Conversation: 665-003
Prev: 665-002 Next: 665-004Start Date: Thursday, February 3, 1972 3:53 PM
End Date: Thursday, February 3, 1972 4:33 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Bunker, Ellsworth F.; Kissinger, Henry A.; [Unknown person(s)]; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 01:32:56
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 02:12:11
NARA Description:
On February 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ellsworth F. Bunker, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:53 am to 11:33 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 665-003 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 665-3
Date: February 3, 1972
Time: 10:53 am - 11:33 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Ellsworth F. Bunker and Henry A. Kissinger.
President’s previous meeting with Kenneth B. Keating
President’s letter to Nepal
-Death of King [Mehendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva]
-Relationship with the US
-Bunker’s wife [Carol C. (Laise) Bunker]
King Mehendra’s health
-Illness
-News summary
-Skill at hunting
Crown Prince Birendra
-Age
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 14s ]
NEPAL
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
******************************************************************************
20
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)
Mrs. Bunker’s schedule
-Saigon
-King Mahendra’s death
Keating’s schedule
-Preparation for testimony
-Papers
US-India relations
-Keating’s previous conversation with Triloki Nath Kaul
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
US foreign policy
-John B. Connally’s views
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 10:53 am.
Refreshments
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 11:25 am.
US-India relations
-The President’s and Keating’s experience
-US policy on India
-President’s previous conversation with Keating
-USSR and People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-US aid
-Amount
-United Nations [UN]
-PRC
-1962
-USSR
-Calcutta
-US policy
-Proposed relationship with India
-Advantages
-Possible concessions
21
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)
Bangladesh
-Indian Army
-Bengalis
-USSR, PRC
-West Bengal
-US interests
-Possible outcome
Vietnam
-Edmund S. Muskie’s speech, February 2, 1972
-Assessment
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
-President’s policy
-Morale
-News reports
-News summary
-New line
-Military situation
-Carrier
-B-52’s and A-1’s
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Show of US strength
-President’s forthcoming trip to PRC
-Communists’ morale
-Bombing
-Potential for devastation
-Morale
-Efficacy of interdiction
-Surface-to-Air Missile [SAM] sites
-Protective reaction
-SAM sites
-Kissinger’s upcoming conversation with Robert F. Ellsworth
-Shrikes [?]
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Accuracy of attack
-PRC trip
-Request to limit the attack
-Briefings
-PRC trip
-Protective reaction
-Definition
22
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)
-President’s instructions to Bunker
-Bunker’s forthcoming conversation with Abrams
-Briefings
-PRC trip
-SAM sites
-Number and location
-Laos
-B-52
-Giap Pass
-PRC trip
-Timing
-President’s request
-Protective reaction
-South Vietnam
-B-3 [?] front
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-PRC trip
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Moorer
-Timing
-I Corps
-Timing of possible attack
-Bunker
-Increase of planes and carriers
-Briefing, February 2, 1972
-Bombing
-Navy pilots
-Compared to US Air Force [USAF] pilots
-Accuracy of bombing
-B-3 [?]
-Laos
-Long Tieng
-Vang Pao’s forces
-Morale
-South Vietnamese army
-South Vietnamese army
-B-52s attacks
-Need for follow-up
-Number of casualties on the ground
-Abrams
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)
-Melvin R. Laird
-Bunker’s conversation with Gen. Hoang Xuan Lam
-Timing
-DMZ
-Gen. [Forename unknown] Nam
-US 9th Division
-Delta
-South Vietnamese 7th Division
-Conversation with Joseph W. Alsop
-Timing
-Cambodia
-Outcome of maneuver
-Abrams
-Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu’s actions
-Psychological aspect of upcoming offensive
-Unknown person
-B-52s
-Numbers
-Guam
-Moorer, Laird
-Kissinger’s upcoming conversation with Laird
-Aircraft carrier
-Delivery date
-Number of planes
-South Vietnamese army
-Offensive
-Aid
-Vietnamization
-Communists’ casualties
-Numbers
-Lam Son operation
-Lam Son
-Press reporting
-Cambodia
-34th Corps
-Sir Robert Thompson’s views
-Bunker’s tenure in office
-Request from the President
-G. McMurtrie Godley, William H. Sullivan
-Washington Post’s views
-New York Times
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)
-American “establishment”
-Reaction to Vietnam
-Bunker’s tenure in office
-Mrs. Bunker
-Offensive
-Upcoming Vietnam negotiations
-1972 election
Kissinger’s schedule
-Keating
-[Earl of Cromer] George R.S. Baring
-Foreign minister
Kissinger left at 11:25 am.
Vietnam
-Abrams
-Approximate force levels
-Negotiations
-Possible effect
-Residual force
-Potential numbers
-Gen. [Forename unknown] Leander’s letter to Abrams
-Request for divisions
-South Korean divisions
-Withdrawal in 1973
-Size of South Vietnamese army
-Popular forces
-Korean divisions
-Tran Kim’s Quang’s trip to Seoul
-Thieu
-Withdrawal
-Chief of Staff visit to Saigon
-Abrams
-Timing
-Type of military support
-Residual force
-President’s forthcoming troop announcement
Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr. entered at 11:27 pm.
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-3 (cont.)
-President’s instructions to Haig
-Abrams
-Residual force
-Forthcoming announcement, April 1972
-Korean divisions
-Concerns
-Helicopters, logistical support
-Economic aid
-Congressional action
-Mrs. Bunker
-Bunker’s tenure
-Views of American people
Bunker and Haig left at 11:33 am.