Conversation: 916-011
Prev: 916-010 Next: 916-012Start Date: 11-May-1973 9:19 AM
End Date: 11-May-1973 10:10 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On May 11, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:19 am to 10:10 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 916-011 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 916-11
Date: May 11, 1973
Time: 9:19 am - 10:10 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Haig’s schedule
-Breakfast
Watergate
-President’s conversation with Ronald L. Ziegler, May 11
-Indictments of Maurice H. Stans and John N. Mitchell
-House of Representatives
-Vote
-Defense spending
-White House actions, May 10
-Press coverage
Henry A. Kissinger
-Mood
William P. Rogers
-Duration in office
-Soviet Summit
-Relationship with Kissinger
-Possible replacement as Secretary of State
-Kissinger
-John B. Connally
Kissinger
-Forthcoming meeting with President
-Conversation with Haig
-Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War
-Negotiations
-Impact of Soviet Union, Europe
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Public Relations [PR]
-Accomplishments
-Kissinger’s role
-Great Britain
-Leaks
-Compared to Rogers, State Department
-Rogers’s support
-Tenure in office
-Soviet Summit
-Rogers
-Cambodia
-Article 20 [Vietnam peace agreement]
-Statement to Congress
-Forthcoming meeting with Le Duc Tho
Cambodia
-Vote in Congress
-Defense spending
President’s schedule
-Kissinger
-Rogers
Kissinger
-Mood
-Possible resignation
-President’s response
-Motives
-President’s recording of conversations
White House taping system
-Extent
-Oval Office, Camp David, Lincoln Sitting Room, Executive Office Building
[EOB] and telephone calls
-Possible effect on Kissinger
Haig’s conversation with Kissinger
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
Watergate
-Wiretaps
-Mitchell, Stans
Kissinger
-Compared to President, Haig
-President’s opinion
-Possible resignation
-Jewishness
-Possible removal from office
Connally
-Possible role as Secretary of State
-Meeting with Roy L. Ash, May 10
-Schedule
-Possible trip to Soviet Union
-Possible role in White House
Kissinger
-Role in White House
-Compared to Connally
-Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War
-Soviet Summit preparation
-Possible position as Secretary of State
-Compared with Connally
-European summit
-Relations with Israel
-Views on Middle East
-Possible regional war
-Joseph J. Sisco
Foreign relations
-Israel
-Kissinger
-Meeting with Mohammed Hafiz Ismail
-US strategy
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
Kissinger
-Possible departure from office
-Connally
-Perception of White House viability
“Georgetown friends”
-Views on departures of H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman
-Role in White House
-Compared with Connally
-White House tapes
-Release
White House taping system
-President’s knowledge
-Haldeman’s departure
-Haig’s possible conversation with Kissinger
-Extent of system
-Cabinet Room
-President’s knowledge
-Possible use
-Possible effects of release
-Lyndon B. Johnson’s system
-Recording of present conversation
-Extent
-Cabinet Room, EOB, Lincoln Sitting Room, telephone calls
-Haig’s opinion
Kissinger
-Possible response
-Possible future role
-Timing
-Soviet Summit
Connally
-Secretary of State
-White House position
-Compared to Kissinger
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Advocacy
-Foreign relations
-Europe
-Japan
-Soviet Union
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Compared to Kissinger
Haig’s schedule
Kissinger
-Forthcoming meeting with President
-Negotiations with Soviet Union [?]
