Conversation: 652-017
Prev: 652-016 Next: 652-018Start Date: 20-Jan-1972 6:08 PM
End Date: 20-Jan-1972 6:36 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); [Unknown person(s)]; Kissinger, Henry A.;Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 02:59:58
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 03:25:19
NARA Description:
On January 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:08 pm and 6:36 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 652-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 652-17
Date: January 20, 1972
Time: Unknown after 6:08 pm until 6:36 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with an unknown man.
Briefcases
-Airplane
-Materials
-Alexander P. Butterfield
Henry A. Kissinger entered and the unknown man left at 6:12 pm.
Forthcoming Cabinet dinner
State of the Union Address
-Success
The President’s schedule
-Terence Cardinal Cooke
Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Call to Kissinger
The President’s schedule
35
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Gen. William C. Westmoreland
Dobrynin
-Call to Kissinger
-India-Pakistan relations
-Dinner with Kissinger, January 21, 1972
-Outlook
Vietnam
-Message from Gen. Creighton W. Abrams
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Reserve units
-US bombing of logistic build-up
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with Dobrynin
-Possible effect on the President’s People’s Republic of China [PRC] trip
-Possible US bombing
-Location
-Timing
-The President’s peace plan speech, January 25, 1972
-Possible North Vietnamese response
-Buildup
-US bombing
-Abrams’s plan
-Settlement
-II Corps
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-I Corps
-US air power
-DMZ
-Dobrynin
-Forthcoming dinner with Kissinger
India-Pakistan War
-Dobrynin
-Conversation with Kissinger, January 20, 1972
-Tone
-Schedule
-Vasily V. Kuznetsov
-December 10, 1971 telegram from Soviet ambassador to India, Nikolai M. Pegov
-Kashmir
-Kuznetsov
36
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 652-17 (cont.)
-The President’s December 9, 1971 meeting with Soviet Agriculture Minister
[Vladimir Matskevich]
Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Dobrynin
-Forthcoming dinner with Kissinger
-Peace plan speech
-Dobrynin
-Possible message about negotiations
-Build-up
-Abrams’s report
-Build-up
-Reserve units
-Hanoi
-Location
-Ho Chi Minh trail
-DMZ
-Road
-Bombing
-Building
-Possible attack schedule
-II Corps
-February 1972
-I Corps
-March 1972
-Completion
-May 1972
-The President’s trips to Soviet Union and PRC
-Soviets
-Middle East negotiations
-Trade
-1972 election
-Abrams’s recommendation
-Soviet Union
-PRC
-Timing
-Peace plan speech
-Peace plan speech
-Notes to PRC and Soviet Union
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
37
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 652-17 (cont.)
-Dobrynin
-Timing
-Previous US air strike
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with Dobrynin
-The President’s previous and forthcoming actions
-South Vietnamese army
-Change of commanders
-I Corps
-Tanks
-Publicity
-US troops
-Peace plan speech
-Rogers’s suggestions
-William L. Safire
-Kissinger’s review
-The President’s schedule
-Florida
-Copy to Butterfield
-Briefcase
-The President’s review
-Kissinger’s suggestions
-Complexity of certain passages
-Explanation of proposal
-Agreement in principle and substance
-Remaining US troops
-Rogers’s suggestions
-Principle
-Rhetoric
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Rogers
State of the Union Address
-Final passages
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.’s work
-Compared to speeches of the Kennedys
-Press treatment
-Tone
-Foreign policy sections
-Bi-partisanship
-Defense program section
-Dobrynin’s reaction
38
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 652-17 (cont.)
-Conversation with Kissinger
-Arms limitation
-Soviets
-Dobrynin’s reaction
India-Pakistan War
-US actions
-Soviet response
-Cultural Minister [Ekaterina A. Furtseva]
-Relations with Kissinger
-Dobrynin
-Schedule
-Kissinger
-Kissinger’s talk with White House staff, January 20, 1972
Soviet summit
-Dobrynin
-Possible US proposals
-Kissinger’s meeting with Soviet Trade Minister
-Maurice H. Stans
-Possible effect of Soviet propaganda
-Dobrynin
-Return to US
Vietnam
-Kissinger’s possible conversation with Dobrynin
-Soviet trade
-North Vietnamese offensive
-US air force
-US withdrawal
-Effect
-Possible settlement
-Timing
Foreign policy
-Goals
State of the Union address
-Foreign policy section
-US commitments
-US interests
39
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 652-17 (cont.)
-Bolivia
-Intervention
-“Peaceniks” view
Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-US Air Force
-South Vietnamese
-Strength
-North Vietnam
-Laos, Cambodia
-US bombing
-Strategy
-Duration
-Results
-Timing
-Peace plan proposal
-North Vietnamese response
-Peace plan speech
Vietnam peace plan speech
-Readiness of draft
-Florida
-Kissinger and Safire
-The President’s further work
The President’s schedule
-Vietnam peace plan speech
-Preparation
-Briefing
-Timing
-Legislative leaders
-The President’s role vis-à-vis Kissinger’s
-State of the Union Address
-Length
-Compared to previous ones
-Cooke’s comment to the President
-The President’s appearance
-Joan Braden’s comment
-Lunch with Kissinger
-Previous meetings with the President
40
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 652-17 (cont.)
-Peace plan speech
-The President’s review
-Thieu
-The President’s instructions to Safire
North Vietnam
-Recognition by Norway and Denmark
-Possible return of US ambassadors
-Fact finding mission
[Funeral of King Frederick IX of Denmark ?]
-US representatives
International monetary matters
-Connally
-Chilean loan
-Connally’s previous meeting with the President
-Connally’s knowledge
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 33s ]
INTELLIGENCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
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-Cabinet
-Possible military action
Vietnam
-Connally’s view
-Dobrynin
41
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 652-17 (cont.)
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation, January 21, 1972
-Recent talk with Kissinger
-Tone
The President and Kissinger left at 6:36 pm.