Conversation No. 918-25

Date: May 15, 1973
Time: 12:24 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.


     Watergate      

          -Henry A. Kissinger        

          -Seymour Hersch          

                -James B. (“Scotty”) Reston’s statement 

                -Story on wiretaps     

          -Haig’s call to Reston 

                -Hersch       

                -Wiretaps       

          -Kissinger       

          -Wiretaps on National Security Council [NSC] 

          -Hersch       

                -Pentagon Papers case
                                        -33-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. June-2012)

                                                         Conversation No. 918-25 (cont’d)

     -Wiretaps    

          -White House handling          


John B. Connally’s schedule
     -George P. Shultz, Charles J. DiBona
     -Haig, Shultz, and Roy L. Ash
     -President

Watergate
     -Special Prosecutor      

          -Elliot L. Richardson        

          -President’s role      

                 -J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.’s opinion    

          -Role        

     -Richardson’s ambitions        


Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] director
     -Haig’s forthcoming meeting with Jerry H. Jones
     -William D. Ruckelshaus’s statement, May 14
           -Tone       

           -Handling of question and answer [Q&A] period 


Administration loyalists
    -Earl L. Butz
    -James T. Lynn
    -Peter J. Brennan
    -Cabinet
    -Rogers C. B. Morton
    -George H. W. Bush
    -Ruckelshaus and Richardson

Watergate
     -Special Prosecutor
          -Richardson’s statement
     -Ruckelshaus’s statement
          -FBI files
                 -Retention
                                       -34-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. June-2012)

                                                       Conversation No. 918-25 (cont’d)

                 -Location
     -William Sullivan’s statement regarding FBI files, May 14 

           -J. Edgar Hoover       

           -Robert Mardian       

                 -Story in Washington Post

Kissinger
      -Attitude
      -Telephone call from Reston
            -Hersch
      -Continued role on White House staff 

            -Soviet Summit        

            -December bombing          

      -Psychological problems        

      -Possible replacement by Connally as Secretary of State 

            -Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft and NSC 

      -William P. Rogers’s possible resignation 

      -Possible Secretary of State 

            -Compared with Rogers        

      -Accomplishments         

            -Press’s view       

      -Possible replacement        

            -Timing       

      -Accomplishments         

            -People’s Republic of China [PRC], Soviet Union and Mideast 

      -Timing       


FBI director
     -Haig’s recommendation

Watergate
     -Daniel Ellsberg’s wiretap
          -Leak
     -Special Prosecutor
          -Buzhardt’s forthcoming meeting with Haig

President’s forthcoming speech at Norfolk, Virginia
                                       -35-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. June-2012)

                                                     Conversation No. 918-25 (cont’d)

     -Timing of draft  

     -Armed Forces Day       

          -Audience    

     -Length      


Message to Congress on election reform, May 16
     -Carl B. Albert
     -Response from House
     -Gerald R. Ford
     -Support from Senate
     -Term of office for House members
           -Response

Watergate
     -John W. Dean, III’s documents 

           -Judge’s motives         

           -Possible content        

                 -John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, and President
     -Effect of delays
     -Special Prosecutor
     -Richardson
           -Role as Attorney General, compared to Secretary of Defense 

     -Special Prosecutor        

           -President’s schedule       

                 -Meeting with Buzhardt, Richardson       

           -President’s role in appointing     

                 -Effect      

     -President’s previous speech        

           -Richardson and Richard G. Kleindienst 

           -Escalation of demands          

     -Special Prosecutor
           -Richardson’s confirmation        

     -Richardson       

     -Special Prosecutor        

           -President’s role in appointing     

     -News story regarding the President’s San Clemente property 

           -Ervin Comittee        

                                        -36-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. June-2012)

                                                           Conversation No. 918-25 (cont’d)

           -White House reaction        

           -Press coverage     


President’s schedule
      -Meeting with Congress
      -Meeting with Haile Selassie
            -News story        

      -Possible speech     

      -Cabinet meeting       

      -Quadriad       

            -Shultz

Energy
     -Need for action     

           -Advisory group     

           -Forthcoming summer challenges         

     -Shultz      

     -Ash and Charles DiBona 


White House staff organization
     -Haig
     -Ash
     -Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
     -Cabinet
     -Connally
     -Spiro T. Agnew
     -Ruckelshaus
           -Suitability, as compared to FBI directorship

Watergate
     -FBI files
           -Hoover
                 -Ziegler     

           -Sullivan, Mardian, Ehrlichman       

           -Ruckelshaus       

           -Sullivan’s statement      

     -President’s conversation with Henry E. Petersen, May 15
                                               -37-


                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                     Tape Subject Log 

                                      (rev. June-2012)

                                                             Conversation No. 918-25 (cont’d)

                 -Purpose
                 -Buzhardt
                 -Special Prosecutor
                 -National security
                 -E. Howard Hunt, Jr.’s photograph
                       -Dean’s statements
                       -Justice Department’s knowledge
           -Dean
                 -Conversations
                       -Petersen, April 15
                       -President, Ehrlichman and Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
           -President’s conversation with Petersen, May 15
                 -National security
                       -Ellsberg
                 -Information to William H. Byrne, Jr.
                 -Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] involvement
                       -Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters’s statements
           -Dean
                 -Possible knowledge of Hunt photography
                 -Reports to the President
                 -Possible report to Ehrlichman
           -Buzhardt
                 -Ehrlichman, Haldeman
                 -Possible meeting with Charles W. Colson
           -Richard M. Helms
                 -Walters’s forthcoming conversation with Haig

     President’s schedule    

           -Forthcoming conversation with Shultz 


Haig left at an unknown time before 1:00 pm.
                                             -38-


                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                       (rev. June-2012)