Conversation 610-002

TapeTape 610StartMonday, November 1, 1971 at 5:08 PMEndMonday, November 1, 1971 at 5:08 PMTape start time01:03:55Tape end time01:04:16ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  [Unknown person(s)]Recording deviceOval Office

On November 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 5:08 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 610-002 of the White House Tapes.

The President's schedule
          -William McMahon
               -Possible statement to the press

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[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number
LPRN-T-MDR-2014-032. Segment declassified on 05/17/2019. Archivist: MM]
[National Security]
[610-001-w005]
[Duration: 12s]

     The President's schedule
          -William McMahon
               -Weakness
                      -Henry A. Kissinger’s opinion
                      -The President’s opinion
                      -Henry A. Kissinger’s opinion

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     Department of State [DOS]
         -News leaks
         -Rogers
              -White House
         -Green
              -PRC talks
         -Martin J. Hillenbrand
              -Soviet talks
         -The President's forthcoming meeting with Chou En-lai
              -Diplomatic arrangements
                     -Kissinger

     Laird

John N. Mitchell, George P. Shultz and H. R. Haldeman entered and Kissinger left at 4:15 pm.

     Kissinger
          -The PRC initiative

     James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa
          -Possible clemency
     -Possible pardon
     -Frank E. Fitzsimmons's efforts
          -International Brotherhood of Teamsters
     -Executive clemency
          -Procedures
                -Mitchell
                -Recommendation
                      -Parole board
                           -Mitchell
          -Timing
     -Possible parole
          -Public perception
                -1972 election
     -Executive clemency
          -Mitchell’s view
                -Possible quid pro quo by Fitzsimmons
                      -Pay Board
                      -The President’s economic program
                      -George Meany

Pay Board
     -Shultz’s view
     -Meany and Leonard Woodcock
          -American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations [AFL-
                CIO]
     -Woodcock and Fitzsimmons
          -Meany
     -Public perception

Hoffa
     -Fitzsimmons's efforts
     -Executive clemency
           -Possible conditions
                -1972 election
           -Teamsters
           -Views of Barry M. Goldwater and John J. Rhodes
           -Activities of opponents
                -Parole board
           -Woodcock's meeting with Shultz
                -Fitzsimmons
                -Meany's views
                -I[lwirth] W[ilbur] Abel’s view
     -Quid pro quo
           -The President’s economic program
     -Time served
     -Sentence
           -Executive clemency
     -Parole Board's actions
           -James Hoffa, Jr. and attorney
           -Hoffa's labor connections
               -Resignations
          -Hoffa's finances

Teamsters
    -Construction unions
    -Maurice A. Hutcheson
          -Walter P. Reuther
          -Robert F. Kennedy
    -Fitzsimmons and Woodcock
    -United Auto Workers [UAW]
          -Reuther
                -Alliance for Labor Action
                      -AFL-CIO
          -Woodcock
                -General Motors strike
          -Differences in viewpoints
                -Fitzsimmons
                -Social issues
                      -Dues collection
                      -Voter registration
                      -Reuther
    -Effectiveness for minorities
          -Chicago

Hoffa
     -Executive clemency
          -Possible conditions
          -Others awaiting presidential action
                 -Restoration of civil rights
                 -Typicality
          -Possible reaction
     -Mitchell's lunch with Time-Life and Fortune staffs, November 1, 1971
          -Rogers and Kissinger
          -Political prisoner question
                 -Parole period
                      -Discrimination
                 -Conduct in prison
     -Executive clemency
          -Political considerations
                 -Public perception of labor leaders
                 -Edward M. Kennedy's possible reaction
                      -Robert Kennedy
                 -Possible effects on the Administration
                      -Benefit
                      -Criticism
                 -Teamsters endorsement of Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968
     -Executive clemency
          -Discrimination
          -Timing
                 -1972 election
                -Parole board
                     -Possible action
                           -Perception
                -Conditions
                     -Fitzsimmons

          -Fitzsimmons
                -Possible vote
                     -Effect on Teamsters and construction workers

