Conversation: 552-003
Prev: 552-002 Next: 552-004Start Date: Friday, July 30, 1971 2:23 PM
End Date: Friday, July 30, 1971 4:30 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Kissinger, Henry A.; [Unknown person(s)]; Harris, Louis; Ziegler, Ronald L.; White House operator; Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan)Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 00:11:16
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 02:16:44
NARA Description:
On July 30, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), Louis Harris, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House operator, and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:23 am to 12:30 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 552-003 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 552-3
Date: July 30, 1971
Time: 10:23 am - 12:30 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
The President's schedule
-John N. Mitchell
-Emil (“Bus”) Mosbacher, Jr.
-California trip
-Ronald W. Reagan's planned speech
-Cancellation
-The President's proposed trip to the Bohemian Grove
-Encampments
-Mitchell, John B. Connally
Henry A. Kissinger entered at 10:25 am.
The US-People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
-Message from Harvard University
-East Asian Center
Haldeman talked to an unknown person at an unknown time after 10:25 am.
Request
[End of conversation]
-Kissinger
-Texas A&M
Presidential letter to Soviet Union Cosmonaut's daughter
-Public release
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Haig
-Handling
3
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
US-Soviet Union relations
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Leonid I. Brezhnev contact with the President
-Channel
-Action
-Leaks
-Anti-ballistic missiles [ABM]
Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
[The President talked with Louis Harris between 10:27 am and 10:34 am]
[Conversation No. 552-3A]
[See Conversation No. 7-38]
Presidential letter to Soviet Union Cosmonaut’s daughter
-Dobrynin
-Public release
-Source
[The above portion of the office conversation between Kissinger and Haldeman took place
simultaneously with telephone Conversation No. 552-3A]
[End of telephone conversation]
Poll
-Re-issue
-Frank Leonard
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Management of staff
Foreign policy
-Photograph
-The President
-Role
-Kissinger
-Hugh S. Sidey
Vietnam War
-Le Duc Tho
-Conversation with French foreign minister
-Maurice Schumann
-North Vietnamese
4
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Dobrynin
-Chances of settlement
-Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Proposals
-Situation
The PRC initiative Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Letter from Harvard University student
-Francois De Ticornot De Rose
Letter
-Release
-Source
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Form
Spiro T. Agnew
-John D. Ehrlichman's attitude
-Staff relations
-John A. Scali
-Ehrlichman
US foreign aid
-The President’s conversation with Otto E. Passman
-Post-World War II period
-Amount
-Military aid
-Economic assistance
US foreign policy
-Kissinger's conversation with James L. Buckley
-Conservatives
-Shift in support for the President
-Effect
-1972
-Buckley's possible meeting with the President
-Kissinger’s conversation with William F. Buckley, Jr.
-The President
-New York Conservative Party
-Presidential endorsement
-Administration relations with Conservatives
5
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Kissinger, Mitchell
-New York
-J. Daniel Mahoney
-Issues
-The PRC
-National defense
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-William Buckley Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with James Burnham
-Meeting
-National Review
-[Frank S.?] Meyer
-North Vietnam’s reaction to the PRC initiative
-Soviet Union’s reaction to the PRC imitative
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Summit
-Schedule
-William P. Rogers
-Emperor Hirohito
-Meeting with the President
-Anchorage, Alaska
-Arrangements
-Effect
-Coordination with Rogers
-Agnew
-State Department
Conservatives
-Relations with the President
-James Buckley
-1960, 1968, 1962
-John Birch Society
-1962 California activities
-The President's record
-Cambodia, Laos
