Conversation: 484-013
Prev: 484-012 Next: 484-014Start Date: 21-Apr-1971 12:50 PM
End Date: 21-Apr-1971 1:43 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Dean, John W., III;Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 03:45:45
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 04:36:35
NARA Description:
On April 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and John W. Dean, III met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:50 pm to 1:43 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 484-013 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 484-13
Date: April 21, 1971
Time: 12:50 pm - 1:43 pm
Location: Oval Office
44
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger at 12:50 pm
The President's previous meeting with Graham B. Steenhoven
-President’s reaction
-Steenhoven's career at Chrysler Corporation
-Eastern establishment
-Kissinger's academic colleagues
Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 12s ]
SOVIET UNION
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************
-Schedule
-Upcoming meeting with Kissinger
-Possible discussions
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Dobrynin
-Position
-Possible US position
-Unilateral action
-Public disclosure
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Weapons Limitations
-Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles [ICBMs]
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
45
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[National Security]
[Duration: 52s ]
USSR Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
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-Senate
-Possible administration initiative
-"Doves"
-Antiballistic Missiles [ABMs]
-Baker
-Clark MacGregor
-Kissinger's possible lunch with Baker
-Baker's reaction
-Edward J. Gurney
-Baker and Gurney
-Public opinion mail
The President's meeting with Republican Senators
-President's memo to H.R.(“Bob”) Haldeman
-Support for the President
-John G. Tower
-Henry Bellmon
Vietnam
-Sentiment for withdrawal
-Baker
-President's speech, April 7, 1971
-Southeast Asia
-MacGregor
-Senate
-Baker
-MacGregor
46
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Communist takeover in South Vietnam
-Possible consequences
-Unknown Senator's view
-Senate "doves"
-Negotiations
-Effect on Supersonic Transport [SST]
-National defense Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
-Frustrations
-Administration's policy
-National defense
-USSR
-Negotiations
-Baker, Gurney, and [Thomas] Hale Boggs
-National defense
-Laotian incursion (Lam Son)
-Possible communist takeover in South Vietnam
-Possible impact on administration
-National defense
-President's speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971
-Effect on polls
-Glassboro meeting
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Laotian incursion
-Effect
-Polls
-North Vietnamese military operations
-Baker's view regarding war issue
-Polls
-Laotion incursion
-Effect on polls
-Polls
-President's press conference
-President's speech, April 7, 1971
-Defeat weekend
-Marvin L. Kalb
-Lt. William L. Calley, Jr.
-President's speech, April 7, 1971
-Laos
-Administration's policy
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr's statement
-North Vietnam
47
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Possible rejection of peace proposal
-US options
-Timing of withdrawal announcement
-President’s position
-South Vietnamese elections
-US elections
-South Vietnamese elections
-End of ground combat Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
-End of draft
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
-US military
-President's possible meeting with Nguyen Van Thieu
-End of ground combat
-End of draft
-Melvin R. Laird
-Kissinger's forthcoming meeting with Laird
Schedule
-Meeting with Laird
-Haldeman
The President talked with Haldeman [?] at an unknown time between 12:50pm and 1:00pm.
