Conversation 226-031

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Oh, I see.

I see.

Well, actually, uh, I am actually, uh, spending the morning, uh, dictating.

I'm dictating, uh, just, just on the plans and so forth.

I'd say that I'm, uh, dictating some reorganization.

So I'm, uh, I'm dictating some directions with regard to, uh, budget cuts.

I'm just doing my own reorganization plans, and I'd like to take some.

At 10.30, I'm going to go back to Washington.

I have to go back because it's closing.

And so forth and so on.

We'll come back here tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow night, perhaps around 5 o'clock.

About 11 o'clock off, yes.

I'll just be in Washington.

I won't be going anyplace.

Just going to Washington.

No, no, no.

No, no, well, no, no.

I'm just...

Just, uh, oh, well, actually, Ron, I'm just simply going back because I've got to pick up some clothes and things.

I've been here for four days and I forgot to bring a couple of suits.

I'm just going down and coming right back.

Let me see if you want to just say that we're going for, uh, I have no meetings.

Uh, I'm not going to see anybody.

Uh, let's see, what do we say?

I'm going to.

I've got to be in Washington to have dinner with the family tonight and then we'll return.

Uh, tomorrow.

How's that sound to you?

How's that?

Sad, huh?

No.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm coming down to have dinner with the family tonight.

Uh, return tomorrow.

You say, I return to Camp David tomorrow that I have a full schedule of appointments Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Why don't you just say that?

A full schedule of appointments.

I'm coming tomorrow.

Okay.

No, no, no, no.

No, I have completed the meeting with Kistler.

I will not see Kistler when I'm in Washington.

Just say no.

No, there will be no schedule today at meetings.

No, I don't see Kistler.

I mean, I've already seen him.

I don't, you know, I don't want to go in there.

I've completed my meeting with Kistler.

And, uh, one of the things I did is that I'm, uh, that I had completed the, uh, the discussion part of the

uh, the instructions for, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

that I will not meet with him.

I've already met with him, but I'm working on his positions.

Those positions will be cabled to him.

He leaves, and those positions will be delivered to him before he goes or cabled to him on Sunday.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

We have no meeting scheduled.

There might be a meeting that I probably meet by phone.

but that I'm now, I'm really now doing the paperwork and that I'm working out the instructions on SALT and the negotiating position with regard to Vietnam and that I'm working on that.

And I had to go to Washington to get some materials together down there.

I just said I had to go to Washington to make a business.

I had to go to Washington to get some materials together to complete those things that I

Yeah.

No.

I'll spend the day in the White House.

I'm going to tell them I'm going to work in the Lincoln City.

That's not bad.

I'll be working in the Lincoln City when I'm coming out late.

I'm negotiating positions for the next round of talks in Paris.

And for the salt.

Yeah, we should begin the 21st.

And I'm working on that.

And I'm going to work in the Lincoln City.

They said, why isn't he working in Camp David?

Well, because I had some materials down there that I wanted to get to.

And I also wanted to do it.

so that I can call on people if I need them when they're there.

Put it that way, because there are staff members that I may want to call upon if I need them as I'm working on this.

I want to ensure it's going to be good.

How's that?

Good.

That'll be a good ride.

And the president is personally on this negotiation of critical importance.

I say that for critical importance.

And, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh,

He'll be on the telephone.

He may be, yes, I mean, depending upon how the thing goes.

But as these positions develop, the papers and so forth, he will, yes, he wants to be there where he can call on people if necessary.

But there will be no published papers, John.

I'll be in touch with him.

Oh, yes, I'll be conferring with Kissinger here today, yes, today.

Oh yes, that's fine, I'll be conferring with Dr. Kissinger during the day.

That's right.

Yes, I just have to be conferring with Dr. Kissinger.

I don't think we're meeting.

Fine, fine.

I'll be conferring with Dr. Kissinger.

That's right.

And other members of the staff on technical details.

The President feels the technical details now are very, very, very important.

He's working personally on the technical details because we want to be sure they're going on.

There are some, there are such, but there are a lot of technical details which could be enormously important later if they aren't nailed down.

