Conversation No. 919-27

Date: May 16, 1973
Time: 12:34 pm - 1:25 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

       G. Bradford Cook 

              -Resignation        


       Watergate
             -Elliot L. Richardson        

                     -Possible contact with President     

                     -Possible replacement by James T. Lynn 

                     -Confirmation         

                     -Ervin Committee          

                                              -43-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                    (rev. September-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

              -Grand jury
                     -Delay
                     -Collusion, conspiracy

      Polls        

              -Albert E. Sindlinger       

              -President’s popularity       

                      -Foreign policy
              -Domestic policy
                      -Downward trend
                             -Watergate, economy
              -Sindlinger
                      -Watergate
              -George H. Gallup

      Watergate
            -Confidence
                   -Polls
            -President’s previous conversation with John B. Connally
                   -White House staff changes

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 12:34 pm.

      Ronald L. Ziegler’s press conference 

            -Leonard Garment           

                    -Availability to President        


The unknown man left at an unknown time before 1:25 pm.

      Press relations       

              -Ziegler        

                      -Frequency of press briefings
                             -Issues briefings
                             -President’s role
                                     -Indictments

      Watergate
                                     -44-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                            (rev. September-2012)

                                                     Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

       -Effect on administration      

       -Administration’s response          


White House staff
      -Changes           

              -Connally         

              -John W. Byrnes          

      -Deputy for Haig          

      -Press secretary replacement         

      -Ziegler         

      -Haig’s role         

      -Public relations [PR]       

              -Patrick J. Buchanan and Raymond K. Price, Jr. 

      -Ziegler         

              -Possible replacement          

                      -Robert J. McCloskey          

                             -Loyalty, capabilities       

                                     -Southeast Asia policy
              -Support for President
              -Liability
                      -Compared with Henry A. Kissinger, Haig

Watergate
      -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman
              -Resignations
                     -Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters’s testimony
      -Walters’s memoranda of conversation [memcons] 

              -William E. Colby’s possible testimony 

              -Richard M. Helms         

              -Dr. James R. Schlesinger        

      -Colby

Personnel management and appointments
       -Schlesinger
              -Richardson
                     -Confirmation
              -Washington Post editorial
                                     -45-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                            (rev. September-2012)

                                                     Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)


Congressional relations
      -Senate resolution
              -Funds for Indochina

Watergate
      -White House response         

             -Connally’s view         

             -Solid decision making         

             -President’s appointments          

      -Congress

William E. Timmons
       -Congressional liaison office
              -Weakness
       -Possible replacement         

              -Byrnes          

              -Bryce N. Harlow           

                      -Financial situation
                              -Retirement
              -Clark MacGregor
                      -Investigation
              -George H. W. Bush
                      -Republican National Committee [RNC]

Spiro T. Agnew
       -Attendance at Cabinet meeting
               -Reaction to Connally
       -Statement [?]

               -Leak        

               -Support for President       

       -Duties
               -Compared to Connally
               -Cabinet
               -National Security Council [NSC]
               -Senate
               -Compared to President as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Vice President
                                        -46-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. September-2012)

                                                        Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

               -Congress       

               -Domestic Council        

                      -Reporting       

        -Forthcoming conversation with Haig 


Vietnam
      -Kissinger’s conversation with President 

             -Peace negotiations        

             -Congress         

             -Impeachment          

      -Bombing
             -Compared to mining          

      -Armed Services Committee vote 

      -People’s Republic of China [PRC] 

             -Relations with United States

Poll
        -Support for the President
        -National reaction [to Watergate ?]
               -Revulsion          

               -Marxist dialectic       


Watergate
      -J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
              -Forthcoming call to Charles W. Colson 

      -Colson          

      -Executive privilege          

              -Grand jury         

              -Trials        

      -Ervin Committee          

              -Indictments          

                      -Lawyers for Haldeman and Ehrlichman           

      -Buzhardt          


Agnew
        -Reaction to Connally
                                       -47-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. September-2012)

                                                        Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

Connally’s schedule
      -Bill Kintner

Declassification
       -Bay of Pigs, Ngo Dinh Diem, Lebanon
       -Effect on foreign policy

Watergate
      -Wiretaps        

             -William D. Ruckelshaus         

             -John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations 

                    -United States Secret Service [USSS]
             -William C. Sullivan’s statement
             -News coverage
                    -Ziegler
                    -New York Times
                    -Federal Bureau of Investigations [FBI] leaks

FBI director
       -Jerry H. Jones’s forthcoming meeting with Haig
       -Ruckelshaus
       -Herbert J. Miller, Jr., head of Robert F. Kennedy’s criminal investigations
        division 

