Easy NixonAbout

Conversation: 329-042

Prev:  329-041 Next: 329-043

Start Date: 15-Apr-1972 1:00 PM

End Date: 15-Apr-1972 2:00 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kissinger, Henry A.

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 03:58:11

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 04:53:44

329a.mp3

329b.mp3

329c.mp3

329d.mp3

NARA Description:

On April 15, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 329-042 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 329-42

Date: April 15, 1972
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

     William P. Rogers
          -Call to Kissinger
                -The President's schedule
                -Rogers's schedule
                -Messages to Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                -Kissinger’s meeting with Dobrynin
                -Rogers’s meeting with Dobrynin

     Vietnam
          -North Vietnamese public statement
               -Private message
                     -Request for private meeting on April 27
                           -Disclosure to Rogers
                                 -Rogers’s possible reaction
                                      -William J. Porter
               -Public meeting
                     -Porter’s views
                           -Bombing
                           -Cancellation of private session
                     -US agreement to attend
                           -Private meeting on April 24
                           -Kissinger’s conversation with porter
          -Kissinger’s meeting with Yuli M. Vorontsov
               -Dobrynin
                     -Schedule
                                  50

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 10/06)
                                                           Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

-Le Duc Tho
     -Travel to Paris
-An Loc
     -Present situation
     -Military briefing
           -Credibility
           -Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
           -Kissinger’s conversation with unknown person
     -Present situation
           -Prisoner of war [POW] reports
     -US bombing in area
           -Air sorties
                 -North Vietnamese casualties
           -Air Force
                 -New chief
                 -John D. Ryan's term
                 -B-52s
-Rogers
-Laird
     -Conversation with Kissinger
           -Instructions
     -Moorer
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
     -Actions in South Vietnam
           -Motives
           -Administration’s tactics
-Demonstrations in France
     -Compared with Lyndon b. Johnson's administration
-US statement
     -U. Alexis Johnson
     -French
           -Ties with Hanoi
-Public meeting with North Vietnam on April 27
     -Kissinger’s message
           -Attendance
           -Private meeting on April 24
           -Scheduling
           -Message to Vorontsov
-Naval gunfire
     -Deployment
     -Targets
     -Intensity
                                   51

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                            Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. 10/06)
                                                            Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

           -Increase in destroyers
-North Vietnamese offensive
     -US reaction
           -Blockade of Haiphong
                 -Naval forces
                 -Strategy
           -An loc
                 -US shelling
                 -Situation
                 -Air strikes
                       -B-52s
-Rogers’s reaction to bombing
     -Lack of communication with Kissinger
     -White house communication with other State Department officials
     -Briefing
           -Robert J. McCloskey
-Negotiations
     -Private meeting
           -Porter’s views
                 -Public meeting
                       -Bombing issue
                       -Possible North Vietnamese cancellation of plenary session
           -Possible cancellation by North Vietnam
           -Date
                 -Timing
                       -Soviet summit
           -North Vietnamese concessions
           -Democratic convention
     -Role of Soviet Union
-Demonstrations
     -Effect
     -Bombing
     -Canada, France, Great Britain and Stockholm
           -Burning of US embassies
-Negotiations
     -Lyndon B. Johnson example
     -Kissinger’s concern
           -Rogers
     -Plenary session
           -Rogers
                 -Meeting with Laird
           -Laird’s statement
                                   52

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                            Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. 10/06)
                                                           Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

                  -Criticism of White House policy
                  -B-52s
                  -Hanoi
     -[Unintelligible]
-Blockade
     -Timing
           -Level of support in US
                  -Demonstrations
     -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
           -Secret meeting
           -Topics of discussion
                  -Vietnam
                  -Standards of progress
                        -End of the war
-Kissinger’s trip to Soviet Union
     -Negotiations
     -Soviet summit
           -Conditions in Vietnam
           -Blockade
           -West German treaty issue
     -US offers to north Vietnam
           -North Vietnamese refusal regarding April 24 meeting
           -Meeting on April 24
           -The President's approval of Kissinger’s trip
     -Blockade
           -Hanoi
           -Battle area and "I" corps
           -Impact
           -Intent
           -Plans
           -Conditions for cessation
                  -POW return
                        -Subsequent withdrawal of US troops
           -Withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam
-Blockade
     -Reactions
           -North Vietnam
                  -Ability to withstand
                        -Length of time
                  -US attacks
                        -Railroad
                        -Petroleum, oil and lubricants [POL] and weapons dumps
                                        53

