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Conversation: 483-019

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Start Date: 20-Apr-1971 4:20 PM

End Date: 20-Apr-1971 5:14 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Mitchell, John N.Dean, John W., IIIWhite House photographerZiegler, Ronald L.[Unknown person(s)]White House operatorMorrison, Sue

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 03:51:47

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 04:42:28

483-019.mp3

NARA Description:

On April 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John N. Mitchell, John W. Dean, III, White House photographer, Ronald L. Ziegler, unknown person(s), White House operator, and Sue Morrison met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:20 pm to 5:14 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 483-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 483-19

Date: April 20, 1971                                                 Conv. No.483-18 (cont.)
Time: 4:20 pm - 5:14 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John N. Mitchell, and John W. Dean, III; the
White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

     Supreme Court decision on busing
          -Questions
          -Chief Justice Warren Burger
          -Administration's school aid program
          -Impact
          -Approach
                -Take credit or distance administration
          -Implications
                -Local options
          -Statement

     Mitchell's trip

     Photo


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                                          62

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
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Supreme Court decision on school busing

Mitchell's visitors

Supreme Court decision on busing
     -Implications
           -De jure
     -Application
           -Los Angeles County case
           -De jure
           -Gerrymandering
     -Unanimity
           -Burger
     -Implications
           -Racial balance
                 -Necessity
     -Opinion
     -Charlotte-Mecklenburg case
     -Incidents of racial balance
           -Walter F. Mondale
           -Abraham A. Ribicoff
     -Guidelines
     -Equity proceedings
     -Dual school systems
     -Previous decisions
     -Neighborhood schools
     -Desegregation/racial balance
     -Non-contiguous school districts
     -Charlotte-Mecklenburg case
     -Future impact
     -General principle
           -Resegregation
           -Washington, DC
     -Possible effect on South
           -Cities
           -Neighborhood schools
           -School districts
           -The courts
     -Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW]
     -National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]
           -Jack Greenberg
           -Joe Brown
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                                      Tape Subject Log
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          -Elliot L. Richardson
                -Power under Title VI
                -School districts
                      -Compliance under court order
                -Procedure
          -HEW "zealots"
                -Non-contiguous districts
                -Racial balance                                          Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
          -Whitten amendment
          -State legislatures
          -Racial balance

Ronald L. Ziegler was present at an unknown time after 4:20 pm.

          -Leonard Garment and Dean
          -Administration's legislative proposals
          -Possible administration statement
               -Local school board responsibility
               -Local school authorities
               -District courts
               -HEW
               -De facto segregation
               -White House involvement
          -Possible comment by the President
               -President’s view
               -Burger
          -Administration's position
               -Resignation to court decision
          -Possible administration statement
               -Spending for busing
               -Administration’s attitude
          -Ziegler's possible statement
               -Possible wording
               -Changes
                      -Local school authorities and district courts
                      -Compliance with Court's mandate
               -Possible public effects
                      -Conveys administration’s attitude
               -Burden on local school authorities and district courts
               -Justice Department/HEW
          -Ziegler's possible statement
               -Local school district obligations
                                    64

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                            Tape Subject Log
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     -District Courts
     -HEW/Justice Department
     -Public interpretation
     -Compliance with the law
-Administration's position
     -Obligation to follow law of the land
     -Local school districts and district court responsibilities
-Ziegler's possible statement                                   Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
     -Federal enforcement procedure requirements
     -HEW/Justice statutory responsibilities
-Federal role
     -Edward L. Morgan
     -HEW's responsibilities
     -Redrawing of school district lines
     -Administration's policy
            -Arguments/controversies
     -HEW's position
-Ziegler's possible statement
     -President’s view
            -President's statement March 24, 1970
            -Law of the land
            -Constitutional precepts
            -President's statements on busing, neighborhood schools
     -Law of the land
     -Justice/HEW's statutory responsibilities
     -Local school district and district courts responsibilities
     -Justice/HEW powers
            -Whitten amendment
            -President’s March 24, 1970 statement
            -Desegregation of school systems
     -Context
     -Law of the land
     -Administration's position
     -Press conference
     -Law of the land
     -Context
     -Compliance
     -Enforcement of desegregation
     -Local districts/district courts
     -Relevance of past decisions
     -Law of the land
                                               65

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
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     The President's schedule, April 21, 1971
          -Meeting with Graham B. Steenhoven
               -US table tennis team
          -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

     Supreme Court decision on school busing
          -Burger
     The President's schedule                                     Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
          -Picture of the President and Mitchell
                -Phyllis Slocum [sp?]
          -Meeting with Republican Senators

     Desegregation
         -Burger

Haldeman and Dean left at 4:42 pm.

Ziegler left at an unknown time before 4:59 pm.

     Supreme Court decision on school busing
          -De facto segregation
               -Ruling
          -Dual school systems
          -The South
          -The President's position
          -Garment
          -Hypocrisy
          -Opinions within administration
               -Richard A. Moore
               -Public reaction

     The President's schedule, April 18, 1971
          -Drive through Washington with Julie Nixon Eisenhower

     Supreme Court
          -Possible resignations
          -Burger
          -John Marshall Harlan
               -Tenure
               -Mitchell's conversation with Burger
               -Herbert Brownell
               -Burger
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                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
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     -Republican
     -Harlan
     -Burger
           -Hill case
           -Legal opinions
     -William O. Douglas
     -Hugo L. Black
     -Thurgood Marshall                                          Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
           -Health

Mitchell's trip to Florida
     -Meeting with Marshall and Whitney M. Young, Jr.