The President wants to be examining every clause in the agreement so that when Dr. Kissinger goes to this meeting

It will be an agreement that the President personally approves and backs in every respect with, uh, uh, with Rogers.

We're waiting for all of them to get the, as to what we announce on Rogers.

But I don't want to, he's already said it, but we, we're not ready, but by next week we'll be ready to announce the changes to the plan.

Uh,

Right, right, right, right, right.

But I have been working.

You might say that the president at Camp David has been working very, very long hours.

I've been going out late at night and so forth and so on.

Somebody has said, you know, I was, my wife was saying, and I showed it to my daughter, they were concerned about the fact that the impression out of the

Yeah, well, you don't see that.

I don't think the country feels that way.

If it does, I don't even know if they do.

It's more than close to the start.

I'm sure there are going to be more.

What was the name of the killer?

Yeah.

Yeah, we had to find out the reason we didn't do it before.

We had to find out what we were going to do.

I had to make the, I had to, not what we're going to do, but not, didn't make the decision.

But I was looking at the reorganization plan.

Reorganization.

I'm not going to say every department is going to be reorganized.

I shouldn't say that.

Every department is going to be reorganized.

Reorganization.

That is, not in terms of what we submit to the Congress.

And it's within the congressional guidelines.

We won't go any further than that.

We're going to have some changes.

There isn't going to be changes of personnel, but there will be changes in the way of doing business.

How people work together, how we can work better with them.

One thing you can get out of this, well, I don't want one thing I don't want to do.

Chuck Colson is concerned that, and everybody sees it in his own way, that when, you know, half of us are leaving, he's concerned that he goes, I mean, when he goes, of course, it'll look as if he would, that basically he'd be fired.

I mean, to a certain extent, it's true that his enemies will say that, but what the hell, out here in the country, they don't know who the hell Chuck Colson is.

And also when a hell of a lot of people go, they go, or what do you think?

That's right.

And most, and these are, yeah, that's right.

And frankly, this is the question.

This is the point is that each member of the staff, some want to stay, some want to be changed, some want to move.

And each one is being handled.

I want you to say this, but each member of the cabinet has to be handled on a personal, individual basis.

That's why we're not making any announcements.

Okay, we'll have some very big announcements.

But I don't want this heartless thing to get out again.

You've got to knock that down.

You've got to say, on the contrary, everybody...

that members are welcoming the opportunity, you know, to really take a new look and recharge the administration, you know, to get some new ideas and so forth.

This is the only time it will be done.

If it isn't done now, it will never be done.

Of course, we admit, you know, we've done it in an orderly way.

We met with the Vice President first, with Connolly second, with Rogers third, and yesterday we just went on.

And maybe announce the ones for next week.

I'd announce those.

I think that's a very good story today.

Don't you think so?

Yeah, I just put those out.

Or put it out tomorrow.

There's another story.

Fine.

We're going to see this and that the other day.

We're going to see Monday.

And basically, since they're going to be out, I just announce those.

Announce the Monday schedule on Sunday and that.

Well, you should also find out that several members of the cabinet are away, I mean, are out of the country, for example, and others, Romney, for example, and then you can say that the order of the cabinet office calling out depends upon their, except, of course, to a certain extent, Treasury, defense, and so forth.

But from now on, the order will depend upon availability.

You should point this out, implying he sits out of it as a way.

Romney is a way, Volpe is a way.

See, I think that's very important so they don't feel that they aren't being called, that we're calling them up.

The president is trying to see them all just fitting in with their schedules.

If there's no order, nothing should be interpreted in terms of who comes first, okay?

Not about reorganization, but my point is let's make very sure they understand

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right, right, right.

Okay.

I will be working in Washington or up here.

How's the trailer working?

Where they place it?

I hope you tell them that was my idea.

I walked by and I saw them standing there in the cold and I said, for Christ's sake, get a trailer up there.

I remember being up at Wilkes-Barre and I said, why should the president out there, you know, looking for us?

And it brought us a nice little briefing room, too, doesn't it?

And everybody's, if they like it, any other remark about it, they must be pleased.

Good.

All right.