Conversation: 703-006
Prev: 703-005 Next: 703-007Start Date: 5-Apr-1972 4:59 PM
End Date: 5-Apr-1972 6:19 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Rogers, William P.; Andrews, John K., Jr.; Sanchez, Manolo; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Bull, Stephen B.;Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 02:05:01
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 03:23:38
NARA Description:
On April 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, William P. Rogers, John K. Andrews, Jr., Manolo Sanchez, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:59 pm to 6:19 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 703-006 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 703-6
Date: April 5, 1972
Time: 4:59 pm - 6:19 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
Vietnam
-Weather
-US Air Force [USAF]
-Gen. JohnW. Vogt, Jr.
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Melvin R. Laird
-Replacement
-Possible peace offer
-Air Strikes
William P. Rogers entered at 5:00 pm.
Greetings
Vietnam
-Vogt
-USAF
-Replacement of commander
-Reluctance
-Timing
-The President’s previous conversation with Moorer
-Air commander
-Research and Development [R & D]
-Replacement
-Vogt
-Candidates
-A-3
-Vogt
-Laird
-Strategic thinking
-The President, Laird and Moorer
-Rogers’s previous conversation with an unknown person
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Agency cooperation
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Robert J. Mccloskey briefing
-South Vietnamese capabilities
-News summary reports
-South Vietnamese embassies
-State Department
-Washington Special Action Group [WSAG] meeting
-William H. Sullivan
-Rogers's press conference
-Laird
-Timing
-Air strikes
John K. Andrews, Jr. entered at 5:04 pm.
-Weather
-Problems
Introductions
The President's speech on Catholic education, Arpil 6, 1972
-Andrews
-Religion
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Privacy]
[Duration: 2s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
-Wording
-Concessions
-Statement on non-partisanship
-The President's review
-Rose Mary Woods
-Religion
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Andrews left at 5:06 pm.
Vietnam
-Press biefings
-McCoskey
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Meetings with Kissinger, John A. Scali and Daniel
Z. Henkin
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Aggression
-Responsibility
-Compared with prior situation in Cambodia and Laos
-Laird press conference
-Air strikes
-Area above Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Possible escalation
-Withdrawal program
-Air strikes
-Press expectations
-Unrestricted bombing
-Compared with Laos operation
-Provocations
-Plans
-Laird
-Previous conservation with the President
-Timing
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] plans
-Laos
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 5:06 pm.
Refreshments
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:43 pm.
Vietnam
-Air strikes
-JCS Plans
-President’s visit to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Surface to Air Missiles [SAMs]
18
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Limitations
-Purposes
-Provocations
-Military
-Timing
-Criticism
-PRC
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-US
-Moorer
-Previous conversation with Rogers and the President
-Cambodia and Laos
-Casualty figures
-Weather
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-USAF delays
-Criticism of USAF delays
-Coordination with PRC trip
-Strikes against aircraft
-Timing
-Compared with Israeli-Egyptian conflict
-USAF delays
-Sophisticated equipment
-Viewed by the President
-Weather
-Landings
-Concerns
-Lives at risk
-Weather
-Ceiling level
-USSR
-Complexity of aircraft
-Battle of the Bulge
-Air strikes
-Weather
-Effectiveness of US air power
-Pentagon briefing attended by Rogers
-Targets
-SAM sites