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

                           -Truck parks
                -Soviet Union
                      -Confrontation with US
                      -Hanoi relationship towards People's Republic of China [PRC]
          -Effect
                -PRC involvement
                      -Relationship with US
                -Soviet Union
                      -Possible cancellation of summit
                -Fall of South Vietnam
                      -Effect on Soviet and PRC initiatives
     -Soviet summit
          -Israel

US foreign policy
     -Taiwan
     -Israel
     -Vietnam
     -Pierre E. Trudeau

Vietnam
     -Blockade
          -Soviet summit
          -Battles in South Vietnam
          -Opposition in US and worldwide
                -Build-up
          -Timing
          -Soviet Union
                -Relations with North Vietnam
          -Domestic support
                -Erosion
     -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
          -Effect
          -Possible public revelation of trip
          -Summit
                -Possible cancellation
                -Dobrynin
          -Message to soviets
                -Vietnam
                -Summit
          -Soviet proposals
                -US response
                                        54

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                                Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

           -Value to US and Soviet Union
           -Kissinger’s previous conversation with Andrei A. Gromyko
           -Blockade
           -Summit
     -Blockade
           -Timing
                 -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
           -Domestic reaction
           -Plans
                 -Bombing
                 -Trip to Moscow
                 -Blockade
     -Air strike
           -Laird’s and Moorer’s actions
                 -Reasons
           -Rogers

The President's trip to Canada
     -Rogers
     -Margaret Trudeau
     -News summary report
     -The President's speech

Vietnam
     -Soviet summit
          -Possible cancellation
          -Nguyen Van Thieu
          -Possible cancellation
                -Blockade
                -Impact
                     -1972 presidential election
                           -Democratic victory
                           -Possible republican candidates
                                 -Nelson A. Rockefeller
                                 -Ronald W. Reagan
                                 -Warren E. Burger
                                 -John B. Connally
                           -The President's withdrawal
                                 -The President's endorsement of Connally
                           -Loss of South Vietnam and soviet summit
                                 -Impact on Nixon presidency
                                       -Blockade
                                  55

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 10/06)
                                                             Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

                                -Alternative candidate
                                      -Connally
                                           -Foreign policy
                                -Kissinger’s role
                                      -Reagan
                                      -Rockefeller
                                      -Burger
                     -Possible democratic candidates
                          -Edmund S. Muskie
                          -Hubert H. Humphrey
                          -Edward M. Kennedy
     -Thieu
     -Possible loss of war
           -Impact on administration
-Blockade
     -Strategy
     -Kissinger’s posture in Soviet Union
           -Summit
           -Possible soviet reaction
           -Possible North Vietnamese reaction
           -Kissinger’s reputation
           -Kissinger’s message
     -The President's responsibility
     -Alternatives
           -Bombing of ports
                 -Soviet ships
                 -Harbors
                 -Bridges
     -American public support
           -Compared with support for bombing
                 -Casualties
                 -POWs
-Kissinger’s message to Soviets
     -Transmittal
     -Contents
           -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
           -Soviet ambassador
           -North Vietnamese views regarding meetings
           -Soviet views
           -Concrete proposal on agenda for Kissinger’s meetings
-Negotiations
     -Plenary sessions
                                              56

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 329-42 (cont.)

                       -Porter’s responsibility
                       -US position
                 -Private meeting
                       -May 7th
                 -Public meeting
                       -Porter’s strategy
                 -Le Duc Tho
                       -Paris visit
                 -US position regarding private and public meetings
                 -Plenary sessions
                       -Schedule
                             -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
                       -Bombing
                 -Public and private meetings
                       -Porter
                       -US conditions
                       -Dates
                       -US responses
                 -Kissinger’s message

Kissinger left at 2:00 pm.