Conversation No. 534-5

Date: July 1, 1971
Time: 10:27 am - 11:49 am
Location: Oval Office
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                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/08)



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

     The President's schedule
          -ACTION event
          -Issues
                -Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers
          -John D. Ehrlichman
                -Ongoing meeting                                       Conv. No. 534-3 (cont.)

Charles W. Colson entered at 10:28 am

          -Ehrlichman's meeting

     The President's schedule
          -The President's Kansas City appearance July 6, 1971
               -Nature of statement
                      -Pentagon Papers case
                      -Recommendations
                            -John A. Scali, Richard A. Moore, Ronald L. Ziegler
                                  -Effect of locale
                      -Prime time television coverage
               -Daniel Ellsberg
               -Forum, timing
                      -Ehrlichman
               -Draft of statement about the Pentagon Papers
                      -Issue of repression of the press
                            -John N. Mitchell
                      -Patrick J. Buchanan

     The Pentagon Papers case
          -Coordination of investigation
               -Officer in charge [OIC] of handling case
                     -Haldeman’s conversation with Ehrlichman
                           -Congress
                                -John J. Sparkman
                                -James D. McKevitt
                                -John H. Rousselot
                     -White House staff
                           -Need for full-time handling
                                -Tom C. Huston
                                -Haldeman
                                -Ehrlichman
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               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 10/08)



                        -Colson
                 -Moore, Ehrlichman
                        -Legal handling
                        -Mitchell
                 -Ellsberg
                        -Leaks to press
                        -Court case
                        -Colson                     Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
                        -Facts
     -The Hiss case
           -Six Crises
           -Nixon’s role
           -Harry S. Truman
           -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
                 -J. Edgar Hoover
           -Comparison
                 -Press
                        -Colson
     -White House staff oversight
           -Brookings Institute break-in
           -Melvin R. Laird
     -Investigation of past administrations
           -Cuban Missile Crisis
           -Bay of Pigs
           -World War II
           -Korean War
           -Embarrassing documents
     -Rousselot
           -Need full-time assistance
                 -Initiative
           -Ehrlichman
                 -Other duties
           -Colson
     -Congressional support
           -Rousselot
           -McKevitt
           -Philip M. Crane
           -John M. Ashbrook
           -Robert J. Dole
                 -William E. Brock, III
-Press coverage
     -Colson’s views
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               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 10/08)



            -John F. Kennedy
                  -Death of Ngo Dinh Diem
      -Kennedy
            -Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Need for coordinator
      -Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman
      -Richard V. Allen
      -Huston                                             Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
            -Knowledge
            -Problems with Department of Defense
            -Work with Allen
            -White House Support
      -Huston and Allen
-Need for coordinator
      -Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman
            -Richard V. Allen
      -Need for trustworthy individual
            -Tom C. Huston
      -Possibility of Huston and Allen working together
-The President's Kansas City speech
      -Haldeman
      -Press
-Public perceptions of issue
-Lyndon B. Johnson
      -William S. White
      -Possible statement after Supreme Court decision
-Dean Rusk's television appearance
-Maxwell Taylor's television appearance
-William B. Macomber, Jr's television appearance
      -William P. Rogers
      -Melvin R. Laird
      -Martin S. Hayden
      -Classification
      -Telephone call to Macomber
            -Flag incident
-Call to Rogers
      -Forthcoming testimony
-Rusk, Taylor
-Rogers
-Legal obligations of the government
      -Court case
      -Supreme Court decision
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                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. 10/08)



                      -Court clerks
                      -Chief Justice Warren E. Burger's decision
                      -Newspaper obligations
                      -Irreparable damage to the nation
          -Press attitude
               -Damaging effect of stories contrasted with First Amendment rights
                      -Delay in Prisoners of War [POWs] return as price of publication
                      -Hayden's comments                                Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
                            -Quote about Stewart J. Alsop from past editorial in New York Times
                                 -Max Frankel's response
          -Possible meeting with Ehrlichman
               -The President's schedule
                      -Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman

[Haldeman talked with Ehrlichman at an unknown time between 10:28 am and 10:58 am]

