Conversation: 665-008
Prev: 665-007 Next: 665-009Start Date: Thursday, February 3, 1972 7:25 PM
End Date: Thursday, February 3, 1972 9:10 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Kissinger, Henry A.; Yevtushenko, Yevgeny; Zarechnak, DemitirRecording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 04:03:19
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 05:47:53
NARA Description:
On February 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Demitir Zarechnak met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:25 pm to 4:10 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 665-008 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 665-8
Date: February 3, 1972
Time: 2:25 pm - 4:10 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Ronald L. Ziegler.
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]
Vietnam
-Edmund S. Muskie’s speech
-William P. Rogers’s statement
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Ronald Ziegler’s conversation with Rogers
-Reaction
-State Department
-Roles of John A. Scali and Charles W. Colson
-Democrats’ possible reaction
-Possible response
-Mansfield
-Patrick J. Buchanan’s opinion
-Robert J. Dole, Barry M. Goldwater
-Ronald W. Reagan
-John Sherman Cooper, Charles H. Percy
-Edward W. Brooke
-Robert A. Taft, Jr.
-William B. Saxbe
-Toughness
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Walter R. Meares
-William E. Brock, III
-Democrats’
-John C. Stennis
-Rogers
-Henry M .(“Scoop”) Jackson
Public relations
41
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
-Administration counterattacks
Rogers
-Forthcoming television appearance, February 6, 1972
-Xuan Thuy
-Time allotment
-Face the Nation
-Statement, February 3, 1972
-Muskie
-Responsibility
-Vietnam negotiations
-Public reaction to Muskie statement
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Involvement
-Unknown executive at Sans Souci
Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Viet Cong proposal
-Media focus
-Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu
-Possibility of leaving office
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Possible exchange
-US position
-Possible withdrawal date
-Viet Cong proposal
-Strategy
-Potential for criticism
-Propaganda
-Thieu
-Cease-fire
-US-Vietnam strategy
-Possible cease-fire
-William J. Porter’s response
-Ziegler’s comments to press
-US position
-Election Commission
-Thieu
-Rogers’s comments on Muskie’s speech
42
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
Elliot R. Richardson
-Statement concerning welfare reform, February 3, 1972
-Compromise
-House Resolution [HR] 1
-Pilot programs
-Abraham A. Ribicoff
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Press questions
-Possible differences of opinion between Agnew and the President
-Legal services
-Ziegler’s comments
-Legislation
White House Conference on Drug Abuse
-Press coverage
Television
Leonard H. Goldenson and Elton Rule
-Conversation with Ziegler, February 3, 1972
-Previous meeting with Colson and Peter M. Flanigan
-Conversation with Ziegler
-Television news
-Daniel L .Schorr
-Claim
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
Ziegler left at 2:45 pm.
President’s schedule
-Florida
-Previous meeting with athletes
-Press coverage
-Bowie K. Kuhn, Alvin R. (“Pete”) Rozelle
-President’s comments
-Effect
-Emulation of the President
-Athletes in commercials
-Blacks
-Competition
43
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
-Introduction of the President
-Possible changes suggested by the President
-Military aide
-Signal corpsman
-Trained announcer
-British system
-Example
-Professionalism
-Army Chorus
-Selection of songs
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 35s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
******************************************************************************
White House social events
-Music
-Prayer breakfast
-America
-DeWitt Wallace dinner
-Incident
-God Bless America
-Army Chorus
-Road to Mandalay
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 3s ]
44
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
******************************************************************************
Music
-Walter E. (“Walt”) Disney
-Churches
Prayer breakfast
-Two black girls with guitar
-Ethel Waters
-Performance
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
-Kissinger
-Background
-Babi Yar
-Theme
Jews
Peter G. Peterson
-Role with administration
-John B. Connally
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 57s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
******************************************************************************
President’s previous meeting with athletes
-Importance
45
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
-Briefing
Kissinger entered at 3:01 pm.
