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Conversation: 507-004

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Start Date: 29-May-1971 8:13 AM

End Date: 29-May-1971 10:32 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Kissinger, Henry A.Sanchez, ManoloWhite House operatorRockefeller, Nelson A.

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:08:32

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 01:27:51

507a.mp3

NARA Description:

On May 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, and Nelson A. Rockefeller met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 10:32 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 507-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 507-4

Date: May 29, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:13 am and 10:32 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Bodies in Yuba City
          -Victims described
                -Itinerant workers
          -Machete
          -Unnamed killer

     News coverage
         -Domestic
         -International

     Middle East
         -Soviet Union
         -Henry A. Kissinger
         -William P. Rogers
         -Anwar el-Sadat
               -Arabs
         -Possibility of war
               -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
               -Jews

     1972 Elections
          -Jews
          -Quakers
                -Kissinger
                -Memoranda
                     -Rogers

Kissinger entered at 9:08 am.

     President's schedule
          -John D. Ehrlichman
          -George P. Shultz
                 -President's possible telephone call
          -Ehrlichman
                                              3

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)




Haldeman left at an unknown time before 10:32 am.

     Kissinger's meeting

     Kissinger's travel
          -Cable from [David] Kenneth Rush
          -North Vietnamese
                -W. Averell Harriman
                -David K.E. Bruce
                -Claude Sainteny

     Berlin Agreement
          -Cable from Rush
                -Negotiations
          -Time
          -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                -Soviets
          -East Germany
          -Soviets
          -Berlin
                -Access
          -Rush

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:08 am.


The President left at an unknown time before 10:32 am.


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Non-historical Returnable]
[Duration: 51s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

**********************************************************************
                                              4

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:32 am.

The President entered at an unknown time after 9:08 am.

     Latin America
           -Brazil
                -Fisheries question
                     -Law of the Seas                          Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
                     -200 Mile Limit
                     -State Department
                     -Defense Department
                     -Negotiations
                            -Possible effect
                     -Navigation
                     -Fisheries
                     -Kissinger's recommendations

     Vietnam negotiations
          -President's statement
          -Historical record
          -US offer
                -Wording of statement
                -Negotiating stance
                -Political and military issues
                -Wording of statement
                -Terminal date
                -Infiltration
                -Withdrawal
                -Laos
                -Cambodia
                -Ceasefire
                -Prisoners of War [POWs]
                -Negotiating stance
          -President's meeting with Nikita S. Khrushchev
                -State Department suggestions
          -Negotiating stance
                -Wording
                -President’s position
                -North Vietnamese
                -Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin [?]
                       -POWs
                       -Ceasefire
                                            5

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 9/08)



     -US troop withdrawal
            -Election
            -Bombing
            -Deadline
                  -Timing
     -POWs
     -Ceasefire
     -Ground forces                                       Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
     -Timing
     -Air support
            -Thailand
     -North Vietnamese
     -Ground forces
     -POWs
     -Infiltration
     -Ceasefire
     -POWs
     -Bombing
     -International supervision
            -Cambodia
            -Laos
     -Prospects for 1972
            -Southeast Asia
            -Kissinger’s assessment
            -Democrats
                  -Communists
            -Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
     -US troop withdrawal
            -Melvin R. Laird's testimony
                  -Rogers
                  -Kissinger's directives
     -Vietnamization

News reports
    -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
    -News summary
    -Human Events
    -National Review
    -New Republic
    -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
          -POW issue
          -Communist
                                         6

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 9/08)




Soviet Union
     -Vladimir S. Semenov
           -Hot Line argument
     -Berlin agreement
     -Summit
           -Berlin agreement
           -Willy Brandt, Rush                                    Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
           -The President's and Kissinger's meeting with Brandt
           -Dobrynin
           -Cuba
                 -Presence of Soviet Nuclear submarine in Cienfuegos
                 -Press conference
                      -Possible questions
                            -The President’s response

People’s Republic of China [PRC]
     -Polls
     -Admittance to United Nations [UN]
           -Two-China Policy
                -Admission
                -Expulsion
                -Taiwan, Republic of China
                -PRC reaction
                -Question of independent government
                      -Taiwan
     -State Department
           -Rogers
           -Marshall Green
           -George H.W. Bush
           -Timing

Vietnam
     -Nguyen Van Thieu meeting
           -US peace proposal
     -Deadline
     -Presidential statement
           -Ceasefire
           -POWs
           -US withdrawal
           -Communists
     -Negotiations
                                          7

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 9/08)



           -Soviet-Chinese relations

Soviet Union
     -Antiballistic Missile [ABM]
     -Communique
     -Manipulation of the US press
          -New Republic article
                 -SALT                                    Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
     -Possible US-Soviet Summit
     -SALT
     -Accidental War Agreement

