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Conversation: 298-032

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Start Date: 11-Nov-1971 4:29 PM

End Date: 11-Nov-1971 5:20 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Scott, HughKissinger, Henry A.White House operatorBull, Stephen B.Stennis, John C.

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 02:36:55

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 03:25:44

298a.mp3

298b.mp3

298c.mp3

NARA Description:

On November 11, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Hugh Scott, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, and John C. Stennis met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:29 pm to 5:20 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 298-032 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 298-32

Date: November 11, 1971
Time: 4:29 pm - 5:20 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
                                              35

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. 10/06)




The President talked with Hugh Scott.

[Conversation No. 298-32A]

[See Conversation No. 14-49]

Henry A. Kissinger entered and talked with Scott at an unknown time after 4:29 pm.

[End of telephone conversation]

     Hugh Scott
         -John C. Stennis Amendment

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:32 pm and
4:36 pm.

[Conversation No. 298-32B]

[See Conversation No. 14-50]

[End of telephone conversation]

     Foreign aid program
          -Senate vote

     Vietnam
          -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
               -Melvin R. Laird's call to Kissinger
                    -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                    -Leak
                          -Kissinger's attendance at Newsweek editors dinner
               -Leak
                    -Kissinger's conversation with John A. Scali
                    -William P. Rogers
                    -Laird
                    -Newsweek
                    -Laird
                          -Haldeman
                          -Call to Kissinger
                    -Scali's conversation with Newsweek
                                               36

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


                           -Lloyd Nolan
                                -Conversation with Daniel Z. Henkin
                -Rogers's view

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:32 pm.

     The President's schedule
          -Byron Schumacher

Bull left at an unknown time before 4:36 pm.

     Vietnam
          -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
               -Rogers's views
               -People's Republic of China [PRC] trip announcement

The President talked with Stennis between 4:36 pm and 4:37 pm.

[Conversation No. 298-32C]

[See Conversation No. 14-51]

[End of telephone conversation]

     Vietnam
          -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
               -Withdrawal rate
               -Timing of subsequent announcement
                    -PRC trip announcement
               -Residual forces
                    -Possible effect on PRC
               -Timing of subsequent announcement
               -Question and Answer [Q&A] session
                    -Evaluations
                          -Residual forces
                          -Negotiations
                                -Prisoners of war [POWs]
                                -Ceasefire
          -Forthcoming announcements
               -PRC trip announcement
               -Withdrawal rate
                                        37

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                               Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


     -Negotiations with North Vietnam
          -Possible “peace offensive”
          -Nguyen Van Thieu
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Rogers
                -Laird
                -The President’s schedule
          -The President's meeting with congressmen
                -Gerald R. Ford
          -Timing of subsequent announcements
                -Negotiations
                     -[William J. Porter]
                           -Possible return from Paris
     -Rogers and Laird
          -Views regarding the President's decisions
                -Laos, Cambodia, the President’s speech, November 3, 1969
                -The President’s speech, May 14, 1969
                     -Rogers’s schedule

Cabinet
     -Abraham Lincoln
          -Carl Sandburg's book
          -Edwin Stanton
     -John N. Mitchell and John B. Connally
     -Kissinger’s conversation with Haldeman
          -Connally

Vietnam
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Rogers's conversation with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
     -Rogers and Laird
     -The President's policy
          -Prospects
     -South Vietnamese capability
          -Thieu
                -Recent election
          -Foreign aid
          -Residual force
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Timing of subsequent announcements
                -Negotiations with North Vietnam
                                                 38

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


                           -Rogers's views
                           -Administration critics
                           -Possible proposal
                      -Withdrawal rate
                      -POWs
                      -Volunteers
                      -The President's forthcoming trip to PRC
                           -Administration critics
                      -Dean G. Acheson's theory
                      -Negotiations with North Vietnam
                      -The President's forthcoming trip to PRC
                           -Popularity
                           -Publicity
                                 -Press
                                       -Kissinger’s trip to PRC
                -Informing people
                      -Foreign allies
                           -Kissinger's conversation with William McMahon
                           -Thieu
                           -Korean Ambassador [Dong Jo Kim]
                      -Congress
                           -Carl T. Curtis
                           -Press
                                 -Clark MacGregor
                                 -Leaks
                           -Laird
                      -Rogers and Laird

Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:37 pm.