Muskie
-Rogers’s comments February 3, 1972 concerning speech on Vietnam
-Quotes
-Mansfield
Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Viet Cong proposal
-President’s conversation with Ziegler
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
-Withdrawal
-POWs
-Thieu
-Possible resignation
-US position
-US position
-Viet Cong proposal
-Ceasefire negotiations
-US position
-Kissinger’s view
-Kissinger’s conversation with Mansfield, February 3, 1972
-Viet Cong proposal
-Possible US response
-Press
-US proposal
-October 1971
Cuba
-Ad hoc approach
Haldeman left at 3:07 pm.
Yevtushenko and Demitri Zarechnak entered at 3:07 pm.
Photograph opportunities
Cuba
46
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
Seating
-Andrei A. Gromyko
-Other Heads of State
-Seating
Yevtushenko
-Visit to US
-Poetry readings
-Language
-Background
Local pride
-Yevtshenko’s hometown
-Location
-The President’s travels
-Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk
-Comparisons to the US
President’s college experience
-Leo Tolstoy
Russian literary tradition
-Dr. Zhivago
-Description
President’s 1959 visit to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Nikita S. Khrushechev
-President’s speech
-Sincerity
-Understanding of conditions in USSR
-Tone
-Effect
Yevtushenko’s poetry
Values of USSR people
-Yevtushenko’s view
Unite of mankind
47
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Effect
Yevtushenko’s visit to Chile in 1968
-Reception
-Accusations from left and right
Yevtushenko’s visit to Library of Congress in 1966
-Robert S. Mcnamara
-Photograph caption
The President’s forthcoming trip to the PRC
-Effect
-USSR
-Vietnam
USSR invasion of Prague
-Historical relevance
USSR relations with US
-Propoganda
-Khrushchev
-Josef V. Stalin
Anti-American propaganda
-Worldwide Leftist movement
-Yevtushenko’s previous visit to South America
-Yevtushenko’s opinion
-Socialists
-USSR relations with US
-Apparent closeness
-The President’s forthcoming trip to the PRC
-Meeting with Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai
-Effect
President’s meeting with Yevtushenko
48
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
President’s forthcoming visit to USSR
-Kissinger
-Duration
-USSR intelligentsia
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Classical ballet
-Itinerary
Theatre
-Moscow
-Receptions
Kissinger’s visit to USSR
President’s visits to Paris, London, Bonn
-Timing
President’s forthcoming visit to USSR
-Itinerary
-Meetings with leaders
-Cultural exchange
-Bureaucracies
Russia
-Abolition of serfdom
-Freedom
-October Revolution
-Tsar
-Interim government
-Maxim Gorky’s letter to Vladimir Ilich Lenin [Ulyanov]
-Censorship
-Civil War
Slavery in US
-Effect
USSR
-History
-Ideals compared to reality
-Political conditions
49
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Desire to visit US
-Possible timing
President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
-France [?]
Kissinger’s schedule
-Connally
Kissinger left at 3:55 pm.
President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
-Itinerary
-Kissinger’s forthcoming conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Recommendations
-President’s reputation
President’s 1967 visit to USSR
-Cultural exchange
-Moscow
-Samarkand
-Alma-Ata
US-USSR relations
-Common interests
President’s forthcoming visit to PRC
-Possible USSR reaction
-President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
-Possible PRC reaction
-The President’s pragmatism
-Importance
-US differences with PRC, USSR
-Intelligentsia
President’s forthcoming trip to USSR
-Brezhnev
-Khrushchev
-Aleksei N. Kosygin
-Agenda for talks
50
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 665-8 (cont.)
-Arms limitation, trade
-Spirit of visit
-World War II
US-USSR relations
-Korea
World peace
-“Watershed”
-President’s forthcoming trips
-Possible impact on viewing PRC and USSR leaders
-Brezhnev’s possible trip
Yevtushenko’s poetry
-Suggestions from Yevtushenko
Nancy Hanks
-Role with Administration
President’s 1967 visit to USSR
-Samarkand
-Conversation with one-legged man
Presentation of gifts by President
-Cufflinks
World peace
-US, USSR, PRC
Yevtushenko’s book
Yevtushenko and Zarechnak left at 4:10 pm.
51
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)