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Conversation: 417-003

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Start Date: 5-Mar-1973 2:55 PM

End Date: 5-Mar-1973 3:25 PM

Participants:

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

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

417-003.mp3

NARA Description:

On March 5, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:55 pm to 3:25 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 417-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 417-3

Date: March 5, 1973
Time: 2:55 pm - 3:25 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

       Kissinger's meeting with Great Britain’s Defense Minister
              -Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War [APNW]
                     -Draft
                             -Complications
                             -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] response
                             -Work on draft
                                    -Sir Denis Greenhill
                                    -Sir Burke Trend
                                    -Sir Thomas Brimelow
                                            -Meeting with Kissinger
                             -USSR acceptance
                                    -Basic Principles of Relations between the US and USSR
                     -Response of the People's Republic of China [PRC]
                             -Explanation

       PRC
              -President's letter to Mao Tse-Tung


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 5s]

INTELLIGENCE

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
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       APNW
              -Impact on allies
                                       -3-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. June-2010)
                                                          Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



        -Impact on domestic opposition
        -Allies
                -Great Britain
                -Response
        -PRC
                -Knowledge
                -Kissinger draft of letter
        -Administration's critics
                -Confusion
                -Advancement in US-USSR relations
        -USSR
                -Possible acceptance
        -Compared with Kellog-Briand Treaty

France’s elections
       -Guallists
               -Results
               -United Press International [UPI] report
       -Communists
               -Compared with Socialists
               -Effect on Gaullists
               -Polls
               -Constituencies
               -Analysis for Kissinger
       -Guallists

Chile
        -Election
                -UPI reports
                -Salvador Allende Gossens
                        -Minority vote
                               -Significance
                        -Reasons
                -Press reports
                        -UPI
                        -Compared with France

France’s electoral system
                                        -4-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. June-2010)
                                                       Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



       -Majority
       -Districts
               -Gerrymandering
               -Communist vote
                     -Distribution

News reports
      -President’s annotations

-Johnny Express freighter incident
       -Captain Jose Villa
              -Panama
                      -Release
              -Information
                      -Cuban community in US
       -Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo
              -News summary
              -Kissinger’s memo
       -Impact on Cuban community in US
              -Wife, children
                      -Telephone call
                      -Visit with Rebozo

Kissinger's talk with Hugh S. Sidey and Joseph C. Kraft
       -Sidey's viewpoint
                -President compared with John F. Kennedy’s foreign policy
                       -President's humanitarian concerns
       -Kraft
                -George S. McGovern as conservative
                -President as progressive on foreign policy
                -Compare with France’s Communist Party
                       -Fear of change

US ambassador to Vietnam
      -Frederick C. Nolting, Jr.
             -President’s note

Party for William P. Rogers
                                        -5-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. June-2010)
                                                        Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



         -Kissinger's attendance
                -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s attendance
                -Casts of plays
         -Nicholas von Hoffman
                -Support for President in 1960
                         -Kennedy
                         -Foreign policy
                -Criticism of President

Kissinger
       -Avoidance of disillusioning supporters
       -Contacts with Sidey, Kraft
              -Frequency

Foreign policy
       -Administration record
       -Press relations
               -Clayton Fraizer’s [?] story
                       -News summary
                       -Comments on Vietnam settlement
                       -Frustration
               -Prisoners of war [POWs] statements upon return
                       -London Sunday Times
                               -Frank Giles [?]
                                      -Criticism of December 1972 bombing [?]
                                      -President’s foreign policy compared with Gen.
                                       Charles A. J. M. de Gaulle
                                      -Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
                                              -Demoralization

Rogers
         -Luncheon
         -Plaque unveiling
                 -President's attendance
         -Interactions with agencies
                 -Small groups
                 -Defense Department
                        -Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft [?]
                                       -6-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. June-2010)
                                                       Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



       -Kissinger's call
              -President's attendance at a meeting
                      -Handling of POW situation
                      -Subject of discussion
              -Arrangements compared to Defense Department

President’s letter to Willy Brandt
       -Effect

International monetary policy
        -Letter from Edward R. G. Heath
                -President's talk with George P. Shultz
                -Kissinger
                       -Meeting with Shultz
                       -Meeting with George R. S. Baring [Earl of Cromer]
                       -President’s response
                                -Brimelow
                                        -Attendance at Brandt discussion
                                -Bilateral actions
                                -Common float
                                -Restriction on capital movement

West Germany’s position
      -Telephone call to Kissinger
             -Helmut H. W. Schmidt
             -Finance minister
             -West Germany-US relations
             -Request for US intervention
             -Shultz’s knowledge
      -Impact on European Economic Community [EEC]
      -US intervention
             -Necessity
                     -Shultz’s, President’s opinion
                            -US dollar
             -Schmidt
                     -US inaction
                     -US criticism of Europe
             -Europe’s commitment
                                          -7-

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. June-2010)
                                                           Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



                  -Reform of international monetary situation
         -Japan
                  -Kakuei Tanaka
                        -Reaction to invitation to US
                                -Arrival of advisor
                  -[Emperor of Japan] Hirohito

Tanaka
         -Visit to US
                 -time

USSR visit to US

President's schedule
       -Visits to San Clemente
               -Kissinger visit
               -Weather

Tanaka visit

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi [Shah of Iran]

Tanaka visit
      -Public statements about US

Press relations
        -Problems
                -1972 election
                -Vietnam settlement
        -Giles [?]
        -Von Hoffman
                -Elizabeth Ashley [?]
                -President’s foreign, domestic policy
                       -Compared with post-World War II presidents
                -Age
                -Comments on President's foreign policy
                       -De Gaulle
                                       -8-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. June-2010)
                                                        Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



International monetary policy
        -President’s leadership
               -Actions on currency
        -Reform of monetary system
               -West Germany’s position
        -Shultz’s viewpoint
        -President's view of intervention
               -Political impact
                        -EEC

President’s policy toward Latin America and Africa
       -Tokenism
       -Carlos Sanz de Santamaria
               -Organization of American States [OAS]
               -Alliance for Progress
       -Head of state visits
               -Brazil
               -Africa
               -Nigeria
               -Congo
               -Reception
               -Length
               -Brazil
               -Mexico
                       -Reception
                       -Radicals
                              -Size of group
               -Brazil
               -Africa
               -Ivory Coast
               -Liberia
               -Nigeria
               -Congo
               -East Africa
               -Nigeria
                       -Great Britain
               -Congo
                       -Belgium
                                             -9-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. June-2010)
                                                             Conversation No. 417-3 (cont’d)



                      -Ivory Coast
                             -France
                             -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon’s visit
                             -Felix Houphouet-Boigny’s visit to US

       International monetary policy
               -Europe
                      -Kissinger’s meeting with Shultz
                      -Dealings with US
               -Kissinger's call to Schmidt
                      -Responsibility for reform
               -Heath, Tanaka
               -Georges J. R. Pompidou
                      -Runoff election
                      -Public statement
                              -Kissinger’s call

Kissinger left at 3:25 pm.