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-National Review
-Activities
-Young Americans for Freedom [YAFs]
6
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
The President's schedule
-The President’s proposed September 27, 1971 meeting with Hirohito in Alaska
-Emilio Garrastazu Medici’s visit
-Scheduling
-Logistics
-Arrangements for foreign visits
Mitchell Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Handling
-News summary
The PRC initiative
-Reaction
-Liberals
-Clayton Fritchey
-W. Averell Harriman
-Executive privilege
-Previous Laotian negotiations
-The President
-Chou En-lai
-Memorandum on Le Duc Tho
-Reaction to secret negotiations
-Fritchey
-Philadelphia Bulletin item
-Responsibility for the PRC initiative
-State Department
-Marshall Green
-Handling of the President's foreign trip
-Briefing books
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 23s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
**********************************************************************
7
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Kissinger's staff
-Contact with the press
-Philadelphia Bulletin
-Pentagon Papers
-Max Lerner
-Conservatives
-Handling Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
Vietnam War
-Le Duc Tho
-Settlement
The PRC initiative
-George Meany's reaction
-Hardhats
-Attitude towards the President
-Charles W. Colson
-Conservatives
-News coverage
-Kissinger's trip to Pakistan
-Kissinger's secret trip to Peking
-Paris Talks
-Dobrynin
-Le Duc Tho
Agnew
-Foreign trip
-Press coverage
-Agenda
-Greece
-Request for future trip
-Arrangements
-Korea, Europe, Arab countries, Greece
-Theme
-Golf
-Portugal, Spain
-Duration
-Press perception
-Agnew’s role
-Morocco, Spain, Portugal
-Congo, Kenya
8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Iran
-Handling
-American communities
-Kissinger’s staff
-Press conferences
-Events
-Compared to Kissinger, William P. Rogers
-Press coverage Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Future trips
-Iran
-Greece
-Iran
-Forthcoming celebration
-Iranian’s reaction
-Greece
-Agnew’s ethnicity
Iran
-Forthcoming celebration
-US attendance
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Agnew
-Compared to Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
-Kissinger’s opinion
-Health
-Logistics
-Agnew
-Johnson
Agnew
-Compared to President’s handling of foreign trips while Vice President
-Attitude
-Comment about Africans
-Reaction
-Forthcoming conversation with Ehrlichman
-Conversation with Kissinger
-Murray M. Chotiner meeting with the President
-PRC initiative
-Source of story
-Scali
-Preparation of memorandum
-Agnew’s request to visit PRC, Taiwan
9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Staff
-Public relations
-Public image
-Relations with the President's staff
White House staff
-Restrictions on comment
-Agnew Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Affect
Agnew
-Memorandum on the PRC story
-Scali
-Relationship with the President
-Kissinger's comment to Agnew
-Kissinger’s opinion
PRC-Soviet Union relations
-Agnew’s opinion
-Conservatives
-Actions
-Human Events
-Intelligence reports
-Buchanan’s view
-Conservative view of Communists
-The President
-James Buckley
The President's 1967 speech
-Bohemian Grove
-ABM
Kissinger left at 11:20 pm.
Agnew
-Handling
-Scali
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman
The Bohemian Grove
-Presidential visit
-Walter Baird
10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Ronald L. Ziegler's conversation with Walter Trohan
-Wire services
-United Press International [UPI]
-Grove members
-Reaction
-Effect of press attention
-Members activities
-Effect of cancellation Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Ziegler, Richard Moore
-Members reaction
-Baird
-Transportation
-Arrangements
-Trohan
-Cancellation of trip
-Effect
-Compared to the Gridiron
The President's schedule
-Gridiron
-White House Correspondent's dinner
The President left at an unknown time after 11:20 am.
[Haldeman talked with an unknown person [Ziegler?] at an unknown time between 11:20 am and
12:20 pm]
[Conversation No. 552-3B]
Moore
-Proposed Presidential visit to the Bohemian Grove
-Reaction
[End of telephone conversation]
The President entered at an unknown time after 11:20 am.