-Ineffective air power
-Rogers’s previous conversation with unknown person
-Hostile environment
19
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Hunt 130s
-B-52s
-Expectations
-Problems
-South Vietnam
-Will to fight
-Chances of success
-Possible discouragement of Vietnamization program
-Effectiveness
-Cambodia and Laos
-Mixed reports
-Success of South Vietnamese army
-Moorer
-North Vietnamese offensive
-A Bridge
-Surprise element
-Expected targets
-DMZ
-A Shau Valley
-Hue
-Naval gunfire
-Effectiveness
-Rogers’s acknowledgment
-Increase and extension
-Range
-Targets
-Planes
-Cruisers
-Number
-Location
-USS Constellation
-Vessels
-Dispersion
-Single Integrated Operating Plan [SIOP]
-Targets
-Bridge destruction
-Dong Ha
-South Vietnam
-Morale
-Third Division
-Inaccurate reporting
-North Vietnamese offensive
20
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Tanks
-Duration
-US-South Vietnamese successes
-Chances
-Effects on Vietnamization
-South Vietnam
-Resistance
-Success of Vietnamization
-Expectation of attacks
-Laird's statements
-Administration’s stance
-Possible questions
-Overstatement
-Possible administration explanation
-Ziegler's statements
-Public relations efforts
-Rogers’s view
-Vietnamization
-Conditions of success
-Equipment
-Air power
-North Vietnam compared to South Vietnam
-Deployment of tanks and artillery
-Previous National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Effectiveness of North Vietnam’s artillery
-Army
-Use of artillery
-Unknown person
-US artillery compared to USSR artillery
-Anti-aircraft capacity
-SAMs
-Compared to US
-B-52s and Phantom jets
-Tanks
-Weight
-Comparisons
-Unknown person
-US-South Vietnamese power
-US air superiority
-Possible discouragement
-Problems
-Weather
21
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Effectiveness of SAMs
-Inadequacies of conventional air power
-Mach II
-Roger’s view
-B-52s
-Inaccuracies
-SAMs
-Effectiveness
-Weather
-Attacks on SAMs
-Possible losses
-Planes and Phantom jets
-Air strikes
-Areas of effectiveness
-Roads
-Tanks
-SAMs
-Possible difficulties
-130 guns
-Public opinion
-Support for bombing
-Support for the President
-Highland areas
-Targets
-B-3 Area
-SAMs
-Intensity of attacks
-Air strips
-Location
-Possible problems
-South Vietnam
-II Corps
-Ellsworth F. Bunker's reports
-Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu
-Possible timing of attacks
USSR
-The President's trip
-Stop In Poland
-The President’s previous dinner conversation with an unknown person
-Soviets
-Possible objections
22
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Arrangements
-State Department
-Problems
Rogers's Trip
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Time
-Coordination with USSR trip
-Possibility of Rogers travelling to Poland
-Iran and Baku
-Possible time of Rogers’s departure
-The President's notes to heads of governments
-Purposes of trip
-USSR trip discussions
-European suggestions
-Edward R. G. Heath
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Willy Brandt
-Rogers's Role
-Announcement of Rogers’s trip
-Preparation
-Timing
-Vietnam
-Copies to Rogers
-Stopovers
-Duration
-Iceland
-Stockholm conference and world conference on the human environment
-Conversation With H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Value
-Duration
-Democratic National Convention
-Public perception of foreign policy
-Compared to domestic policy
-Tone
-Rogers’s talk with an unknown person
-Speech by Rogers
-Date of conference
-NATO meeting
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
-Public support on environment
-Russell E. Train
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Haldeman entered at 5:43 pm.
-Rogers's meeting with Business Advisory Committee
-John E. Swearingen
-John D. Harper
-Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr.
-Human longevity
Environment
-Human longevity
-Cleanliness of environment and cities
-Thomas R. Shepard, Jr.