               -Republican          

               -Service          

                      -Latin America           

                                -Haig        

               -Criminal charges          

                      -Lyndon B. Johnson           

                      -Robert D. (“Bobby”) Baker           

                                -John F. Kennedy’s assassination
                                -Ticket
                                -Johnson’s knowledge
                                -1964 election
                                -Robert F. Kennedy’s problem

Watergate
                                     -48-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                            (rev. September-2012)

                                                    Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

       -Compared to Bobby Baker 

       -Cook       


FBI director
       -Miller
               -Haig’s list     

       -Requirements         

       -Miller        

               -Republican        

               -John F. Kennedy administration      

               -Legal career        

               -Toughness, dedication       


Watergate
      -Buzhardt
             -John W. Dean, III’s documents
                    -Defense Department visit
             -Melvin R. Laird
      -Dean
             -Documents          

                    -Possible release      

                    -National security       

                    -Criminal liability      

      -White House response         

             -Ronald L. Ziegler         


Connally
      -Previous meeting with President
              -Attitude
      -Beliefs regarding White House staff
              -Motive
      -Richardson’s confirmation
              -Dislike
      -Laird
              -Dislike       

                      -Lockheed        

                      -Monetary issues       

                                         -49-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. September-2012)

                                                       Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

                      -Pay ceiling

Watergate
      -Press briefings        

              -Ziegler      

              -Garment’s role        

              -LaCosta         


Personnel management and appointments
       -Ziegler          

               -Value          

               -Haig’s deputy               

       -Buzhardt           

               -Possible role             

                        -Watergate              

               -Counsel             

               -Work with Garment                 

       -Domestic Council
               -Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
                        -Staff
                        -Ehrlichman
                        -Relations with George P. Shultz and Roy L. Ash
               -Need for in-house intellectual          

                        -Price and Buchanan           

       -Policy area          

               -Agnew            

               -Intellectual            

               -Compared to operational functions          

       -Intellectual’s role           

               -Public speaking               

       -Performance            

               -Cabinet            

       -Shultz         

       -Time commitment                 

       -Connally           

               -Possible Cabinet position           

                        -Timing after Soviet summit         

                                         -50-

              NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                 Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. September-2012)

                                                        Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

          -Kissinger        

          -Secretary of State          

                 -Connally          

                         -Liabilities             

                         -Democratic Party                

                 -Kissinger          

                         -Assets           

                         -Haig’s experience                

                         -Congressional testimony              

                 -Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiatives
                 -Kissinger          

                         -Overseas trips               

                         -Social engagements                 

                 -William P. Rogers’s resignation              

                         -State Department morale               

                         -Soviet summit                 

                                 Nuclear agreements
                                             -US concessions
                                             -Interpretation
                                             -President’s control
                                             -Kissinger’s role
                         -Announcement
                                 -State Department morale
                                 -Rogers’s reaction
                 -Connally’s viewpoint
                 -Rogers’s resignation                

                         -Willingness               

                         -Kissinger             

                         -Haig           

                 -Connally          

                         -Kissinger’s possible response           


Presidential papers
       -Haldeman
       -President’s notes to Kissinger

Ziegler
                                       -51-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. September-2012)

                                                       Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

       -Duration of press briefing
              -Garment          

       -Toughness          

       -Retention on staff        

       -Loyalty        


Watergate
      -Walters
             -Testimony
                    -Confirmations of Schlesinger and Colby
             -Memcons

Schlesinger
       -Relations with Congress
       -Selection as candidate
               -Defense Secretary        

               -Ability        

               -Experience        

               -Knowledge         

                       -Missile

Richardson
       -Confirmation         

              -President’s support       

              -Conversation with President         

       -Conversation with Haig
              -Ziegler         

       -Possible actions as Attorney General 

       -Liberalism

              -Judicial appointments        

              -FBI director         

              - President’s prerogative        

                      -Haig        


Watergate
      -Cook
               -Maurice H. Stans
                                                 -52-


                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                       Tape Subject Log 

                                     (rev. September-2012)

                                                               Conversation No. 919-27 (cont’d)

                               -Texas       

                      -Telephone call from Dean           

               -Dean         

                      -Role        

                      -Possible testimony          

                               -Meeting with President, March 21
                                      -Haldeman and Ehrlichman
                                      -President’s response
               -President’s announcement, April 17 

               -Haldeman and Ehrlichman             

               -President’s opponents         

                      -Shifts in national mood
                               -Great Society, social welfare, and permissiveness

Haig left at 1:25 pm.