Conversation: 872-019
Prev: 872-018 Next: 872-020Start Date: 8-Mar-1973 2:50 PM
End Date: 8-Mar-1973 3:34 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Hope, Lelsie T. ("Bob"); [Unknown person(s)]; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White House operator; Kissinger, Henry A.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On March 8, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Lelsie T. ("Bob") Hope, unknown person(s), H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:50 pm and 3:34 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 872-019 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 872-19
Date: March 8, 1973
Time: Unknown between 2:50 pm and 3:34 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope. The White House photographer was present at
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-18 (cont’d)
the beginning of the meeting.
Greetings
Gift
-Golf club
-Camp David
-Weight, type
The White House photographer left.
Golf celebrity tournament at Woodmont
-President's game
-Burning Tree Country Club
-A tree
-Melvin R. Laird
Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Evening at the White House
-Hardships
-Discipline
-Example for US
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 2:50 pm.
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman's attendance at meeting
The unknown man left at an unknown time before 3:05 pm.
POWs
-Discipline
-Patriotism
-Vietnam War
-Value
-Heroes
-Appreciation
-Vietnam War veterans and casualties
-Hospitals
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
Haldeman entered at 3:05 pm.
White House entertainment
-Evening at the White House for POWs
-Tony Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Reception
-Postponement
-Return of all POWs
-Hope’s variety show
-Military
-Hope's advice
-Contact with Haldeman
-National show for POWs
-Jane Fonda
-Honor America theme
-Primetime Television [TV]
-POW repatriation
-Timing
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Overnight stay in White House Lincoln Bedroom
-Performance
-Hope's remarks at dinner
-National show for POWs
-TV
-Planning
-Compared to fundraising dinners
-Contributors
-Celebrities
-Broadcast
-Location
-Proceeds
-Scholarship fund
-Vietnam veterans
-Children of killed, wounded, and missing in action
-Telethon
-Planning
-President's attendance
-Los Angeles
-Fundraising dinner
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
-VIPs attendance
-Tax deductable donations
-Telethon
-Advantage
-Wider participation
-Broadcast
-Hope's advice
-Telethon
-Contributions
-Dinner and telethon
-Network TV broadcast
-POWs, celebrities, Cabinet officers, military
-President’s attendance
-Los Angeles
-Century Plaza
-Los Angeles
-Advantages
-Celebrities
-Timing
Veterans
-Exploitation
-Fundraising events
-H. Ross Perot
-Ford Motor Company
-Scholarship fund
-Eligibility
-Disability
-Thailand
-Amount of money
-Source of funds
-Compared to veterans benefits
-POWs
-Entertainment at the White House
-Planning
-Haldeman’s role
-Variety show
-Les Brown's band
-Date
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
Golf
-President's game
-Hope's golf clubs
Plaque
-Gift of Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo, Robert H. Abplanalp to President
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:05 pm.
Plaque
-Massachusetts
-Executive Office Building office
-Delivery to Oval Office
The unknown man left at an unknown time before 3:20 pm.
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Golf
-Game
-Twosomes
-Length of time to play
-Hope’s game
-President’s game
-Need for exercise, diversion
-Hope’s meeting with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Walter Reed Hospital
-Mamie G. D. Eisenhower
-Joke about golfer
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
Nguyen Van Thieu
-Joke
-Gen. Juan Domingo Peron
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
Thieu's visit to US
-Demonstrations
-Support for North Vietnam
-Le Duc Tho
-Protection
-Washington, DC
-San Clemente
Mardi Gras
-Hope as King
-1973 inauguration
-Rowdiness
-Object thrown at Hope
-Irish wakes
-Parades
-Number
-Hope
-Security guards
-New Orleans French Quarter
-Hippies
-Marijuana smoking
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 3:05 pm.
Plaque
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 3:20 pm.
-Gift of Abplanalp
-President’s birthday
-Hope's opinion
Paul W. Keyes
-Planning
-White House events
Haldeman left at 3:20 pm.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
Hope's schedule
-Return to California
-Telegrams
-Award
-Hollywood Television Society
-Purpose
Vietnam War
-Post card to Hope
-Second term in office
-Bombing
-May 1972 bombings, mining
-Summit with USSR
-December 1972 bombing
-Impact on peace negotiations
-Lost aircraft
-Compared to Lyndon B. Johnson
-Damage to enemy
-B-52s
-POWs’ reaction
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Press criticism
-Henry A. Kissinger, Melvin R. Laird
-Sorties
-B-52s
-Impact on peace negotiations
-Americans’ attitude toward defeat
-POWs
-Return
-Col. Robinson Risner, [first name unknown] Kassler, James A. Mulligan,
Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton
-Pride
-Denton’s letter
-Compared to Abraham Lincoln
-Hope’s support for President
-Criticism
-New York Times, Life, Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Bombings
-Necessity
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
-US status as great power
-Leonid I. Brezhnev and Chou En-lai
-President’s 1959 “Kitchen Debate”
-Nikita S. Khrushchev
-Clark M. Clifford
-Talk with Hope during Burning Tree golf game
-Vietnam War
-South Vietnam’s government
-Corruption
-Bombing halt in 1968
-B-52 bombings
-Moorer
-President's responsibility
-Weather
-Damage to enemy
-Hopes' visit to Thailand
-Talk with Gen. [first name unknown] Sullivan
-December 26, 1972 bombing
-Haiphong
-Air Force personnel
-Entertainment
-Stress level
-B-52 losses
-Christmas losses
-Compared to World War II
-Bombings
-Press criticism
-Chicago Tribune
-Washington Post
-Acknowledgment of President's success
People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Kissinger's conversation with Chou En-lai
-Hope's film on the USSR
-Eugene Ormandy's visit to PRC
-Hope's USSR trip
-USSR’s response to tour
-Purpose of tour
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
The President talked to the White House operator.
[Conversation No. 872-19A]
[See Conversation No. 37-62]
[End of telephone conversation]
Hope’s tour of PRC
-Follow-up
Radio station
-KRLA
-Pasadena, California
-Acquisition
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Privacy]
[Duration: 10s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
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-Hearings
-Engineering
-TV station
-Robert Maheu, Orange Group
-Conflict over acquisition
-Western Broadcasting
The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger between 3:26 pm and 3:27 pm.
[Conversation No. 872-19B]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
[See Conversation No. 37-63]
[End of telephone conversation]
Hope’s tour of PRC
-Letter
-Kissinger
Hope's watch
-Special features
-David Sarnoff dinner
-Compared to clock in Oval Office
-Age
-Value
-Gift to President
-President's thanks
-Golf club
Hope’s trip to [PRC]
-Talks with US officials
-Kissinger, George H. W. Bush, William P. Rogers
-Meeting with President
-Camp David
-Letter to Ottawa Embassy
-Rogers
-Letter from Hope
-Kissinger
-Delivery
-Private channel
-Chou En-Lai
Hope's watch
-Special features
-[First name unknown] Conrad, Sarnoff
Golf
-President's game
-Course
-Kenwood Country Club
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 872-19 (cont’d)
-San Clemente
-Hope's favorite course
-Game with John B. Connally and William E. Simon
-Score
Meeting with Newbold (“Newby”) Noyes, Jr.
Hope and the President left at 3:34 pm.