Easy NixonAbout

Conversation: 867-040

Prev:  867-039 Next: 867-041

Start Date: 2-Mar-1973 5:52 PM

End Date: 2-Mar-1973 6:40 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")[Unknown person(s)]Bull, Stephen B.Ziegler, Ronald L.

Recording Device: Oval Office

867-040.mp3

NARA Description:

On March 2, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Stephen B. Bull, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:52 pm to 6:40 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 867-040 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 867-40

Date: March 2, 1973
Time: Unknown between 5:52 pm and 6:40 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

      Ambassadors' murders in Sudan
          -Release of Sirhan Sirhan
          -Pressure on Jordan
          -Dangers

      Terrorism
            -Origins
                  -Riots
                  -Black Panthers
            -US condemnation

      Charles L. Ill
           -Meeting with the President
                  -Stephen B. Bull
           -Relations with Roy L. Ash
           -John W. Warner, Elliot L. Richardson
           -Firing
                  -White House staff
           -Frederick C. Malek, Ash

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 5:52 pm.

      Refreshment

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 6:30 pm.

      Personnel management
           -Departments
           - Malek, Ash
           -White House staff
                 -Discontent in department
                                    -65-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                             Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. June-2010)
                                                      Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


Ambassadorial appointments
    -Kenneth B. Keating
    -John D. Lodge
           -Change of posts
    -[First name unknown] Reynolds
           -Robert H. Finch
           -Conflict of interest
           -Latin American country
                  -Columbia
    -Robert C. Hill
           -Pakistan
                  -Henry A. Kissinger
    -Philip K. Crowe
           -John M. Olin's recommendation
                  -Maurice H. Stans
           -Denmark [Norway]
                  -Retention
                       -State Department
           -Knowledge of Salmon
           -Move to Denmark
                  -Norway
           -Age
    -Norway, Sweden
           -[First name unknown] Black [?], [unintelligible name]
           -Delay
    -Haldeman's telephone call to Olin
           -Stans

Olin
       -Background
       -Spencer Olin
             -Brother
       -Residences
       -Hunting, fishing

Ambassadorial appointments
    -Crowe
    -Charles A. Meyer
         -Satisfaction with job
                                            -66-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-2010)
                                                            Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


                  -Performance in job
                  -Position with Sears

       Appointees
            -Desire to stay in Washington
                  -Meyer
                  -New society

       White House staff
            -Dinners
                 -Service
                        -Length of time
                             -Governors conference dinner
                             -Delays


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

                        -Thelma C. (‘Pat”) Nixon
                        -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                        -Speed of service

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************


       Swearing-ins
            -Haldeman’s conversation with Bull
            -President's attendance
                  -Importance
                         -Head of Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]
            -President's commitments
                  -William J. Casey
            -Bradford Cook [SEC]
                  -George Cook
            -Cabinet-level appointees

Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:52 pm.
                                             -67-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-2010)
                                                         Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)



       Cook's swearing-in
            -President's commitment
                  -Precedent
                         -Casey

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:30 pm.

       Swearing-ins
            -President's commitment
                  -Source
                         -Bernard J. (“Bunny”) Lasker

Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:52 pm.

             -Bradford Cook
                   -Rose Mary Woods
                          -Arrangements
                   -President's commitment
             -President's attendance
                   -Cabinet level
             -Bradford Cook
                   -Woods
                   -George Cook
                   -Lasker
                          -Attendance
             -President's attendance

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:30 pm.

       Ambassadors

       Charles Ill
            -Meeting with President
            -Conflict with Ash
                   -Litton industries
            -Personnel management
                   -Departments, White House
                                   -68-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                            Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. June-2010)
                                                        Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


John W. Warner
     -Meeting with Carlos C. Villarreal
          -Mexican-American
          -US Naval Academy
          -Navy Department job
                -Assistant secretary
                -President’s support
                -Agency for International Development [AID]
          -Villarreal’s appearance
          -Surname

James M. Beggs
     -Mrs. Beggs
     -Retention by administration
           -Job performance
     -Wife
     -New job at Hughes Aircraft
           -Electronic Module Corporation
                 -Maryland
     -Personality
     -Job performance
     -Wife
           -Work for campaign
           -Dynamism

Reorganization
     “Blood on the floor”
     -Improvements
     -Problems
           -Dismissal compared to transfer, promotion

Edwin S. Cohen
     -Performance

Lawrence H. Silberman
     -Wife
           -Work for campaign
     -New job
     -Judgeship
                                         -69-

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. June-2010)
                                                          Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


           -New law firm
                -Sevetow and Johnson [?]


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

      John B. Connally
           -Party switch
           -President’s press conference
           -Meeting with Jeb S. Magruder
                 -George Christian
                 -Houston
           -Press agent
                 -Treasury Department
           -Campaign organization
           -George Christian
                 -Statements
           -Dealings with Richard G. Kleindienst
                 -Republican delegates
           -Discussions with President

      Republicans
           -Leadership
                 -President’s opinion
                 -Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends
                       -Dominick V. Daniels [?]
           -Bryce N. Harlow, Harry S. Dent, Ford, Arends
                 -Work with Congressional Democrats
           President’s dealings with Congressional Republicans
                 -Democratic crossovers
                       -Problems
                             -Committee seniority
                       -Ford
           -Harlow
           -Connally switch
                 -Impact
                       -Establishment
                             -Spiro T. Agnew’s constituency
                                             -70-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. June-2010)
                                                                 Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


                  -Presidential ambitions

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************


Ronald L Ziegler entered at 6:30 pm.

