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Conversation: 859-019

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Start Date: 21-Feb-1973 10:19 AM

End Date: 21-Feb-1973 10:46 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Ziegler, Ronald L.Kissinger, Henry A.[Unknown person(s)]Bull, Stephen B.

Recording Device: Oval Office

859-019.mp3

NARA Description:

On February 21, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:19 am to 10:46 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 859-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 859-19

Date: February 21, 1973
Time: 10:19 am - 10:46 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Entertainment at Gridiron [?]
              -Singers
              -Dancers
                                               -17-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                            Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



              -Comics
              -President’s preferences
              -Press relations

       Dinners
              -Entertainment
              -President's appearances

       Bob Clark
             -Radio and Television Correspondents dinner
                    -Date
                    -Problems in arranging
                    -Herbert G. Klein
                    -President’s attendance

       White House Correspondents Association
             -Lodging
             -Date of dinner

       Nguyen Van Thieu
             -Date
                   -Choices

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 10:26
am.

[Conversation No. 859-19A]

       Date of Thieu meeting
              -Correspondents dinner
              -Timing
              -Meeting with the President and Ziegler

[End of telephone conversation]

       H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                                                -18-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                              Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



               -Schedule items

The President talked with an unknown person after 10:19 am.

[Conversation No. 859-19B]

       William F. (“Billy”) Graham
              -Return call
                     -President's return call

[End of telephone conversation]

       Clark
               -Date of White House Correspondents Association dinner
                       -President's acceptance
                       -Other dates
                               -Problems in arranging accommodations
               -Optional date
                       -Congress in recess
                       -Affiliate meetings
               -Letter to Ziegler
               -Scheduling conflicts
                       -Foreign travel

Kissinger entered at 10:26 am.

       Thieu visit
              -Date
                      -Troop withdrawals
               -Troop withdrawals
               -Thieu's preference on date
               -Date
                      -Options
                      -Delays
                      -President’s press conference
                      -Troops
                                            -19-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                               Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



              -Meeting in California
                      -Press conference in California
              -President's press conference
                      -Location
                              -Washington
                              -California
                      -Timing with Thieu visit
                      -Date
                              -Troop withdrawals
       President’s schedule
              -White House Correspondents Associations dinner
              -Thieu visit
                      -California
              -Options

       Thieu visit
              -Meeting in San Clemente
              -Thieu’s itinerary
                     -Visit to Washington, DC
                     -Meeting with President, Vice President
                     -President’s stay in San Clemente
                     -Head of State dinner
                              -Size
                              -Location
                                     -San Clemente
                                     -Washington, DC
                              -Talks with President
                              -Working dinner
                              -Vice President's dinner
                                     -Blair House
                                     -Anderson House
              -San Clemente visit
                     -Optimistic dates

Ziegler left at 10:34 am.
                                      -20-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                    Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



Vietnam
      -Thieu
               -US support
               -Demonstrations
               -Control of visit
                      -White House dinner
                      -Spiro T. Agnew
                              -Host
                              -State dinner

Annual report
      -Kissinger’s role

President’s press conference
       -Date
               -Completion of troop withdrawals
       -Television [TV] coverage
       -Trip to California
               -Return to Washington
                      -White House Correspondents Association dinner
                      -Timing

William P. Rogers
       -President’s telephone call
       -Multilateral agreement
               -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                       -Progress in talks
       -Office
               -Title
               -Kissinger’s talk with Rogers
                       -Rogers’s reaction
       -President’s call
               -News summary
       -Multilateral agreements
               -News summary
               -Questions
                                                -21-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                             Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



                     -Rogers’s statements
              -Kissinger’s talk with Rogers
              -PRC
                     -Rogers’s reaction
                     -Rogers’s knowledge
                     -US talks with PRC

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:34 am.

       Harry S. Dent’s arrival

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:46 am.

       Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
              -Economic Commission
                     -Deal
              -Kissinger’s talks with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
              -Trade agreement [?]
                     -George P. Shultz’s role
                     -Frederick B. Dent
                     -Commerce Department
                     -Peter G. Peterson
                     -Shultz
                     -Dent
                             -Compared with Shultz

       Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with the President

       Report on Mao Tse-Tung
              -Secretary
                     -Trustworthiness
                     -Memoirs, biography

       Confidentiality
              -Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
              -Shultz
                                       -22-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                       Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



       -Haldeman
       -John D. Ehrlichman
       -Hugh Scott
       -PRC
              -Strengths
              -US relations with Japan
              -President’s public statements
       -John E. Moss [?]
              -Statements
              -President’s briefing to Congress
              -Effects on talks with North, South Vietnam
       -Division of labor

Gridiron dinner
       -Kissinger
              -Invitation
       -George S. McGovern
              -Democratic speaker
       -President's attendance
              -Press relations
              -McGovern
                       -Comparisons with the President
                               -Applause
                               -Jokes
                       -Press reports
       -White House Correspondents Associations dinner
              -President's attendance
              -Hubert H. Humphrey
              -Edmund S. Muskie
              -1972 election
              -McGovern
                       -President's Inauguration
                               -Refusal to attend
                       -President's attendance at John F. Kennedy's Inauguration
                       -Statements on Vietnam
       -Kissinger's attendance
                                             -23-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                             Conversation No. 859-19 (cont’d)



               -Kissinger’s view on President’s attendance

       Dent

       Gridiron dinner
              -McGovern’s attendance
                     -Advantages
              -President’s attendance
                     -Disadvantages
              -Rogers
                     -Attendance
                     -President's non-attendance
              -McGovern

Kissinger left at 10:46 am.