Conversation: 330-007
Prev: 330-006 Next: 330-008Start Date: 5-Apr-1972 9:16 AM
End Date: 5-Apr-1972 9:55 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; White House operator; Kissinger, Henry A.; Moorer, Thomas H. (Adm.);Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:14:32
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 00:50:56
NARA Description:
On April 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, Henry A. Kissinger, and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:16 am to 9:55 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 330-007 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 330-7
Date: April 5, 1972
Time: 9:16 am - 9:55 am
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
Vietnam
-Morning report
-Weather conditions
-Destroyers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Report on air attacks
-Veracity
-Dong Hoi and Hue
-Reports
-Robert E. Pursley
-Reports to Laird
-Positioning of destroyers
-Destroyers
-Use
-Origin of instructions
-The President's orders
-Losses
-Air attacks
-Plane losses
-Number
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Crossing of river
-Tanks
-Latest reports
-Quang Tri
-Counterattack
-US response
-Unknown Air Force commander
-Replacement
-Promotion
-Air strikes
-General Lucius Dub. Clay Jr.'s report
-Cloud cover
-Effect on instruments
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 330-7 (cont.)
-Air Force reluctance
-Weather
-Compared with the Battle of the Bulge
-George S. Patton
-Lack of imagination
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:16 and 9:27
am.
[Conversation No. 330-7A]
[See Conversation No. 22-79]
[End of telephone conversation]
Vietnam
-Administration’s opponents
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Barry M. Goldwater
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Mansfield
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Air strikes
-Necessity
-B-52s
-Tactical aircraft
-Number
-III Corps
-Benefit
-Thomas H. Moorer's return call
-Kissinger
-Air commander
-Replacement
-Clay
-Experience
-Air strikes
-Moorer’s reluctance
-Creighton W. Abrams
-Handling of Laos operation
-The President's comments to Moorer
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] Chairman
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 330-7 (cont.)
-Moorer’s comments to D. Kenneth Rush
-Moorer’s recommendation
-Abrams’s capabilities
Henry A. Kissinger talked with Moorer between 9:27 and 9:32 am.
[Conversation No. 330-7B]
[See Conversation No. 22-80]
The President conferred with Kissinger during the conversation.
The President joined the conversation at an unknown time.
[End of telephone conversation]
Vietnam
-B-52 strikes
-Targets
-B-3 area
-Number of sorties
-Air commander
-Compared with a doctor operating
-Destroyers
-Route one
-Effectiveness
-Briefing given by Kissinger on April 5
-Weather
-Clearing
-Naval gunfire
-Range
-Route One to Da Nang
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] morale
-Reports
-Verification
-Effectiveness of fighting
-News stories
-Laos
-Civil war
-Mansfield
-Trip to People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Possible conversation with the President
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 330-7 (cont.)
-The President's response
-North Vietnamese offensive
-US response
-Air strikes
-Weather
-Break
-Aircrafts’ vulnerability
-Weather
-Predictions
-Air Force command
-Shake-up
-Abrams
-Laird
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Commander
-Unknown person's suggestion
-Ability
-Army Commander
-Kissinger’s recommendation
-[Forename unknown] Davidson
-US offensive
-Moorer’s role
-Destroyers
-New ideas
-The President's and Kissinger’s role
-F-4s
-Destroyers
-B-52s
-Carriers
-Moorer’s call to Abrams
-Abrams’s role
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Countermeasures
-Haiphong
-Determination
-Soviet Union's role
-Hanoi
-PRC
-Risk for Soviets
-Gains
-Impact of a US defeat
-US-Soviet Union summit
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 330-7 (cont.)
-Air strikes
-B-52s
-Moorer’s report
-Number
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Flying ceiling
-US air command
-John W. Vogt
-Clay
-Abrams
-Replacement
-Effect
-JCS appointment
-Moorer
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Hue
-Moorer
-Gain of territory
-Negotiations
-Laos
-North Vietnamese request
-US refusal
-William J. Porter
-Abilities
-Decision regarding a walk-out
-U. Alexis Johnson
-US command
-Loyalty to the President
-Secretary of Defense
-Loyalty to the President
-Control of military
-Undersecretary
-Porter
-Kissinger’s recommendation
Soviet summit
-William P. Rogers
-Letter from the President
-Approach to summit
-Report on PRC
-Request for Rogers’s views
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 330-7 (cont.)
-Recommendations
-Subjects to be discussed
-Possible call from Haig
Blackmail of unknown person
-Private army [?]
Vietnam
-Guerillas
-Air commander
-Loyalty
Soviet summit
-Timing
-The president's schedule
-National Security Council [NSC]
Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Break in weather
-Cambodia
-Bombing
-Haiphong area
-Alternatives
-Weather
-Bombing
-Haiphong
-Weather
-Cloud cover
-Optimism on outcome
Kissinger left at 9:55 am.