Conversation: 537-004
Prev: 537-003 Next: 537-005Start Date: 5-Jul-1971 4:03 PM
End Date: 5-Jul-1971 6:15 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White House operator; Ziegler, Ronald L.; Bull, Stephen B.; Bull, Stephen B.;Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 01:09:41
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 02:42:52
NARA Description:
On July 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Ronald L. Ziegler and Stephen B. Bull and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:03 pm and 6:15 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 537-004 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 537-4
Date: July 5, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:03 pm and 6:15 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
Certification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment
-Ceremony
-”Young Americans in Concert”
-The press
-Photo and film shots
-Race
-Young Americans group
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Reaction to the White House and to the presidency
-The President’s arrival from Camp David by helicopter
-Photographs
-Refreshments
-Accommodations
-Washington Hotel
-Reaction of young people to staying in hotels
-Group’s forthcoming trip to Europe Conv. No. 537-2 (cont.)
-Concert
-Possible public performance in Washington, DC after trip
-Constitution Hall
-John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opening
-Inaugural concert
-Young people
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Significance of ceremony
-Compared to formal signing ceremonies
-Public service jobs bill
-Ceremonial events
-Compared to Eagle Scouts
-William H. Carruthers
-Effectiveness
-Unnamed person’s reaction
-Robert L. Kunzig
-Procedures for the Twenty-sixth Amendment
-Kunzig
-John J. Gilligan
-Ohio ratification
-Delivery of certification document to the General Services
Administration [GSA]
-Pick-up by unnamed GSA clerk
-Credit, press coverage
-Ceremony
-Press coverage
-Television networks
-Witnesses
-Race
-The President’s meeting with Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Black constituents
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Youth group
-Signing ceremony pens
-Parker brand
[The President talked to the White House operator at 4:28 pm]
[Conversation No. 537-4A]
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
[See Conversation No. 6-139]
[End of telephone conversation]
[Pause]
Young people
-Visibility
-Media coverage
-President’s Commission on Campus Unrest
-Establishment in June 1970
-Dr. G. Alexander Heard
-Changes since 1970
-1970 statement about crisis in the university system
-Commencement addresses
-Anti-Vietnam War protests
-Decline
-Attention paid by students, press
Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 4:29 pm
Certification ceremony for the Twenty-sixth Amendment
-Press coverage
-Robert Pierpoint
-Mexican girl
-Reaction
-Spirit of event
-Eighteen-year-olds
-Attitude towards presidency
-The President’s remarks
-Distribution of signing ceremony pens
-J. Bruce Whelihan
-East Room setting
-Press room
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-The President’s birthday call to Julie Nixon Eisenhower in Athens, Greece
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 9s ] Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
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-”Young Americans in Concert”
-Black youth
-Singing
-Comparison to Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-National Archives event, July 3, 1971
-Army Chorus
-Youths
-Television networks
-Coverage of event
-Herbert E. Kaplow
-Attitude towards children
-Jewish families
-Bar Mitzvahs
Jews
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Henry A. Kissinger, Leonard Garment
-Reaction to case
-Compared to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg espionage case
-Morton H. Halperin
-Alger Hiss
Blacks
-Espionage
-Activism compared to Communism
-Angela Y. Davis
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
Jews
-Espionage
National Broadcasting Company [NBC] special on the Pentagon Papers
-Max Frankel and news panel
-James J. Kilpatrick, Jr.
-Questioning
-Frankel’s performance Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-Benjamin C. Bradlee
-Ken Crawford [?]