     Hoffa
          -Teamsters' impressions
               -Fitzsimmons
                      -The President's speech to Teamsters convention
          -Unionists' support
          -Executive clemency
               -Possible reaction by critics
                      -Compared to release of Black Panther
                      -Dr. Thomas W. Matthew

     Matthew
          -Executive clemency
               -Leonard Garment's memorandum to the President

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[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under deed of gift 03/17/2020. Segment cleared for
release.]
[Privacy]
[610-001-w008]
[Duration: 26s]

     Thomas W. Matthew
         -Alleged activities
               -Stealing
               -Government and finance committee [?]
         -Projects

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     James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa
          -As symbol
          -Robert Kennedy's activities
          -Executive clemency
                -Edward Kennedy's possible reaction
                -John L. McClellan's possible reaction

     National economy
          -Pay Board
               -Wage contracts
                     -Shultz's conversation with Arnold R. Weber
                     -Retroactivity
                     -Railroad workers
                     -Freeze period
                           -Meany's view
                           -Retroactivity
                                 -Prices
                           -Views of Woodcock and Fitzsimmons
                     -Automobile workers
                     -Milton Friedman's views
                           -Sanctity of contracts
                     -Timing of decision
               -Meany's possible action
                     -Administration's response
               -Weber
                     -John B. Connally
               -Contingency plan
                     -Price commission
                           -Reasonable standards
                     -Wage and price freeze
                           -Possible fate
                                 -Timing
                                 -Support
                                       -Labor
                                             -Canada
                     -Preparation
          -The President's program
               -Possible action
                     -Extension of freeze
                           -Involvement
                           -Standards
                                 -Legal status
                                       -Congress
               -James Tobin
                     -Article of October 31, 1971
                     -Yale University
                           -John F. Kennedy
                     -Article
                           -Content
               -Kermit Gordon's view
               -Possible reaction
                     -Presidential intervention
          -Tobin

Shultz and Haldeman left at 4:53 pm.

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[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 03/17/2020.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[610-001-w009]
[Duration: 4m 1s]
     1972 campaign
          -New Hampshire primary
               -Petitions
                     -December 23, 1971
               -Suggested plan
                     -Delegations
               -Announcement of the President’s candidacy
                     -Timing
                           -January 5-6, 1972
                           -Response to New Hampshire Secretary of State
                           -Delegates and alternates
          -Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida primaries
               -Timing
          -Announcement of the President’s candidacy
               -Timing
                     -January 1972
               -Response to New Hampshire Secretary of State
                     -January 20, 1972 deadline
                     -Petitions
               -Attention
                     -Potential criticism
               -Ronald L. Ziegler

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     National economy
          -Pay Board
                -Prospects
                      -Wage and price controls
                -Meany's possible action
                      -Meany’s support with labor
                            -Shultz
                            -Mitchell's conversation with Fitzsimmons, October 30, 1971
                -Public board
                -Administration's action
                      -Congress
                      -Labor
                            -Need for planning
                -Shultz and Weber
                -Arthur F. Burns
                -L. Patrick Gray's actions
                -Meany's possible action
                      -Administration's reaction
                            -Shultz

     Hoffa
          -Executive clemency
               -Mitchell’s view
               -The President’s further actions

     The President's schedule
          -Mitchell
          -McMahon
          -Rogers

Mitchell left and Robert L. Kunzig and Frederic L. Malek entered at 5:02 pm.

     Kunzig
         -Role in administration
              -Justice Department
              -American Bar Association [ABA]'s action
              -General Services Administration [GSA]
              -Confirmation as judge
                    -Nomination
                    -Retirement of predecessor
                          -Timing
                          -Deal with White House
                    -Previous confirmations
                    -Hugh Scott
                    -Possible leak

     Presentation of gifts by the President

     Kunzig
         -Performance

Kunzig and Malek left at 5:18 pm.

                                                                       Conversation No. 610-2

Date: November 1, 1971
Time: 5:08 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with an unknown person [Dr. W. Kenneth Riland?]

The President talked with an unknown person.

[End of telephone conversation]
The President and the unknown person left at 5:08 pm.

No transcript is available for this conversation. The audio may not contain audible speech, or the recording may not yet have been processed.