[Conversation No. 484-C]
Meeting with Haldeman
[End of telephone conversation]
-The Sequoia
-Breakfast
-Participants
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Kissinger
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
Haldeman entered at 1:00 pm
-Breakfast
-Timing
48
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
Vietnam
-Peace negotiations with North Vietnamese
-President's possible meeting with Thieu
-US strategy
-Timetable for withdrawal
-Possible US offer
-Deadline
-"Doves" Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
-Possible offer
-Prisoners of War [Pows]
-Ceasefire
-Timetable for withdrawal
-US position
-Options
-President's opponents
-President's possible meeting with Thieu
Kissinger's Schedule
-Meeting with Dobrynin
-Possible discussions
-William P. Rogers
-Possible trip to Moscow
-Middle East
Dobrynin's Schedule
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Kissinger
President’s forthcoming meeting with Laird
-Kissinger
-Moorer
President's meeting with Steenhoven
-Steenhoven’s personality
-Steenhoven's integrity
[Transcript #1: A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under
court order from December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums,
et al. v. James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records
Administration produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]
[End of transcript]
49
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 1:00 pm and
1:13 pm
[Conversation No. 484-13A]
[See Conversation No. 2-22]
Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
[End of telephone conversation]
The President talked with John W. Dean, III between 1:12 pm and 1:13 pm; Kissinger and
Haldeman can be heard in the background
[Conversation No. 484-13B]
[See Conversation No. 2-23]
[End of telephone conversation]
[Transcipt #2: A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under
court order from December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums,
et al. v. James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records
Administration produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]
[End of transcript]
Kissinger left at 1:24 pm
John A. Scali
-Role
-Steenhoven
-Kissinger
-Kalb
-View
Bureaucracy
-State Department
The President's schedule
50
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[National Security]
[Duration: 47s ]
PAKISTAN
Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
**********************************************************************
-Harold Wilson
-Timing
-Press Conference
-California
-Breakfast
-Rogers C.B. Morton
-Franklin H. Williams
-Role
-Photograph
-Russell B. Long
-Welfare reform
Welfare reform
-House bill
-Calendar
-Senate Finance Committee
-Calendar
The President's schedule
-Possible meeting with Long, Wallace F. Bennett, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L.
Richardson, George P. Shultz, and John D. Ehrlichman
-Timing
-Frederic V. Malek
-Presidential appointees
-Group
-Unknown highway agreement
-Signing ceremony
-California
51
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
Welfare reform
-Right-wing reaction
-President's speech at Republican Governors' Conference, April 19, 1971
-Television coverage
-President's meeting with Rio Grande high school group
-Press
-Unknown Boston Globe article Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
-Charles W. Colson's dinner with hardhats
-Reaction
-Labor
-Henry Salvatori
-Gerald R. Ford
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Hodgson, Ehrlichman, Shultz, and Richardson
-Ehrlichman
-Liberals
-Circulation and publicity
-Republicans and conservatives
-President's speech at Republican Governors' Conference
-Text
-Personal references
-Welfare recipients
-Mothers
-Possible letter
-Robert J. Dole
-Reagan and Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Governors
-Reagan
-Louie B. Nunn
-Role
The President's address to Daughters of the American Revolution [DAR], April 19, 1971
-Reception
52
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 7s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7 Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
**********************************************************************
[Transcript # 3: A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under
court order from December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums,
et al. v. James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records
Administration produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]
[End of transcript]
The President's meeting with Republican congressional leaders, April 20, 1971
-President's memo
-Rose Mary Woods
-Clark MacGregor
-President’s evaluation
-President’s purpose for meeting
-Supporters
-MacGregor
-Loyalists
-Numbers
-Staff
-MacGregor
-Kenneth E. BeLieu
-Unknown former aide of Hugh Scott
-Number
-Senators
Polls
-Distribution
-Colson
-MacGregor
-Distribution to Senators
-Questions
53
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Vietnam
-Communication
-Hand-delivery system
-Telephone calls
-Cabinet officers
-Senators
-Congressmen
-George [Horace] Gallup Conv. No. 484-13 (cont.)
-Withdrawal from Vietnam
-Vietnam
-Approval percentages
-Ford
-Distribution
Economy
-Consumer Price Index [CPI]
-President's conversation with George P. Shultz
-First quarter figures
-Lowest since 1967
-Compared with 1970
-Paul W. McCracken
-Upcoming briefing
-President's conversation with Shultz
-Improvement
-MacGregor
-Calls to Congressmen and Senators
-Public relations
[Transcript #4: A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under
court order from December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums,
et al. v. James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records
Administration produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]
[End of transcript]
The President and Haldeman left at 1:43 pm
54
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)