The Bohemian Grove
-Presidential visit
-Background to arrangements
-Baird
-Ziegler
11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Press coverage
-Wire services
The President's schedule
-Advance press notice
-Ziegler
-Visit to baseball game
-Perrino's Restaurant
-The President's visit after the PRC announcement Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-News report on wine
Handling of response to issues
-Buchanan
-Attitude
-John G. Tower, Peter H. Dominick
-Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman
-Reaction comparison
-Clark MacGregor
-Attitude
-William E. Timmons
The Bohemian Grove
-Attendance
-The President's 1967 speech
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 4m 5s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
**********************************************************************
Social activities
-Attitude
-Connally
-The President
-Individual contacts
12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Receiving lines
-Effectiveness
-Colson
Bohemian Grove
-Presidential visit cancellation
-Baird
-Issue of press coverage
-Off-the-record tradition Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Ziegler
-Herbert C. Hoover
-Visits to Grove
-Press coverage
-Activities
-Compared to the Gridiron
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 26s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 16
**********************************************************************
-Members
-Effect of cancellation on the President's schedule
-California
-Reagan
-Meeting
Speech
-Work
-The President's 1967 speech
-John S. Davies
-Creation
-Model for speechwriters
-Use of transitions
-Topics
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Vietnam
-Spaceflight
-Use of draft speech
Bohemian Grove
-President's visit
-Cancellation
-Effect on the press Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Effect on the Grove
Connally
-Schedule
-International Monetary Fund [IMF]
-International economic situation
-Paul A. Volcker
Bohemian Grove
-Replacement speaker
-George H.W. Bush
-The President's cancellation
-Moore, Mosbacher
-Handling
-Grove members
-Baird
-California elite
-Western White House social function
-Arrangements
-Compared to Johnson
-Response to cancellation
-Handling of cancellation
-Press
-Off-the-record tradition
-Previous speeches by Rogers, Melvin R. Laird
-The Gridiron
-Off-the-record White House events
-Baird, Trohan
-Attitude
-Press coverage
The Press
-Advance notice on the President's schedule
-UPI, CBS
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Arrangements on Grove speech coverage
-The President's 1967 speech
-Reaction
-The President's position compared to Rogers, Laird
Bohemian Grove
-Nixon as Vice President
-Cancellation
-Handling of notification Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Haldeman, Baird
-Off-the-record tradition
-CBS, UPI
-Ziegler
Social functions
-Connally
Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time after 11:20 am.
Ziegler
[End of conversation]
-Attitude
-White House events
-Sequoia, Camp David
Schedule
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:20 am and
12:09 pm]
[Conversation No. 522-3C]
[See Conversation No. 7-39]
[End of telephone conversation]
Schedule
[The President talked with Mrs. Nixon between 12:09 pm and 12:10 pm]
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
[Conversation No. 522-3D]
[See Conversation No. 7-40; one item has been withdrawn from the conversation]
[End of telephone conversation]
Ziegler entered at 12:10 pm.
Labor disputes Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Rail industry
-Press reports
-Paul W. McCracken
-The President's July 30, 1971 meeting with union and management executives
-George P. Shultz
-White House involvement
-Presidential role
-Compared to John F. Kennedy
-John Robinson (?)
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Willie J. Usery, Charles Luna
Bohemian Grove
-President's trip
-Press attitude
-Off-the-record tradition
-UPI, CBS
-Cancellation
-Comparison to the Gridiron
-Off-the-record
-Tradition of off-the-record handling
-Attendance
-Hoover
-Nixon as Vice President
-Barry M. Goldwater
-Ziegler's conversation with aide
-Candidate position
-The President
-Grove members
-Effect of press coverage or leak
The President's schedule
-Iowa, Ohio trip
-California
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Timing of announcement
-Appropriations Committee event
Presidential letter to Soviet cosmonaut's daughter
-Release
-Source
-William L. Safire
-Knowledge of letter Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Rose Mary Woods, Haig
-Source
-Safire, Price
-Timing of release
-Apollo XV
-Recipient
-Soviet Ambassador
-Circumstances
-Source
-Herbert G. Klein
-Handling
Ziegler left at 12:20 pm.
The President's schedule
-California
-Timing, transportation
-Mitchell, Connally
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 19
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 11s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 19
**********************************************************************
-California
-Possible activities
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Steel strike
-IMF
-Revision of schedule
-Connally
-Mitchell
-Camp David
-Forthcoming press conference
-Buchanan's staff Conv. No. 552-3 (cont.)
-Preparation of briefing books
-Types of events
-Photo opportunities
-Transportation
-Camp David
-Mrs. Nixon
-Timing of departure
-Baird
-Connally, Mitchell
-Cancellation of Bohemian Grove visit
-Press coverage
-Off-the-record tradition
-Secret Service contingent
-Size
-Arrangements
Haldeman left at 12:30 pm.