Florida
      -President's meeting with American Society of Newspaper Editors [ASNE], April 16,
            1971
            -Mitchell and Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo's call to the President
            -Television

Influence of television
      -Impact on nation
      -President's speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
      -Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr. case
      -President's visit to California
      -Laos
      -President's speech on Vietnam
      -President's People's Republic of China [PRC] initiative
            -Significance
                  -”Doves”
            -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
      -Economic report
      -Stock market
            -Rise
            -Number of stockholders

National mood
     -Psychology
     -Mitchell's meeting with Lee R. Nunn
     -Nunn's trip to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, West Coast
           -Popular attitude towards the President
           -Columnists
     -Polls
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          -Press corps

     The President's meeting with John L. McClellan
          -McClellan's views regarding the President's supporters
               -Democrats
          -McClellan's support for the President
               -Mrs. Norma McClellan
                                                                    Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
     The President's schedule
          -James O. Eastland

     Eastland
           -James C. Wright


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          -Support for the President
               -Votes

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 4:42 pm.

     Refreshments

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 4:59 pm.

     Jack N. Anderson

Haldeman entered at an unknown time after 4:42 pm.

     The President's schedule
          -Meeting with Eastland and Roman L. Hruska
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                                        Tape Subject Log
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                -Mitchell
                -Executive Office Building [EOB]
                -Hugh Scott
     Scott

     Eastland
           -Louisiana
           -Support for the President                              Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)

     Southern Democrats
          -Eastland
          -McClellan
          -Richard B. Russell
          -Spessard L. Holland
          -David H. Gambrell
          -Lawton M. Chiles, Jr.

     Republicans
         -McClellan's criticism

     Schedule
          -Upcoming meeting with Republican Senators
          -Supreme Court decision of school busing

     The President's schedule, April 21, 1971
          -Morning
          -Afternoon

     Mitchell's schedule, April 21, 1971
          -Secretary Sue Morrison

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:42 pm and
4:59 pm.

[Conversation No. 483-19A]

[See Conversation No. 2-13]

[End of telephone conversation]

     The President's schedule, April 21, 1971
                                               69

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
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The President talked with Sue Morrison between 4:59 pm and 5:01 pm.

[Conversation No. 483-19B]

[See Conversation No. 2-14]

[End of telephone conversation]
                                                                      Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
     The President's schedule
          -Meeting with Steenhoven
          -Mitchell
          -Meeting with national 4-H Club leaders
          -Meeting with Henry A. Kissinger

     Morrison
          -Maiden name

     Harry S. Dent
          -Schedule
          -Location

     Supreme Court decision on school busing
          -Impact
               -Supreme Court
               -The South
          -HEW
               -Possible shake-up
               -Elliot L. Richardson
               -Robert H. Finch
               -John G. Veneman
               -Lewis H. Butler
               -Unknown name
               -Order
               -Morgan
               -Dean
               -Morgan
                     -Requirements
               -President's position
               -Butler
               -Bureaucracy
               -Richardson
               -Finch
                                            70

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                                 Tape Subject Log
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           -Richardson’s possible response
                -Non-contiguous zoning
                -Busing
           -Administration’s position
                -School authorities' obligations
                -Plans for District Courts
                -HEW
                     -Plans for school districts              Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)
                     -Consultant role

Mitchell's schedule, April 21, 1971
     -HEW
            -Richardson
     -Meeting with the President
            -Richardson
            -John D. Ehrlichman
            -Timing
            -Richardson
            -Ehrlichman

Supreme Court decision on school busing
     -Possible administration initiatives
          -Leadership on issue
          -Credit for decision
          -Blacks

Southern blacks
     -Support for administration
          -1968 election
     -White liberals
     -Possible response to Supreme Court decision on busing

Desegregation
    -Effect of integration on black colleges
    -Black schools
    -Black teachers
    -Separate society
    -Gradualism

Supreme Court decision on school busing
     -President's position
           -Staff meeting
                                            71

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
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                -Law
                -Demagoguery
          -Instructions for Ziegler

     The President's schedule
          -Upcoming photo with Mitchell
     The President's schedule, April 21, 1971
          -Meeting with Haldeman and Mitchell                  Conv. No. 483-19 (cont.)


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[Duration: 14s ]


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An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 5:01 pm.

     The President's schedule
          -Picture with Mitchell

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 5:14 pm.

     The President's schedule


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[Duration: 32s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
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The President, Mitchell, and Haldeman left at 5:14 pm




                                                                     Conversation
                                                                     Conv. No. 483-19
                                                                                  No. 483-20
                                                                                      (cont.)

Date: April 20, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:14 pm and 5:17 pm
Location: Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield met with unknown persons (Secret Service agent).


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     The President's location
          -Duration of absence
          -Cabinet Room

     Unknown man's schedule

     The President's location


The unknown persons left at an unknown time before 5:17 pm.
                                             73

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
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