[Conversation No. 534-5A]

     Meeting in the President's office

[End of telephone conversation]

     The Vietnam War
          -Television debate between John O'Neill and John F. Kerry on the "Dick Cavett
                Show"
          -Jack F. Kemp
          -Buchanan
          -Kemp
                -Vietnam, fact finding trip
                -[Forename unknown] Kramer [NSC], William H. Sullivan [State Department],
                     [Unintelligible name]
                -White House speeches
                -Focus of material provided
                -Buchanan
          -Paul N. (“Pete”) McCloskey, Jr.
                -Response by Kemp

Ehrlichman entered at 10:58 am

          -James L.Buckley's New York effort with Vietnam veterans
               -Cambodia, Vietnam
          -Kemp's possible trip to Vietnam
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                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/08)



                -Charles B. Rangel
                -Balance
          -Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe's trip to Vietnam
                -Drug use among US soldiers in Vietnam
          -Kemp, Rangel
          -Pentagon Papers
                -Declassification response
                      -Laird                                              Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
                      -Mitchell
                      -Supreme Court decision
                      -Repression argument
                      -Damaging effect of publication
                      -First Amendment rights
                            -Effect of publication
                                  -Placing lives of US soldiers in jeopardy
                                        -Response to arguments
                                              -Letter to the editor
                -Richardson
                      -Charles M. Cooke, Jr. (?)
                            -Retention in job
                            -Cables leaked to press via Ellsberg
                                  -Ellsworth F. Bunker's cables
                                        -Tran Ngoc Chau Case
                            -Ellsberg's security clearances
                                  -Rand Corporation
                                        -Revocation of clearances
          -Brookings Institution
                -Documents
                      -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                      -Henry A. Kissinger
                -Rand Corporation
                -Ehrlichman
                -Presidents orders
                -Declassification of documents
                      -Laird
                      -Supreme Court
                      -The New York Times
                -Laird
                      -Coordination with Congress

Manolo Sanchez (?) entered at an unknown time after 10:58 am.
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                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/08)



     Refreshments

Sanchez (?) left an an unknown time before 11:22 am.

               -Declassification
                     -Documents published
                     -Withholding of classified information by newspapers
                           -John W. Dean, III's report                  Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
                           -Mitchell
          -Declassification
               -January 15 National Security Study Memorandum [NSSM], Declassification
                     group
                     -Korea, World War II, Cuban crisis
                           -Haig
                           -Kennedy Presidential Library
                           -Hyde Park (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library)
                                 -Possible meeting with the President
                                 -The President's schedule
                                 -Timing of meeting
                                 -Publicity
               -Six Crises
                     -Chapter on the Hiss case
                           -The President's speech in Congress
                           -Harry S. Truman
                                 -Tom Clark
                                 -Alexander Campbell
                                 -J. Edgar Hoover
                           -Leak of story by Justice Department
                                 -Bert Andrews
                                 -Whitaker Chambers's revelation of the Pumpkin Papers
               -Cooke
                     -Richardson’s view
                     -Background
                     -Views on the Vietnam War, ceasefire, and the Chau case
                     -Ellsberg's status on "need to know"
                           -Classified cables
                           -Rand Corporation
                           -Publication of cable information in the Washington Star
                     -Possible future response
               -Declassification review group
                     -NSSM
                     -Staff director job
                                            21

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/08)



                -Administration’s response
                -Hoover, Laird
                -Cooke
                      -Leak of story
                      -Richardson
                -Kissinger
                -Laird
                      -Instructions                                 Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
                -Draft statement
                      -Buchanan's work on draft
                      -Timing
                            -Perceptions of issue
                -Role of Department of Justice
                -Moore, Kissinger
                -Television show
                      -Macomber and Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson's appearances
                      -Max Frankel, Benjamin C. Bradlee
                -Timing of possible statement by the President
                -Buchanan video
                -Presidential statement
                      -Content
                -Lyndon K. ("Mort") Allin, Buchanan
                      -Work
                -Rogers
                      -Forthcoming testimony
                      -View
                -Issue of press repression
                -Conduct of the war
                      -Dean Rusk, Lyndon B. Johnson
                -Need for Congressional statements
                      -Dole, Gordon L. Allott, Paul J. Fannin
                            -Statements