Soviet Union
     -SALT
          -Vienna
          -Moscow
     -Summit
          -1972 election
               -Democrats
                     -Irresponsibility of candidates
                           -Radicals
                           -Eastern Establishment
               -SALT
               -ABM Agreement
                     -Offensive weapons

News media
    -Communists
    -Approach to administration
    -Joseph W. and Stewart J.O. Alsop
         -Kissinger's dinner
         -Stewart Alsop
              -Poll of Democrat candidates
                    -Vietnam
                    -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
         -Support for SALT
    -Marquis Childs
    -David Brinkley
    -Clark MacGregor
    -John Sherman Cooper

Berlin
                                             8

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 9/08)



          -Negotiations
          -Timing of settlement

     President’s schedule
          -Rush
                -Work
                -Foreign Service
                -Possible future position                            Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
                -Loyalty
                      -John B. Connally
                      -Warren E. Burger
          -Trip to England
                -Burger
                -Edward R.G. Heath
                -British industry
                      -Henry Ford II
                            -British automobiles
                                  -Germany and France

     US industry
          -Ralph Nader
               -McCarthyism

     Nelson A. Rockefeller

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:08 am and
10:00 am]

[Conversation No. 507-4A]

[See Conversation No. 3-190]

[End of telephone conversation]

     John V. Lindsay
          -Rockefeller
          -Housing
               -New York City
                     -Compared to Paris
          -Compared to the Kennedys

     American educational system
                                               9

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



          -Study of political science
          -Development of leadership
               -British public school system
               -PRC
               -Soviet Union
               -Israelis
                     -Compared to American Jews
               -Soviet system                                           Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
               -British system
                     -Winston S. Churchill

Haldeman entered at an unknown time after 9:08 am.

[The President talked with Rockefeller between 10:00 am and 10:06 am]

[Conversation No. 507-4B]

[See Conversation No. 3-191]

[End of telephone conversation]

     Police brutality
          -New York City

     Lindsay
          -Rockefeller

     Education
         -Character

     Military history
           -World War I
                -Compared to Laos operation (Lam Son)
                -March 21, 1918
                -Marne Battle
                       -Casualties
                       -Erich F.W. Luddendorf
                -Churchill
                -Italy
                       -Battle of Caparetto
                -British
                       -Field Marshall Sir William(?) Robertson
                                          10

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 9/08)



       -Laos
            -Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
       -Douglas Macarthur
            -Strategy
            -World War II
            -Korea
                  -Yalu
                       -PRC                                Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
                  -Effect on Asian history
                       -Vietnam
                       -Soviets
                       -Dean G. Acheson
       -World War I
            -British General, Hubert de la Poer Gough
            -German mistakes

Laos
       -American television
             -Public opinion
       -Strategic impact
             -Casualties
       -Intelligence
             -Inaccuracy
                   -The President’s view
       -Cambodia
       -Abrams
       -Compared to the Battle of the Bulge
       -Compared to Verdun
       -Military history
             -Marshal Ferdinand Foch
             -Gen. Magnin
             -Gen. Gourand

Charles A.J.M. De Gaulle
     -Anecdote regarding Jacqueline Kennedy
     -John F. Kennedy
     -Dwight D. Eisenhower
           -Algeria
     -Kennedy

US
       -Economics
                                          11

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 9/08)



        -Nixon presidency
             -Effect on foreign policy
             -Hubert H. Humphrey as President
             -Other Republicans
                  -George W. Romney
                  -Eric Sevareid
                  -Rockefeller
                         -Policies                                Conv. No. 507-4 (cont.)
                         -Wife
                  -Ronald W. Reagan
                  -Rockefeller
                         -John W. Gardner
                  -Reagan
                         -Policy toward Europe
                               -Compared with other Republicans
                         -International leaders
                               -View of the President
        -New conservatives
             -Reagan
                  -President’s view

President’s foreign policy
     -Berlin
     -SALT
     -PRC
     -Summit
     -Europe
     -Vietnam
     -Berlin
           -Brandt
     -Harriman's talk with Kissinger
           -Vietnam
           -Berlin
     -Difficulty of presenting issues
     -Berlin
           -Brandt
           -Possibility of Western Summit

Laird
        -Kenneth E. BeLieu appointment

Kissinger
                                              12

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



          -Trip
          -Schedule

Haldeman and Kissinger left at 10:32 am.



                                                                        Conversation
                                                                        Conv. No. 507-4
                                                                                     No.(cont.)
                                                                                         507-5

Date: May 29, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:32 am and 10:48 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman [?].

     Nelson A. Rockefeller
          -Rent issue
          -New York’s city budget
                -John V. Lindsay
                -Police
          -Ehrlichman's call
          -Direct assistance
                -Police
          -Revenue sharing