Elliot L. Richardson
-Special Prosecutor
-Conversation with Haig, May 10
-Possible conversation with the President
-Confirmation
President’s schedule
-Speech on election reform
-Ziegler
-Bipartisan congressional leaders
Watergate
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
-Conversation with John C. Stennis
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Herman Talmadge’s forthcoming conversation with Ervin
-Elliot L. Richardson’s forthcoming conversation with Samuel Dash
-Special Prosecutor
-Warren E. Hearnes
-Haig’s forthcoming call to Richardson
-Haig’s phone conversation with William P. Rogers
-Warren E. Burger
-Senate hearings
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-John McClellan, Howard H. Baker, Jr., and Talmadge
-Stennis
-Stennis’s views
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-William C. Sullivan
-William D. Ruckelshaus
-W. Mark Felt
-Statements concerning wiretaps
-Leaks
-New York Times information
-Wiretaps
-Morton Halperin
-Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg, 1970
-President’ culpability
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Privacy]
[Duration: 9 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Wiretaps
-Ehrlichman
-Telephone call to Robert C. Mardian regarding records
-Destruction of tapes
-Possible effect on Ellsberg case
-Halperin
-Ellsberg
-Ehrlichman
-19-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Felt
-Richardson’s view on New York Times leak
-Motives regarding Sullivan
-Appointment of director
-Wiretaps
-Records in White House
-Buzhardt’s knowledge
-Melvin R. Laird
-Ehrlichman
-Conversation with the President regarding records
-Ellsberg and Halperin
-Haig’s forthcoming conversation with Buzhardt
-Numbers of newsmen
-Possible White House response
-J. Edgar Hoover’s authorization of taps
-National Security Council [NSC] leaks
-Firings
-Halperin
-Daniel I. Davidson
-Records
-Joseph C. Kraft
-Henry Brandon
-Possible release of wiretaps
-Sullivan’s forthcoming testimony, May 11
-Sullivan’s conversation with Haig
-Hoover
-NSC
-John N. Mitchell’s role
-John F. Kennedy-Ramsay W. Clark directive
-White House response
-Necessity
-President’s role
-J. Edgar Hoover’s role
-Brandon
-Necessity
-Sullivan’s forthcoming testimony
-Richardson’s confirmation
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Richardson’s views
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-Ellsberg
-Halperin
-Ellsberg
Richardson
-Confirmation
-Sullivan
-Forthcoming testimony
-Telephone conversation with Ruckelshaus
-Forthcoming testimony
-Leaks
-Hoover
-Memoranda on wiretaps
-Kissinger
-Ehrlichman
-NSC
-Wiretaps
-Supreme Court decision
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Ehrlichman’s comments
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
[Law enforcement]
[Duration: 10 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Hunt
-Second-story jobs
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Brookings Institute and Georgetown
-Wiretaps
-Hunt
-Supreme Court decision
-Timing regarding India-Pakistan conflict
-Haig’s possible meeting with Buzhardt
-Ziegler’s possible statement
-FBI
-Felt
-Leak to New York Times
-Richardson and Sullivan
-Time magazine
-Possible director
-Unnamed law school dean
-Frank Connally [?]
-Sullivan
-Knowledge
-Johnson 1968 wiretapping
-View of Felt
-Hoover’s view
-Forthcoming testimony
-Wiretaps
-Possible press coverage
-Wiretaps
-President’s conversation with Hoover
-Mitchell’s role
-Sullivan’s forthcoming testimony
-Haig’s conversation with Sullivan
-Ellsberg
-Ehrlichman’s memory
-Halperin’s conversation with Ellsberg
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Privacy]
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
[Duration: 5s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Richardson
-Possible withdrawal of nomination
-John A. McCone
-Wiretaps
-Mitchell’s role
-Timing
-NSC
-Ellsberg case
-Haig’s conversation with Richardson
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12
[Statute]
[Duration: 15 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12
*****************************************************************
FBI Director
-Ruckelshaus
-Term in office
-Former employee who worked for Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP] in
1972
-John Edward Kusic [?]
-Cleveland
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Qualifications
-Timing of appointment
-Sullivan
-Ruckelshaus
-Felt
-Leak to New York Times
-Ellsberg case
Federal bureaucracy
-Dangers
-Political views
-Support for President
-Effect on transition
-State Department
-Problems
-Haig’s opinion
-Kissinger and Connally
-Rogers
President’s schedule
-Kissinger
Watergate
-Sullivan
-Activities
-Ruckelshaus
-Forthcoming testimony regarding wiretaps
-Mardian
-Ehrlichman
-Destruction of tapes and memos
-Kissinger
-Timing
-Wiretaps
-India-Pakistan leak
-Hunt
-Ehrlichman
-NSC
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-11 (cont’d)
-Lie detector tests during leak investigation
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13
[Statute]
[Duration: 34 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Wiretaps
-Haig’s forthcoming conversation with Buzhardt
-Ehrlichman
-Motives
-Contrasted with previous administrations
-Lawrence M. Higby’s conversation with Tod R. Hullin
-Haig’s conversation with Richardson
-Kissinger
-Mitchell
-Extent
-National security
-Leaks
-Administration’s image
-Sullivan’s forthcoming testimony
-National security
Haig left at 10:10 am.
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)