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Conversation: 653-007

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Start Date: 24-Jan-1972 10:34 AM

End Date: 24-Jan-1972 11:02 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Kissinger, Henry A.Bull, Stephen B.

Recording Device: Oval Office

653a.mp3

653b.mp3

NARA Description:

On January 24, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:34 am to 11:02 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 653-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 653-7

Date: January 24, 1972
Time: 10:34 am - 11:02 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Henry A. Kissinger.
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

       Vietnam
            -Peace plan speech, January 25, 1972
                 -Briefing
                        -Media
                              -Evening story
                        -Possible questions for Senators
                              -Kissinger’s briefing
                        -John A. Scali’s briefing on India-Pakistan War
                 -News summary
                 -Democrats’ possible reaction
                        -Michael J. Mansfield
                        -Washington Post
                        -Mansfield
                              -All-Indochina peace conference
            -Negotiations
                 -Final guarantee
            -Speech
                 -Briefing
                        -Need for accuracy
                 -Text
                        -Timing
                              10

        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                      Tape Subject Log
                        (rev. 10/06)
                                                       Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


               -Ronald L. Ziegler
      -Scali
             -Leaks
      -Ziegler
             -Leaks
      -Scali
      -Clark MacGregor
      -Herbert G. Klein
      -Charles W. Colson
-Briefing
      -Scheduling
      -Scali
             -Leaks
                    -Intentions
      -Scheduling
             -Foreign policy considerations
             -Kissinger
                    -Meeting with William L. Safire
      -Ziegler
             -Knowledge of possible questions
             -Ability
      -Scali
             -Knowledge of possible questions
      -Ziegler
             -Questions from Kissinger’s staff
             -Answers
      -Possible questions
             -Deadline
             -Congress
             -Administration position
      -Ziegler
             -Staff
             -Scheduling
             -Network pool
                    -Schedule
                          -Request for time
                          -Foreign policy considerations
-Nguyen Van Thieu’s speech
-Timing
      -Kissinger’s talk with Thieu
      -Effect on networks
                           11

       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                   Tape Subject Log
                     (rev. 10/06)
                                                    Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


-Kissinger’s breakfast meeting with Melvin R. Laird, January 25, 1972
      -Laird’s possible conversations with John C. Stennis and Armed
             Services Committee members
             -Timing
-Kissinger’s briefing
      -Elliot L. Richardson
      -John B. Connally
      -John N. Mitchell
      -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
      -Robert H. Finch
      -Donald H. Rumsfeld
      -William P. Rogers
      -George W. Romney
      -John A. Volpe
      -Calls
             -Romney
             -Nelson A. Rockefeller
             -Ronald W. Reagan
             -William F. (“Billy”) Graham
             -Lyndon B. Johnson
             -Graham
                   -Location
                         -Virgin Islands
                         -Communications problem
             -Johnson
             -Rockefeller and Reagan
             -Johnson
                   -Timing
-Briefing of ambassadors
      -State Department
             -Marshall Green
                   -Cables
      -Timing of notification
             -U. Alexis Johnson
      -Cables
             -Text, schedule
      -Kissinger’s forthcoming talk with Sir James Plimsoll
             -William McMahon
                   -The President’s wire
             -State Department
-Kissinger’s briefing
                                        12

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 10/06)
                                                                 Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


                    -Japan


**************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 8s ]


      JAPAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

**************************************************************************


                    -Letter to Leonid I. Brezhnev
                          -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                    -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                          -Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
                                -Paris
                    -Television people
                          -Value
                          -Schedule
                    -Writing press
                          -Schedule
                    -Content
                          -Peace proposal
                                -Background
                    -Post-speech briefing
                          -History of negotiations
                                -Highlights
                                -Channels
                                -Maj. Gen. James D. (“Don”) Hughes’s role
                                -Walters’s role
                                -Georges J.R. Pompidou
                                -Training missions
                                -Channels
                                -Release of documents
                                13

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                        Tape Subject Log
                          (rev. 10/06)
                                                         Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


                                -Nine points
                         -Chronology
                                -US position
                         -The President’s efforts
                         -Criticism
             -The President’s talk with Kissinger, January 23, 1972
             -Kissinger’s meeting with Safire, January 24, 1972
       -Secret meetings
             -Possible reaction
                   -Administration handling
                         -Progress by Johnson Administration
             -Exposure
                   -Possible reaction
                         -Politics
             -Public reaction
             -Thieu
             -Safire’s work on section of speech
             -Pentagon Papers and Jack N. Anderson Papers
                   -Klein’s view
                         -Public right to know
 -Jacob K. Javits’s dinner
       -Support of the President
       -Kissinger’s attendance
 -The President’s unknown previous speech [on Cambodia, April 30, 1970?]
       -William Atwood of Newsday
             -Relation with Adlai E. Stevenson II
             -Robert H. Abplanalp’s visit
             -Frank Storer [sp?] of Long Island
             -Reaction to speech
                   -Abplanalp’s reaction
                         -Atwood’s column
-The President’s critics
-Javits dinner
      -Secrecy issue
             -Harrison E. and Charlotte Y. (Rand) Salisbury
                   -Views
                         -Tone
             -Views of guests
                   -Haldeman’s point
                   -Agreement with Kissinger
             -Kissinger’s defense of issue
                                                14

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. 10/06)
                                                                      Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)


                               -Trust of foreign governments
                  -Vietnam casualties
                        -US responsibility
                        -Tone of argument
                               -Unknown black person
                        -Kissinger’s view
                               -Double standard
                                     -North Vietnamese
                                     -South Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians
                        -Unknown woman’s [Charlotte Salisbury?] accusations
                               -Thieu government
                               -The President
                               -The American people
                               -Unknown man’s [Harrison Salisbury?] reaction
             -The President’s forthcoming speech
                  -Safire
                  -Secrecy in negotiations
                        -Haldeman’s and Kissinger’s view
                  -Senate adoption of peace proposal
                        -Contrasted with administration proposal
                        -Peace deadline

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:37 am.

       Waldheim’s arrival

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:02 am.

       Vietnam
            -Negotiations
                 -Deadline
                       -North Vietnamese proposal

       The President’s schedule

       Kissinger’s forthcoming action

The President, Haldeman, and Kissinger left at 11:02 am.
                                             15

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 10/06)
                                                                     Conv. No. 653-7 (cont.)