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 11:22 am

     Anatoliy Dobrynin
          -Death of Soviet cosmonauts
               -The President’s message
          -Telephone call
               -The President's schedule

     Vietnam War
                                             22

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/08)



           -Rogers' statement
                -Negotiations
                       -Nguyen Van Thieu's government
           -Tone of comments
                -Congress
                -South Vietnamese government

Kissinger left at 11:24 am                                         Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)

     Pentagon Papers case
          -Coordination of effort
          -Recommendations on presidential statement
               -Buchanan, Rogers, Mitchell, Laird, Moore, Scali
               -Timing, forum
               -The President's Kansas City appearance
               -The President’s San Clemente appearance
               -Press conference

     Ehrlichman's schedule
           -Senators
           -California Rural Legal Assistance [CRLA]
                 -Ronald W. Reagan
                      -Frank C. Carlucci

     Pentagon Papers Case
          -Declassification job
               -Carlucci
               -Compare to Donald H. Rumsfeld
          -Meeting to be scheduled with Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Colson, Buchanan, and Moore
               -Rogers's view
               -Buchanan's participation
                     -Memorandum
          -Administration’s position
               -Buchanan
               -Perceptions in the press of no White House comment
               -Rogers' role
                     -Former Attorney General
          -Buchanan
          -Macomber
               -Written version of television comments
               -Scali's role
          -Administration position
                                             23

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/08)



               -Wording of possible speech by the President
                     -Effect
                     -Alternatives
               -Perception of covering leak
               -Revelation of Kennedy-Diem information
               -Vietnam war
                     -Lyndon B. Johnson
               -Rusk, Taylor                                      Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
          -Rogers as spokesperson
          -Charles Mc.C Mathias, Jr.
               -National Security Council [NSC] documents
               -Laird

Ehrlichman left at an unknown time before 11:49 am

          -Buchanan
                -Views on momentum and speaking out
          -Perception of Democrats in government
                -McGeorge Bundy
                -Howard K. Smith
                      -Representatives of the “establishment”
          -Hiss case analogy
                -The “establishment”
                -The President's role
                -Joseph McCarthy
          -Administration’s position
                -Need to uphold the law
                -Ziegler
                -Rogers
          -Dean Rusk
                -Forthcoming appearance
                      -Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.
                -President’s view
                -Sincerity, decency
          -[Name unintelligible]
                -Possession of documents
          -Hubert H. Humphrey's statement
                -Support of release
                      -Johnson administration's credibility
                            -Memorandums
                                 -Comparison to Arthur F. Burns
                            -White
                                         24

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 10/08)



     -Era of permissiveness
           -Possible speech by Buchanan
           -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

Unemployment statistics
    -Scali
    -Adjustments
          -Left-wing columnists                                  Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
                -Wall Street
                -Stock market trends
                     -John B. Connally

Pentagon Papers
     -Need for White House coordinator
          -Ehrlichman
          -Importance
          -Colson
          -Huston
          -The Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], the Central Intelligence Agency
                [CIA] investigation
          -Defense intelligence
                -Laird
          -Huston
                -Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA]
                -Colson
                      -Ehrlichman, Haldeman
                -Strategy
          -E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
                -Outside candidate
                      -Friend of James L. Buckley
                            -CIA
                -Authorship of books
                -Conspiracy orientation
          -Huston
                -Reaction to orders not supported by him
          -Allen
          -Vernon A. Walters
                -Attitude
          -Mitchell's attitude
          -The President's expertise
          -Hunt
          -Declassification effort
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                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/08)



                      -Separation from conspiracy investigation
                      -Rousselot

An unknown person [Stephen B. Bull?] entered at an unknown time after 11:24 am.

     President’s schedule

The unknown person [Bull?] left at an unknown time before 11:49 am.    Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)

     Eighteen year-old vote
          -Vietnam

Haldeman and Colson left at 11:49 am