Conversation: 888-002
Prev: 888-001 Next: 888-003Start Date: 27-Mar-1973 8:54 AM
End Date: 27-Mar-1973 9:44 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; [Unknown person(s)];Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On March 27, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:54 am to 9:44 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 888-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 888-2
Date: March 27, 1973
Time: 8:54 am - 9:44 am
Location: Oval Office
Henry A. Kissinger met with an unknown person.
Agreement
[Pause]
Refreshment
-Breakfast
-6-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
[Pause]
The President entered at an unknown time after 8:54 am.
Kissinger's schedule
-Acapulco, Mexico
-Meetings
-Miguel Aleman
-Admiration for President
-Characterization of President
-[First name unknown] Diaz [?]
-Wife
-President’s previous visit to Mexico
-Arrangements
-Foreign ministers
-Aristotle and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
-Kissinger at dinner
-Loel Guinness
-Praise for President
-Aristotle Onassis
-Jacqueline Onassis's characterization of the
President's accomplishments
-John F. Kennedy's accomplishments
-Death
-Demeanor
-Jacqueline Onassis's reaction
-Jacqueline Onassis
-Support for President's accomplishments
-Aristotle Onassis
-Future of West
US
-Future of West
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Problems
Vietnam
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-7-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Press statement
-Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
-Vindication for President
-Release
-Delays
-Kissinger's meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-President’s warning
-USSR equipment to North Vietnam
-Impact on relations with US
-Message from Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Halt of shipments
-People's Republic of China [PRC] route
-President's March 2, 1973 press conference
-Cease-fire
-Deescalation of incidents
-Infiltration
-Reasons
-Weather
-Impact of warning
-Time of year
-1972 spring events
-Easter weekend
-Camp David
-South Vietnam
President's press conference
-Freeze on food prices
-Format
Vietnam
-President's announcement
-POW release
-Troop withdrawal
-President's speech
-Future action
-Perception of involvement
-Domestic issues
-Food prices
-Inflation
-8-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Overspending
-Support for Congress members
-Military budget
-Resistance to cuts
President's forthcoming speech
-Budget ceiling
-Explanation to public
-Military budget
-Progress toward peace
-PRC
-USSR
-Vietnam settlement
-Resistance to cuts
-Cuts
-Impact on arms agreements, reduction of troops, peace
-Controversy
-Kissinger's talking points
-Length of speech
-Veterans
-Respect
-POWs
-Support of American people
-Dissent
-Protest marchers
-Cambodia
-Haiphong
-December 1972 bombings
-Firmness of American people
-Vietnam
-Level of dissension
-Support from people
-Liberal attacks
-Appeal for support
-Inflation
-Strength of America
-Peace
Watergate
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Civil libertarians
-John J. Sirica's sentencing of G. Gordon Liddy
-Harshness
-First offenders
-Senate counsel
-Changes in public
-Comparison with Joseph McCarthy period
-Alger Hiss case
-Attacks on President
-New York Times, Washington Post
-Court case
-Media
-Double standard
Vietnam settlement
-Accomplishments
-Peace in world
-Cold War in East-West relations, Middle East, Uganda
-Credit in history
Foreign policy
-Opening to [PRC]
-Credit in history
-Motives
-Private and public
-Politics
-PRC
-Ambassadorial appointment
-Timing
-Ronald L. Ziegler's briefing
-Vietnam
-Offensive in 1972
-Press reports
-POW, troop withdrawal
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Settlement
-Achievements
-POW release
-South Vietnam
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Survival chances
-PRC, USSR
-Negotiations
-Delays
-Timing
-POW release
-Cambodia
-Air strikes
-US legal rights
-Comment for Ziegler
-Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
-Vietnam settlement
-Southeast Asia Treaty Organization [SEATO]
-Congressional strictures
-Laos
-Air strikes
-US legal rights
-Cease-fire violations
-Liberal reaction
-Congressional actions
-Vietnam settlement
-Enforcement
-Ferocity
-Possibility of further military action
-Durability
-Undermining by war opponents
-North Vietnam
-Complaint
-Credibility of President
-Treaty for the Prevention of Nuclear War
-USSR’s acceptance
-Counter-draft
-POW release
-Operation Homecoming
-Letters to State and Defense Departments
-Congratulations
-Frank A. Sieverts [?]
