Conversation: 919-017
Prev: 919-016 Next: 919-018Start Date: 16-May-1973 10:31 AM
End Date: 16-May-1973 11:35 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On May 16, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:31 am to 11:35 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 919-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 919-17
Date: May 16, 1973
Time: 10:31 am - 11:35 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with John B. Connally.
Connally’s schedule
White House social affairs
-Forthcoming Prisoners of War [POW] dinner
-Structure under construction
-Attendees
-Wives, mothers
President’s schedule
-Armed Forces Day
-POWs
-Dallas
-President’s need for travel
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Iceland
-Bob [Robert H. Abplanalp or Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope?]
-Golf
-Bahamas
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Golf
-President’s and Connally’s activities
-Regularity of playing
-Frustrations
-Houston
-Connally’s ranch [?]
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
President’s schedule
-Dallas visit
-Golf
-Friends
-Invitation
-Fairmont Hotel
-Private residence
-United States Secret Service [USSS]
-Connally’s ranch
-San Antonio
Connally
-Conversation with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and Roy L. Ash
-Conversation with George P. Shultz
-White House staff
-Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Possible role in administration
-State Department
-Haig
-President’s plan
-Delay
US foreign policy
-Forthcoming Soviet summit
-Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War
-State Department’s knowledge
-Great Britain’s approval
-People’s Republic of China [PRC] approval
-Henry A. Kissinger, Haig [?]
-Edward R. G. Heath [?]
-Chou En-lai
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Middle East peace negotiations
-General principles
-Israel
-US pressure
-Egypt
-Soviet Union pressure
-Interim settlement
-Kissinger’s meeting with Le Duc Tho
-Kissinger’s meeting with Hafiz Ismail [?]
-Soviet summit
-Public relations [PR]
-Secretary of State
-Kissinger
-William P. Rogers
-Decency, strength
-Resignation
-Trip to Latin America
-Soviet summit
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Agreements
-Middle East
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Soviet summit
-Preparations
-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s meeting with President
-President’s visit to Soviet Union
-San Clemente
-Key Biscayne
-Camp David
-”Spirit of Yalta”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston S. Churchill, Josef V.
Stalin
-President’s strategy
-Middle East, Southeast Asia
-Arms race
-Impact of Watergate
-Secretary of State
-Rogers’s resignation
-Kissinger’s role
-Knowledge
-European summit
-October
-Difficulty
-Replacement
-Timing
-Role compared to National Security Council [NSC]
-Gen, Brent G. Scowcroft
-Replacement
-Timing
-European summit
-Kissinger’s role
-Connally’s appointment
-Timing
-Southeast Asia
-Soviet summit
-Europe
-Kissinger’s role
-John F. Dulles’s role with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Timing and importance of change
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-Age
-PRC liaison post
-Health
-Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
-Connally
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Ronald W. Reagan
-President’s meeting with Hailie Selassie
-Preparation
Connally’s trip to Soviet Union
-Timing
-Attendance at Soviet summit
-Kissinger [?]
-Signal
-Timing, length
-Meeting with Brezhnev
-Soviet summit
-Brezhnev
-Hunting trip
-Connally
-Boar
-YO Ranch
-Exotic game
-Texas home
-San Clemente
-Demonstrations
-Cities
-Hungarian-Americans, Polish-Americans
-Texas Hill Country for hunting trip
-Secretary of State
-Timing of change
-Problems
-Defense budget
-Foreign aid
-Trade bill
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Balance of payments
-State Department and Defense Department
-Leadership
White House staff
-Need for change
-John J. McCloy
-Bruce
-Bryce N. Harlow
-David Packard
-Melvin R. Laird
-John W. Byrnes
-William E. Timmons
-Robert C. Hill
-Defense Department
-Byrnes
-Children
-Honesty
-Finances
-Clark MacGregor [?]
