Conversation No. 869-17

Date: March 6, 1973
Time: 12:19 pm - 12:46 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Executive Order [11705]
                                                -43-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                          Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. May-2010)
                                                             Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



             -Flags at half-mast
                   -Funeral of Cleo Noel and George Moore
             -President's remarks
                   -Interment
                          -Flags at half-mast
                          -March 7
                   -Ziegler’s statement

       Meeting with leaders
            -Budget
            -Hugh Scott

       President's meeting with domestic counsellors
             -Ziegler's presence
                   -President's approval
             -Subjects
                   -Confidentiality

       Press questions
             -L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
             -Watergate
             -Gerald L. Warren [?]
                   -Briefing

       President's meeting with John W. Dean III
             -Watergate
                   -Stenographer
                         -Penny Gleason [?]

John D. Ehrlichman entered and Ziegler left at 12:20 pm.

       Meeting with Jerry V. Wilson

       President's meeting with Hugh Scott
             -President's handling

       Ehrlichman’s meeting with Franklyn C. Nofziger [?], Bryce N. Harlow
                                               -44-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. May-2010)
                                                               Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



Chief Jerry V. Wilson and Geoffrey C. Shepard entered at 12:21 pm. Members of the press and
the White House photographer were present at the beginning of the meeting.

       Press photograph

       Announcement

       Press photograph

       Inaugural photographs
            -1969, 1973

       Wilson
            -President’s reappointment
            -Job performance as police chief
            -Washington, DC
                  -Difficulties of Wilson's job
                  -Blacks
                        -Problems

       [Photograph session]

             -DC police department
                  -Morale

       Weather
            -Snow
            -Cherry blossoms

[A transcript of the following portion of the conversation appears in PPP, 1973, p. 168]

[End of transcribed portion]

       Wilson's work
            -Success
            -Crime in DC

       Law enforcement
                                      -45-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. May-2010)
                                                      Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



     -Louis P. Harris poll
          -Disapproval
     -Administration's position on crime
          -Need for publicity
                -Wilson’s work
          -Hard-line stance
          -Judicial appointments

Marijuana
     -Legalization
          -Support from leading DC citizens
          -President's opinion about marihuana compared with its legalization
          -Law enforcement speech
          -Ehrlichman


President's presence at State Department for memorial service
      -Support for capital punishment
             -President's speech
                   -Supreme Court
             -Richard G. Kleindienst
                   -Statement

Sudanese Ambassador [Abdel Aziz al-Nazri Hamza]
     -Safety
     -Terrorism
           -Sudan’s prosecution of suspects in case of US diplomats
     -Executive Protection Service [EPS]

President’s hard-line on crime
      -Capital punishment
      -Marijuana
      -Show of compassion
            -Chief of police
      -Mandatory sentences for drug pushers
            -Nelson A. Rockefeller
            -Congress
            -Judges
                                      -46-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. May-2010)
                                                       Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



           -Drug treatment options
                -Methadone

President's law enforcement speech
      -Public reception
      -Content
             -Statistics, budget
             -Hard-line issues
      -Mandatory sentences
             -Justice Department
             -William T. Cahill
                    -New Jersey
             -Rockefeller's support
             -Public support
                    -Congress
             -Wilson's opinion

Sentencing
     -Judges
     -DC jurisdiction
           -Department of Corrections
           -Judges
                 -Alternatives to incarceration
           -President’s request for a study
           -Half-way houses
                 -President’s support for prisons
                 -Wilson’s opinion
                 -Method of administration

President’s law enforcement speech
      -Judges, parole officers
      -Criminal rehabilitation compared with public safety

Marijuana
     -Legalization
          -Youth support
          -Gateway drug
          -Compared with alcohol, tobacco, coffee, Coca-Cola
                                     -47-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. May-2010)
                                                     Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



                 -George W. Romney, Mormons
                 -Marriot Selles [?]

Crime
     -Congress
     -Signal to country
           -Administration hard-line
           -Appointment of William H. Rehnquist
     -Need for controversy, discussion
           -Political issue
           -Rockefeller
                  -New York
     -Drug traffic
           -Heroin
                  -Decline
           -Cocaine
           -Marijuana
     -Heroin, marihuana use, distribution
     -Marijuana
           -Penalties
                  -Severity
                         -Texas
                         -News story
           -Legalization
           -Governor Allen Shivers [?]
     -Death penalties
           -Richard G. Kleindienst’s statement
           -Justice Department position
                  -Second offenses
                         -Life sentence
           -Supreme Court decision
           -Congressional legislation
                  -List of offenses
                  -Wartime treason, espionage, sabotage, death during commitment of
                  federal crime
                         -Supreme Court support
           -Kidnapping, hijacking
                  -Automatic imposition in cases involving death
                                     -48-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. May-2010)
                                                    Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



                -Penalties
          -Administration's policy
                -Kleindienst’s statement
                -Legislation to Congress
                      -Timing
                            -President’s law enforcement speech
     -Drug abuse
          -Legislation for Congress
                -Rockefeller drug laws
                      -Penalties
                            -Heroin

President’s meeting at State Department

Wilson's plans
     -DC police chief
            -Terms of job
     -Future position in government
            -Wilson's preferences
                  -Ehrlichman’s role
                  -Walter E. Washington’s opinion
            -Experience
            -Desire for change
            -Training
                  -Crowd control
            -Travel
                  -Law Enforcement Assistance Administration [LEAA] program
                  -Representative of President
            -Wilson's record
                  -Race relations

Wilson's children
     -President's autograph
            Brian Wilson
     -Seven-year-old
            -Support for George S McGovern

Wilson
                                                 -49-

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                           Tape Subject Log
                                            (rev. May-2010)
                                                                  Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



                  -Golf

          Gift
                  -Ashtray

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 12:21 pm.

          Ashtray

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 12:46 pm.

          Gifts
                  -Children
                  -Wife

Ehrlichman, Wilson and Sheppard left at an unknown time before 12:46 pm.

[Pause]

Wilson, et al. continued the conversation in an adjoining room.

          Introductions
                -Mistaken identification

Wilson, et al. left at 12:36 pm.