-Scowcroft
-Rogers
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Letter to Melvin R. Laird
-Praise for Vietnamization
-Vietnam
-Vietnamization
-Success
-Letter to Laird
-Medal
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Laird
-Political activities
-Wisconsin
-Vacation in Mexico
-Political activities
-Insurance executives’ convention
-Financing
-Candidate for vice president
-Qualities
-Compared to Spiro T. Agnew
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
Vietnam
-Letters of congratulations
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] chairman
-Defense Secretary
-Operation Homecoming
-Former ambassadors to South Vietnam
-Loss of Vietnam
-November 3, 1969 speech
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Margin for North Vietnam’s victory
-1971 offensive
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Impact on North Vietnam
-Press criticism
-Divisiveness
-Thieu
-Peace settlement
-Clark M. Clifford
-Criticism
-Coalition government
-Posterity's judgment
-Negotiations
-North Vietnam’s proposals
-US withdrawal
-Criticism
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Impact on US-USSR summit
PRC
-Relations with USSR
US foreign policy
-President's successors
-Ability to carry on President's foreign policy
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-John B. Connally
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Connally
-Subtlety
-Latin America
-Kissinger's meeting with Luis Echevarria Alvarez
-Echeverria's plans
-Kissinger's response
-Anti-American comments
-President's meeting with Organization of American States [OAS] Head,
Carlos de Santamaria
-Nixon Doctrine
-William J. Jordan
-Work with Santamaria
-Kissinger's meeting with Mexico’s foreign minister
-Meeting with Rogers
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Value
-Latin American charter
-Preparation
-Announcement
-Mexicans, Brazilians
-Cubans
-Chileans
-Cuban fisherman
-State Department action
-Return to Cuba
-President’s orders
-Liberal editorial writers’ reaction
-Cuba
-President's future policy
-Rogers
-US relations with Fidel Castro
-Mexico’s relations with Cuba
-Cuban foreign minister
-Panama meeting [?]
-Santamaria
-Need for new charter
-Economic development
-Military development
-Political development
-Comments on OAS
-Latin American ambassadorships
-Numbers
-OAS
-US
-United Nations [UN]
-Future US strategy
-European relations
-France, Great Britain
-Willy Brandt
-European summit
-Atlantic Charter
-Latin American summit
-USSR summit
-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Chou En-lai’s visit
-Japan
-Visit by [Emperor of Japan] Hirohito
-President's visit in 1974
-PRC and USSR
-Africa
-President's trip
-Problems
-Priority
-Guilio Andreotti visit
-President's visits
-Edward R. G. Heath
-Brandt
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Africa
-Value
-Statesmanship
-Domestic issues
-Pompidou
-Meeting place
-Martinique
-Arrangements
-Prior to US-USSR summit
-Brandt
-Pompidou
-Mohammed Reza Pahlavi [Shah of Iran]
-Visit to US
-Foreign visitors
-Kakuei Tanaka
-Public relations [PR]
-Brezhnev
-President’s visit
-Europe
-Latin America
-Brazil
-Mexico
-Venezuela
-Mexico
-Meeting of Latin American presidents
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Location
-Mexico City
-Cozumel
-Yucatan peninsula
-Guadalajara
-Mexico City
-Control
-Lyndon B. Johnson’s visit
-Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia
-Venezuela
-Caracas
-Security
-Nixon Charter
-Meeting of Latin American presidents
-Cozumel
-New OAS
-Atlantic Charter
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Africa
-Election year
-Japan, USSR, PRC
-Timing of events
-Time of year
-PRC
-Chou
-Reception in US
PRC
-Ambassador to US
-Qualities
-Announcement
-Meeting with President
US foreign policy
-President's visits
-Atlantic Charter
-Latin America
-Japan
-Second-rate defense
-President's achievements
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Toughness
-Respect
-Kissinger's Mexico trip
-OAS focus
-Latin America
-Economic development
-Actions
-Expropriations
-Peru
-Chile
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
-Senate investigation
-Salvador Allende Gossens
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Offer of money
-US corporations
-Support for free enterprise candidates
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National security]
[Duration: 15s]
CHILE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
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-1970 election
-Allende's margin
-Opponents
-Impeachment possibility
-New York Times editorial
-Japan, Europe, PRC, USSR and focus of US foreign relations
-President's record
-Compared with Kennedy, Johnson
-Consultations
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Europe
-Meeting with communist leaders
-Motives
-Contrarianism
-Administration dealings with New York Times
-Compared with Washington Post
-Desire for attention from administration
POWs
-Laos
-Administration's position
-Press criticism
-Support from POW families
-National League of American Families
-Wives
-Press criticism
US foreign policy
-Mexico
-Credit for President
-Aleman
-Mexican foreign minister
-President, Rogers
-Depth of reaction
-Vietnam War settlement
-Operation Homecoming
-Letters of thanks
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, Elliot L. Richardson
-Roger E. Shields [?]
-Major General Gilbert H. [?] Woodward
-Saigon
-Letter of thanks
Kissinger left at 9:44 am.
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)