-Work with Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Press relations
-Possible replacement
-Gerald L. Warren
-Herbert G. Klein
-George Christian
Press relations
-President’s press conferences
-Timing
-Grand jury indictments
-Questions and answers [Q&A]
-President’s openness
-Secret negotiations
Personnel management and appointments
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Ziegler
-Intelligence, loyalty, honesty
-Statements regarding John W. Dean, III report
-Usefulness
-Credibility as press officer
-Compared with other staff members
-Conversation with Connally
-Likabilty
-Cabinet
-Ash
-Limitations
-Shultz
-Communication skills
-Compared with William E. Simon
-Loyalty, competence
-Possible changes
-Dr. James R. Schlesinger
-Defense Department
-Earl L. Butz
-Rogers C. B. Morton
-Peter J. Brennan
-James T. Lynn
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Possible departure
-Schlesinger
-White House staff
-Press office, Congressional liaison office
-Byrnes
-Responsibilities
-Council of Economic Advisors [CEA]
-Herbert G. Stein
National economy
-President’s meeting with Shultz
-Possible freeze
-Import surcharge
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-International reaction
-Balance of payments
-US exports
-Bilateral agreements
-South America
-Venezuela [?]
-Canada
-Taiwan
-Japan
-Effect on US jobs
-Appeal to labor
-Tax legislation
-Multinational corporations
-Labor unions
-Import surcharge
-Nationalism
-Possible freeze
-Effects of conclusion
-Inflation
-Unemployment
Personnel management and appointments
-Shultz
-Cabinet
-Communication
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Domestic Council leadership
-Ability
-Cabinet meeting
-Connally’s advice
-Ash’s follow-up
-Personnel problems
-Clearance
-Federal Bureau of Investigations [FBI] record
-Contacts with President
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
Congressional relations
-President’s meetings with leadership
-Bipartisan election commission
-President’s conversation with Gerald R. Ford, Hugh Scott
-Timmons
-Congressional liaison office in White House
-Perceptions of liaison’s stature
-Timmons
-Byrnes
Ziegler
-Role on White House staff
-Press conferences
-Frequency
-Conversation with President
-Replacement
Watergate
-Defined
-Washington, DC’s feelings regarding White House staff
-Press actions
-Indictments
-Mitchell
-John D. Ehrlichman and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-John N. Mitchell, Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Seale Rule
-President’s papers
-White House cooperation
-President’s response
-Grand jury indictments
-President’s possible resignation
-Impeachment
-White House response
-Rebuild confidence
Personnel management
-Appointments
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Harlow, Clark MacGregor, and George H. W. Bush’s recommendations
-Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] chairman[?]
-G. Bradford Cook
-Resignation
-Robert L. Vesco case
-Replacement
-Recommendations
-Connally
-Republican machinery
-Resignations
-Robert C. Seamans, Jr.
-Air Force
-Howard (“Bo”) Calloway
-Robert F. Froehlke
-Second term
-Private sector
-Experience
-White House favors
-Effect of Vesco case
-White House staff role
-Operations compared to policy
-Compared to Cabinet, agencies
-President’s responsibility
-Domestic Council
-Operations
-Compared to policy
-Dams
-Political patronage
-Shultz, Morton, Schlesinger, and Byrnes
-Cabinet officers
-President’s culpability
President’s possible resignation
-Agnew
Watergate
-Connally’s conversation with Haig
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Wiretaps
-Connally’s conversation with unknown man
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Hearings
-Pace
-President’s reaction
-Possible release of information
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Destruction of records
-United States Secret Service [USSS]
-John F. Kennedy
-Removal of Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] files
-Marvin Watson
-Johnson’s files
-Lyndon B. Johnson Library
-Criticism
-President’s possible response
-Press irresponsibility
-Compared with McCarthyism
-Charges concerning President’s San Clemente property
-Los Angeles Times headline
-Connally’s law firm
-Gulf Resources
-Bob Adams[?]
-President’s possible response
-Effect of forthcoming Soviet summit
-Indictments
-Special Prosecutor
-Warren M. Christopher
-Partnership
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy and John V. Tunney
-Party for Bob Pressler
-1976 campaign
-Carmine Bellino
-Christopher
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-17 (cont’d)
-Relationship to Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Tunney
-Information gathering on the President’s opponents
-FBI, USSS
-Connally’s mood
Connally left at 11:35 am.