       Murder of ambassadors in Sudan
           -Plane to pick up bodies
                  -Families
           -Release of bodies
                  -Delays
                  -Remaining hostages
                       -Jordan
           -William B Macomber, Jr.
                  -Travel
           -Presidential plane
                  -Families
                  -Bodies

       Confirmation of deaths
            -US statement
            -Reports
                  -Sudan government
                        -Radio broadcasts
                  -US embassy
                  -Saudi Arabia’s ambassador
                        -Telephone conversation to Sudan’s interior minister

Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:32 pm.

[Conversation No. 367-40a]

       Presidential plane
             -Transportation for ambassadors’ families, bodies
             -Macomber

       Draft statement
                                               -71-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. June-2010)
                                                              Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


              -Condolence, outrage
              -Delivery
                    -President

Ziegler left at 6:32 pm.

       Foreign service personnel
             -Deaths
                   -Ambassador, charges d’ affaires, Agency for International Development
                    [AID] official

       Connally
            -Intelligence
            -Dealings with Jews
                   -Connally's statement about Jews

       Press relations
             -Ziegler
             -1972 election
             -Amount
             -President's schedule
                    -Number of events

       President's schedule
             -Florida
             -California
                    -Working trip
             -Florida
                    -Date
                    -Weather
                    -Date
                          -Return
                    -Necessity of trip
             -California

       Press relations
             -Conferences in Oval Office
                    -Waste of time
             -Conferences
                                         -72-

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. June-2010)
                                                           Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


                 -Television [TV]
                 -Frequency
                 -Questions
           -President’s press conference
                 -Questions
                       -Domestic compared to foreign topics
                       -Watergate
                             -L[ouis] Patrick Gray
                             -Number
                       -International and domestic economic issues
                             -Wage-price guidelines
                             -Dollar devaluation
                       -POWs
                       -Vietnam settlement
                             -Cease-fire
                       -Sudan incident
                       -Aid to North Vietnam
           -Conferences
                 -Frequency
                 -TV
                 -Schedule
                       -California meeting with Nguyen Van Thieu


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

      Connally
           -Switch to Republican Party
                 -Impact
                 -Compared to Alfred E. Smith
                       -Presidential campaign
                       -Age
                       -Endorsement of Herbert C. Hoover
                 -Impact
                       -Connally’s age
                       -Texas constituency
                       -Marvin Watson
                       Regular Republicans
                                             -73-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. June-2010)
                                                          Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


                        -Agnew

[End of segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************


      Agnew
          -Campaign for president
                      -Desire
          -Abilities
          -Performance in office
                -King compared to prime minister metaphor
                -Assistance for assignment

      Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr.
            -POW
            -Letter to President
                  -Physical difficulties in captivity
                  -Opinion about US
                         -Softness
            -Press reception
                  -Live TV

      POWs
         -Critics of the war
                -Unnamed sergeant
                      -Jew
                      -Youth hippie
                      -Exception to rule
         -Majority
                -Officers
         -Stories of adversity
         -December 1972 bombing of North Vietnam
                -Reaction
                      -Support for President
                -Public reaction at home compared with POWs

      Press relations
            -Conferences in Oval Office
                                             -74-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-2010)
                                                             Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


             -Conferences
                  -TV
                        -Power of medium
                             -POWs
                             -Atmosphere
                             -TV cameras, microphones
                             -Podium
                             -Compared to Oval Office
                                   -Established correspondents

       Attendance at formal social functions
            -White House Correspondent’s, Gridiron dinners
                  -Haldeman
                  -President
                  -Cabinet
                        -Multiple functions
                              -George P. Shultz, Elliot L. Richardson
                                     -Golda Meir state dinner

       Shultz
             -Conversation with Connally
                  -Attendance at White House functions
                        -Frequency

Ziegler entered at an unknown time after 6:32 pm.

       Macomber
           -Flight to Sudan
                 -Aircraft
                       -Size
           -Return with officials’ bodies
                 -State Department
                       -President’s orders

       Sudan
            -Report from US ambassador
                 -Belgian charge d’ affaires
                 -Death of US diplomat
                                            -75-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-2010)
                                                              Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


Ziegler left at an unknown time before 6:40 pm.

       Deaths of two diplomats
            -Reasons
                   -President's statement on blackmail
                         -Sirhan Sirhan
            -President’s statement
                   -Public opinion

       Press conferences
             -Frequency

       Newsweek article
           -Watergate
                 -Absence of questions
                 -Interview with John N. Mitchell
                 -Background sources

       News magazines
            -Impact
                 -Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report article

Zielger entered at an unknown time after 6:32 pm.

       State Department
             -Flags at half mast
                   -President’s order
                   -All federal agencies
                   -All State Department installations
             -White House flag, State Department, embassies
                   -President's order
             -White House flag
                   -Clement E. Conger

Ziegler left at an unknown time before 6:40 pm.

       News magazines
            -Impact
                 -Washington, DC compared to general populace as readership
                                            -76-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. June-2010)
                                                          Conversation No. 867-40 (cont’d)


             -U.S. News and World Reports
                   -John D. Ehrlichman's interview
                         -Readership
                         -Impact
             -Haldeman's interview
                   -Impact
                         -People compared with programs
                              -Public interest

       Ezra Solomon
             -Departure
             -Meeting with Council of Economic Advisors [CEA]
                  -Breakfast

       Frank J. Shakespeare’s note to Haldeman
            -William S. Paley
                   -Contact with White House
                   -Charles W. Colson
                   -Haldeman’s role
                   -William J. Baroody, Jr.’s role

Haldeman left at 6:40 pm.