President Nixon met with Ronald Ziegler and Henry Kissinger to coordinate the administration's public posture regarding military actions in Indochina, specifically the recent bombing of Haiphong and the presence of Soviet ships. Kissinger briefed the President on his communications with Soviet Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin and journalist Stewart Alsop, emphasizing the administration's determination to maintain a firm stance despite concerns over the upcoming Moscow summit. The group finalized plans for the President to meet with Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird and Admiral Thomas Moorer to ensure consistent testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On April 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:10 pm to 2:28 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 331-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 331-2
Date: April 17, 1972
Time: 2:10 pm - 2:28 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.
William P. Rogers
The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger at an unknown time between 2:10 and 2:15 pm.
[Conversation No. 331-2A]
Current meeting
-Review of something
-Briefing
[End of telephone conversation]
Ziegler's schedule
-Morning briefing
-Conversation with unknown person
-Gerald L. Warren
The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman?] at an unknown time
between 2:10 and 2:15 pm.
[Conversation No. 331-2B]
Clark MacGregor
-Report
The President's schedule
[End of telephone conversation]
Press conference
-Questions
-Soviet ships
-Soviet summit
-Indochina
-Answers
The President’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Announcement
-Invitation to Poland
-Warren
Kissinger entered at 2:15 pm.
Ziegler’s schedule
-Forthcoming briefing
Soviet Union
-Question at Rogers's press conference
-Soviet ships
-Use of official channels
-US reply to a message
-Vietnam
-Soviet ships
-US public opinion
-Ziegler's statement on bombing
-US message to Soviet Union
Ziegler left at 2:17 pm.
Ziegler’s work
Kissinger's conversation with Stewart J.O. Alsop
Kissinger's schedule
Ziegler's press conference
Soviet Union
-Vietnam
-Kissinger's meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Soviet ships
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number
LPRN-T-MDR-2014-018. Segment partially declassified with 00m04s cleared for release and
00m07s remains exempt as 331-002-w002 per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(1) on 07/23/2019.
Archivist: MAS]
[National Security]
[331-002-w002]
[Duration: 7s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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[National Security]
[331-002-w002]
[Duration: 4s]
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Vietnam
-Henry A. Kissinger’s meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Reports
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Vietnam
-Kissinger's meeting with Dobrynin
-Relations with US
-Soviet summit
-Soviet position
-German Treaty
-Middle East settlement
-People's Republic of China [PRC]
-PRC
-The President
-Compared to Lyndon B. Johnson
-Kissinger's Moscow trip
-Announcement
-Timing
-Haiphong bombing
-Significance
Vietnam
-Kissinger's meeting with Alsop
-The President's trip to Moscow
-Invasion by North Vietnam
-Alsop article
-Ziegler's press conference
-Kissinger's meeting with Dobrynin
-US bombing
US-Soviet relations
-Middle East
-European security
-State of relations
-Current situation
-PRC
-Vietnam
-Blockade
-1972 election
-Impact
-Soviet concerns
-Summit
-Risks of bombing
-Hanoi and Haiphong
-Kissinger’s trip
-Timing
Vietnam
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-Testimony by Melvin R. Laird and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, April 18, 1972
-Meeting with the President
-Rogers's testimony
-Time
-Kissinger's call
-Arrangements
-Laird and Moorer
-Public stance
-Compared with Rogers's testimony
-Laird’s previous testimony
-Meeting with the President
-Necessity
-Ziegler
-Time
-Ziegler’s announcement
-The President’s talks with Rogers
-Forthcoming meetings with the President
-Timing
Kissinger left at 2:28 pm.This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.