -Consultations
             -Vietnam negotiations
                   -Possibility of breakdown
                         -Public statements
                   -Role of Congress
                   -The President’s consultations with Congressional leaders
                         -Michael J. Mike Mansfield
                         -Carl B. Albert
                   -Speculation
                   -Congressional relations
                         -Charles W. Colson
                         -Kissinger’s telephone calls
                         -J. William Fulbright
                         -F. Edward Hebert
                         -John C. Stennis
                         -Gerald R. Ford
             -Bombing
                                      -5-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                     Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

           -Handling of North Vietnam
           -Intent of press
                 -Administration’s indecisiveness
           -Purpose
           -Intent of the press
                 -The President as erratic
           -Result
     -Carl B. Albert
           -Support for the President on bombing
           -Bombing cities
           -Nuclear weapons
     -Vietnam negotiations
           -Results of bombings
                 -Col. Richard T. Kennedy
                 -Amount of destruction
     -May 1972 decision
           -B-52s
                 -Haiphong
           -Military actions
                 -No comment
           -Intensity of bombing
     -Opposition to the President
           -Washington, DC
           -Cambridge, Massachusetts
           -Attitudes
                 -James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
           -Letters to Kissinger
                 -Hatred
                 -McGovern
           -Congress
           -White House social events
           -Cambodia

Reception for new Congress members
     -Exclusions
           -Washington Post, Washington Star
     -Journalists from states with new Congress members
           -Dewey F. Bartlett
                  -Oklahoma
           -Atlanta Constitution
                                       -6-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                        Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

           -South
           -Women
           -Wire services
           -Columbus Dispatch
                 -George Embry
           -Jerald F. (“Jerry”) terHorst

North Vietnamese statement
     -Tone
     -Le Duc Tho
     -Paris negotiations
           -Length of meetings
     -Kissinger’s schedule
           -Acrobats

Press conference
      -Congressional relations
            -Consultation with leaders
                 -1972 State of the Union speech
                 -Cooperation
                 -Ford, Hugh Scott
                 -Bipartisan meetings
                 -Issues
                 -Mansfield
                 -Albert
                 -Telephone calls
      -Truman memorial service
            -Reasons
                 -Funeral in Independence, Missouri
                        -The President's attendance
                        -Lyndon B. Johnson
                        -Wishes of family
                        -Private service
                 -Public service
            -The President’s meetings with heads of state
      -[Thomas] Hale Boggs's memorial service

Johnson
     -Health
     -Criticism of the President
                                             -7-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                            Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

             -Reasons for leaving office
                  -Behavior

       White House staff
            -Worries about criticism
            -Confidence in policy

       Congressional critics
            -Confusion
                  -Fulbright
            -Response to October agreement

       Press conference
             -The President's schedule
                   -Meeting with Kissinger
                         -Camp David
                         -Timing
                   -Meeting with William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, Adm. Thomas H.
                   Moorer, Richard M. Helms
                   -Congress
             -Responses to bombing
                   -1972 election victory
                   -Public opinion
                         -California
                         -Washington Post
                         -Albert
                         -McGovern
             -Congressional relations
             -The President's meeting with Kissinger

Ronald L. Ziegler left at 10:28 am.

       Kissinger's world report
             -Vietnam
             -Regular correspondence with foreign leaders
                   -Australia
                   -Mobutu Sese Seko
                   -Emperor of Ethiopia [Haile Selassie]
                   -Shah of Iran [Mohammed Reza Pahlavi]
             -Edward R.G. Heath
                                     -8-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                             Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                   Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

     -Georges J.R. Pompidou
     -Willy Brandt
     -Shah of Iran
     -Eisaku Sato
     -Kakeui Tanaka
     -Pierre E. Trudeau
     -Emilio Garrastazu Medici
     -Reasons for correspondence
     -Pope Paul VI [Giovanni Battista Motini]
           -Irresponsible statements
           -Poland
           -Vietnam
                 -Catholics
                       -Killings
     -Notes

The President’s schedule
     -[Names unintelligible]
     -Meeting with Kissinger
           -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin

Vietnam negotiations
     -The President’s meeting with Dobrynin
           -Soviet Union’s interests in success
     -Congressional relations
           -Hubert H. Humphrey
     -South Vietnamese Congress members
           -Cable to Ellsworth F. Bunker
                 -Thieu
                 -Backfire
                 -Aid cut off
     -Kissinger’s meeting with South Vietnamese Ambassador
     -Economic measures for South Vietnam
           -Thieu’s thinking
           -Aid cut off
                 -Congressional vote
                        -Mansfield
     -South Vietnamese lobbying
           -Congressional resentment
           -William F. Buckley, Jr.
                                     -9-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                      Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

           -Thieu’s thinking
     -Paris conference
           -The President’s domination
     -Accomplishments
           -North Vietnam
                 -Capacity to wage aggressive war
                       -Reduction
           -Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                 -Fear and respect
           -The President’s enemies
                 -Exposure
                       -Press, intellectuals, Congress
                 -1972 election results
                 -Access to White House
                 -1960 election
                       -John F. Kennedy
                             -Results
                             -The President’s exclusion from White House
                                    -Bay of Pigs
                                    -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                 -John W. Gardner
                 -Dean Francis B. Sayre
                 -Nastiness of attacks
                       -Lack of patriotism
                       -Hatred

Vietnam negotiations
     -The President’s October 1972 letter to Kissinger
           -The President’s political interests
     -The President’s meeting with Kissinger
           -Preparations
           -Dobrynin
           -Options
     -Kissinger’s trip to Paris
           -Preparations
     -Consultations between Kissinger and the President
     -Negotiator compared to lawyer
     -Final meetings
     -Goals
     -Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
                                             -10-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Oct.-08)

                                                         Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

             -International voting commission
             -Civilians in South Vietnam
             -Depiction of the President’s role
             -Thieu
             -1972 election
             -Announcement
                   -Purpose
                          -Relations with ally
                          -Bombing halt
             -The President’s support
             -Kissinger’s support for negotiations
                   -The President’s decision to bomb
             -Breakdown
                   -Le Duc Tho
             -October 1972 agreement
                   -Press relations

       The President’s schedule
            -Meeting with Kissinger
                  -Timing
                  -Trip to New York

       Instructions to make calls
             -Rogers
             -Laird
             -Meeting with the President
                   -Photographs
                   -Location

Kissinger left at 10:50 am.