Conversation No. 874-10

Date: March 9, 1973
Time: 12:15 pm – 12:30 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Thomas Hart.

       President's meeting with Janet J. Johnston and George H. W. Bush
             -Oliver F. (‘Ollie”) Atkins

Johnston and Bush entered at 12:15 pm. Members of the press and the White House
photographer were present at the beginning of the meeting.
                                               -7-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. June-2010)
                                                             Conversation No. 874-10 (cont’d)


       Introductions

       Photographs

       Anne L. Armstrong

       Lonnie Baker [?]

       Republican National Committee [RNC]meeting [?]

       Cabinet meeting [?]
            -Bush, Johnston’s attendance [?]

       [Photograph session]
            -Suggestion of candidacy for Congress

       Press release
             -Background on Johnston
                   -Age

Hart, the White House photographer, and members of the press left at an unknown time after
12:15 pm.


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

       RNC
             -Johnston’s role
                    -Contacts with White House staff
                          -Armstrong
             -Bush
                    -Popularity
             -Staff
                    -Size
             -William E. Brock, III
                    -Work with Bush
                          -Kenneth S. Rietz
             -Clarence J. (“Bud”) Brown
                                             -8-

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. June-2010)
                                                            Conversation No. 874-10 (cont’d)


                 -Work with Bush
                 -Candidacy for party leadership role [?]
                       -Robert H. Michel
                       -Gerald R. Ford
                 -Father
                       -Aid to President
                             -1946 election
                 -Present job
                       -Importance
                 -Candidacy for party leadership role [?]
                       -Deal with Michel
                       -White House intervention
                 -Qualifications for job
                 -Role in RNC
           -Republican fundraising dinner
                 -Michel
           -Rietz’s appointment
           -Alaska Congressional election
                 -Donald E. Young’s victory
           -Rietz’s appointment
                 -“New Majority Campaign”
                 -Samuel L. Devine
                       -Meeting with Bush

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


      Congressional relations
           -President’s meeting with Freshmen Republican Congressmen
           -Devine’s Congressional caucus
                 -Meeting with President
                 -Support for vetoes
                       -Tennessee
                 -Leslie C. Arends

      Jacob K. Javits
           -Conversation with Nelson A. Rockefeller
           -Meeting with President
                                              -9-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. June-2010)
                                                              Conversation No. 874-10 (cont’d)


                  -Invitation
                        -Bush
                        -Timing
                  -Trade bill
                        -Shultz


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

      William T. Cahill’s New Jersey campaign
            -Rockefeller [?]
            -Bush’s conversation with John N. Mitchell
            -President’s endorsement
                  -Primary
                  -Charles W. Sandman, Jr.
            -Internal Revenue Service [IRS] investigation
            -Mitchell, John D. Ehrlichman
            -John E. Hunt
                  -Support for President

      Primaries
           -Endorsement of White House
                 -Role of RNC
           -Virginia
                 -Linwood Holton’s support for Mill Godwin
                 -Harry F. Byrd, Jr’s, [unintelligible] Smith’s influence
                 -Jack March, Stets Coleman
                       -1974 election
                       -Democratic leaders
                 -Richard Obenshain
                       -Candidacy for lieutenant governor
                 -Democrats
                       -Switch to Republican Party
                 -Obenshain

      Republican Party
           -Connally
                 -Switch from Democrats
                                             -10-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. June-2010)
                                                             Conversation No. 874-10 (cont’d)


                   -George Christian
                   -Virginia Democrats
                         -Timing of switch
                   -Louis Welch
                         -Mayor of Houston
                         -Switch from Democrats
                         -Calls to Connally [?]
                   -Importance of switch
                         -Candidacy for President
                         -Texas
                               -Need for support of Republican Party
                               -Bush’s candidacy for governor [?]
                   -Candidacy for President
                         -Republican primary delegates

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


Johnston and Bush left at 12:30 pm.