-Kilpatrick
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Privacy]
[Duration: 11s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
******************************************************************************
-Kilpatrick
Values
-The President’s remarks at certification ceremony
-Strength, wealth
-Idealism
-Practical application
-Youths
-Haynes B. Johnson
-Washington Post article
-Basic needs
-Discretionary needs
-Higher, spiritual needs
-Path for the future
Pentagon Papers case
-The President’s July 6, 1971 Kansas City appearance
12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Possible statement
-William P. Rogers’ role
-Polls
-Public opinion
-Ellsberg’s revelation of the documents
-Public exposure to issue
-Supreme Court decision
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:28 pm
President’s schedule
-The barber
-Forthcoming trip
Bull left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm
Pentagon Papers case
-Melvin R. Laird
Vietnam War
-Opponents of the President’s policies
-The war as issue during 1972 campaign
-Gerald R. Ford’s reaction
-Democratic candidates
-Effectiveness as issue
-Scripps Howard News Service
-The President and Republicans
-Opponents
-Kansas City appearance by the President
-Press conference
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Lives compared to First Amendment rights
-Charles W. Colson
-Congress
-Press attitude
-Martin S. Hayden’s editorial
-Television appearance
-Presentation of issue
-The President’s efforts to end the war
-Necessity of secrecy
-Cambodia, Laos
-Decrease in US casualty figures
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Forthcoming Kansas City appearance
-Hayden’s attendance
-Allusion to channels of foreign policy
-The People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Europe, Middle East Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-Number of the President’s meetings with heads of state
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Confidential nature
-Josip Broz Tito
-Record
-State Department
-Head of state dinners
-France, Germany, England
-Italy
-Romania
-Thailand, Belgium
-The Pope
-Confidentiality of meetings
-Warren E. Burger’s recounting of anecdote about Benjamin Franklin
-Sealing of the minutes of the Constitutional Convention for forty years
-John Adams, Thomas Jefferson
Pentagon Papers case
-New York Times
-Editorial
-Stewart J. O. Alsop
-Frankel’s veracity
-Neil Sheehan’s involvement
-Kilpatrick’s questions
-Sheehan’s involvement
-Leak of information
-John N. Mitchell
-Colson
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Request for private report
-Laird
-Public opinion
-Delays
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Limitation of access by the New York Times, Washington Post
-Rich Smith [?]
-Access preference to the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times
-Don Ervin, Aldo B. (“Elbow”) Beckman
-Beckman’s father-in-law
-Release of information
-World War II
-Chicago Tribune Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Kennedy’s administration
-Los Angeles Times
-Laos
-1962 accords
-Ho Chi Minh Trail
-Timing
-The President’s conversation with Haig
-Security clearances
-Limitations on non-governmental contractor personnel clearances
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] briefings for President in 1961-68 period
out of office
-Denial by Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
-McGeorge Bundy, Research and Development [RAND] Corporation
-Haldeman’s need for clearance while handling Fairchild account for the J.
Walter Thompson Agency
-Limitation of outsider clearances in the future
-Benefits
-Need for confidentiality
-Effect on Rogers
Schedule
-Reverend John J. McLaughlin
The President’s July 6, 1971 Kansas City speech
-Topics to be covered
-Comparison to Rochester, New York and Birmingham, Alabama remarks
-Foreign policy
-Confidentiality of meetings with foreign leaders
-Helsinki
-Allusion to ongoing negotiations
-SALT
-Television coverage
-Filming of Kansas City appearance
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Camera set-up, lighting
-Timing in relation to availability of film to networks
-Topics
-Foreign policy emphasis
-Kissinger
Ziegler left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
-News summary
-Television commentary on the President’s July 3, 1971 National Archives
speech
-Dan Rather
-NBC
-Kaplow
-Bicentennial
-Bicentennial Commission
-Need to strengthen membership
-Staff
-Distribution of film of event
Speeches
-The President compared to Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Public perceptions
-Frequency of radio talks
The President’s television appearances
-Certification ceremony’s effectiveness
-Other events
-Decision to forgo July 1 press conference
-Pentagon Papers as focus
-Louis Harris poll, George H. Gallup poll
-Foreign policy
-Kissinger
-Domestic policy issues
-John B. Connally
Connally
-Possible effectiveness as Secretary of State
-Haldeman’s conversation with Connally
-Connally’s morale
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
Economic policy
-Hobart Rowen and other columnists
-Commentary about possible changes
-Arthur F. Burns
-Connally
-Albert E. Sindlinger’s comments about effect on the stock market
Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National Security]
[Duration: 2m 44s ]
INDIA-PAKISTAN
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
******************************************************************************
An unknown person [Bull?] entered at an unknown time after 4:28 pm
President’s schedule
The unknown person [Bull?] left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm
Items requested by the President
Pentagon Papers
-Statements feasibility
Presidential approval poll
-Effect of Pentagon Papers case and recent events
-Gallup poll
-Chapin
-White House poll
-Gallup poll
-Harris poll
-Colson
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Press conference
-Patrick J. Buchanan’s analysis
-Impact of Pentagon Papers case
Vietnam veterans’ demonstration
-John F. Kerry
The President and Haldeman left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm Conv. No. 537-4 (cont.)