     Rogers
         -Call to the President

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:20 pm.

     Vietnam
          -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
               -Timing of subsequent announcement
                    -PRC trip announcement
                    -Rogers
                          -Possible call from Kissinger
                                            39

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. 10/06)
                                                                   Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


                                -Laird
                   -Withdrawal rate
                   -Creighton W. Abrams's possible call to Laird
                   -Laird's views
              -Rogers's call to the President
                   -Forthcoming call to Rogers
                         -Haig


*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 6s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

*****************************************************************


                         -Kissinger
                         -Laird
                         -PRC
              -Timing of subsequent announcements

    Kissinger’s schedule

    The President's forthcoming press conference
         -Possible press questions
              -US air power in Vietnam
                     -Vietnamization
                     -Communist infiltration of South Vietnam
                     -US ground forces
                           -Withdrawal
                     -Administration opponents
              -US China policy
                     -“One China”
              -India-Pakistan relations
                     -US military aid to Pakistan
                           -Partisan aspect
                                           40

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                                 Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


                         -Amount
                               -Spare parts
                   -Refugees
                   -East Pakistan
                         -Self-determination
                         -Use of force
                   -PRC

Israel
         -US military aid
              -Phantoms
         -Leonid I. Brezhnev's proposal
         -Rogers's treatment of Israel
              -1972 election
              -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
              -Phantoms
              -United Nations [UN] speech
                     -Egypt
                     -Negotiations
         -The President's role
              -Possible meeting with Golda Meir
         -[Unintelligible]
         -Phantoms
         -Joseph J. Sisco

Intelligence
      -Reorganization
           -Kissinger's conversation with W[illiam] Stuart Symington
           -Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board [FIAB]
           -Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
           -Richard M. Helms
                 -View
                      -Role
           -Kissinger's committee's role
           -The President’s possible comments

Vietnam
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Kissinger's forthcoming call to Rogers
               -The President's activities
                     -Clifford M. Hardin
                                          41

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                          Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


                     -Pay Board
                     -Haldeman and Stephen B. Bull
                     -Pay Board
                     -Calls to Scott and Stennis
                     -Haig
                     -Laird's recommendations

Rogers
    -The President's forthcoming trips to PRC and USSR

Cabinet
     -Possible meeting
     -Rogers and Laird

The President's forthcoming trip to PRC
     -Chou En-lai's schedule
          -Rogers
     -Plenary session

Vietnam
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Kissinger's forthcoming call to Rogers
               -The President's schedule
                     -Laird’s proposals

The President's schedule
     -Pay Board

Vietnam
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Rogers
               -Forthcoming call from Kissinger
               -Possible call from the President

Berlin
     -Rogers's phone conversations
          -Kissinger and Haldeman
     -[David] Kenneth Rush

Rogers
                                        42

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                 Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


David Kraslow of the Los Angeles Times
     -Conversation with Kissinger
          -State Department briefing
                -The President's forthcoming trip to PRC
                     -Cambodia

The President's forthcoming trip to PRC
     -Richard F. Pederson's conversation with unknown person
     -Adam Clymer of New York Times
     -Planning
           -Warsaw talks
                 -The President's orders to Walter J. Stoessel
     -Kissinger's possible call to Kraslow
     -State Department
           -Rogers
           -Pederson

State Department
      -Rogers
           -White House
           -The President's forthcoming trips to PRC and USSR
                -Preparation
                      -Papers
           -The President's knowledge of foreign relations
           -Knowledge of foreign relations

Vietnam
     -Forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
          -Kissinger's forthcoming call to Rogers
                -The President's activities
                     -Pay Board
                -Haig's memorandum
                -Laird's memorandum
          -The President’s policy
                -Prospects
                     -Rogers
          -Kissinger’s forthcoming calls to Rogers and Laird, November 12, 1971
          -Informing people
                -[McMahon]
                     -Australian Ambassador [Sir James Plimsoll]
                -Korean Ambassador [Dong Jo Kim]
                                                43

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                                     Conv. No. 298-32 (cont.)


                 -The President's possible call to Rogers

Kissinger left at 5:20 pm.