-Unknown book
-New York City in 1880s and 1890sw
-Population
-Foreign population
-Number
-Unable to speak English
-Gangs
-Crime rates
-Law and order
-Environmental conference in Sweden
-Rogers's visit
-Value
-High-level interest
-Speech
-Train
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Visit with delegation
-High-level committee
-Rogers's visit
-Length
-Speech
-NATO meeting
-The President’s instructions to Rogers
-Train
-US delegation
-Size
-Responsibilities
-Division
-Length of conference
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Rogers’s view
-Rogers’s speech
-US committee
-Importance
-Laurance S. Rockefeller
-Train
-Recruitment of experts
-Administration's record
-Train’s council to check with Rockefeller
-Rogers's visit
-Discussion of world pollution problems
-Possible effect
-Europe
-Tokyo
-Air
-Water
-Smog
-Compared to the US
Rogers's Trip
-Departure and return
-Coordination with USSR trip
-Departure date
-Leak to Washington Star
-Irish government
-British interest
-Possible protests
-Letter from William Whitelaw
-Timing
-John A. (“Jack”) Mulcahy
-Proposed plan
USSR trip
-Stopover in Poland
-Upcoming announcement
-State Department
-Stopover in Iran
-[Shah of Iran] Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
-Duration
-A luncheon
-Sponsorship
-Administration’s relationship with the Shah of Iran
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
The President's trip to Canada
-State events
-Number
-Compared to the PRC trip
Iran
-Ambassadorial recommendation
-Joseph S. Farland
-Confirmation
Arthur K. Watson
-Schedule
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-The President’s press conference of March 24, 1972
-Comment
The President's speech on Catholic education, April 6, 1972
Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Weather reports
-The President’s instructions to Kissinger
-Timing
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Logistics problems
-Thieu
-Possible withdrawal
-Weather changes
Gridiron Dinner attendance
-Rogers’s talk with [Warren E. Burger]
-The President
-Kissinger
-Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew
-Rogers
-Haldeman
-Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo
-Burger
Rogers's meeting with the President
-Ziegler's announcement
26
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-The President’s instructions to Kissinger
Rogers left at 5:51 pm.
Vietnam
-Laird's press conference
-Rogers’s view
-Laos
-Air strikes
-Haiphong
-Kissinger’s previous conversation with Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Limits
-Compared with Lyndon B. Johnson administration
-New targets
-Haiphong
-Civilian casualties
-Number
-Resumption
-Targets
-Impact
-Rogers’s view
-Intensity
-Naval gunfire
-North Vietnamese offensive
-US countermeasures
-Bombing
-Moscow trip
-Movements of planes and vessels
-Navy and USAF
-Japan
-Mines
-Preparation
**************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security]
[Duration: 13 ]
VIETNAM
27
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
**************************************************************************
-Rogers And Laird
-Trip
-Letters to heads of governments
-Contents
USSR trip
-Rogers's trip
-Heads of governments
-Letters from the President
-Wording
-Views from the heads of governments
-Possible leaks
-Agenda
-Irish
-Message to Heath
-State Department approach
-Relations with British
-[Earl of Cromer] George R. S. Baring
-Upcoming phone call from Kissinger
-Mulcahy
-Possible problems
-Arrangements and schedule
-Kissinger’s role
-Haldeman's work
-Dwight L. Chapin
-The President's possible itinerary
-State Department suggestions
-Moscow University
-Meeting with American students
-Kiev
-Possible conversations with Jews
-The President's trip to Asia in 1950's
-Arrangements
-US Consulate in Leningrad
-Rogers’s possible visit
28
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-US consulate in San Francisco
-Warsaw stopover
-Visibility
-Rogers's presence
-NATO meeting
-Problem
-Symbolism
-NATO meeting
-Iran stopover
-The President's stay
-Palace
-Dinner
-Iranian catering
-Shah of Iran
-Types of food
-Agnew
-Haile Selassie
-PRC
-Flight to Warsaw
-Length
-Arrival in Warsaw
-Shah of Iran
-Importance
-Departure for Warsaw
-Arrival time
-Crowds
-The President’s concern
-Flying time
-Luncheon
-Timing
-Warsaw stopover
-Arrival time
-Reception by Poles
-Length of flight across the USSR
-Teheran
-Length of stay
-Poland
-Arrival
-Reception
-Importance
-Itinerary
-Baku
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Teheran
-Arrival
-Meals
-Departure
-Meals
-Shah of Iran
-Number and type
-Harold H. Saunders
Foreign policy
-Rogers's work
-PRC
-Marshal green
-Support for the President's policies
-USSR
-NATO
USSR trip
-Baku
-Iran
-Meals
-Arrival Time
-Meals
-Poland
-Departure Time
The President's schedule
-Florida trip for Kissinger
-Kissinger's return to Washington, DC
-Work
-Philadelphia
-Press plane
-Departure
-Ziegler
-Trip to Florida
-Press reports
-Decision making
Vietnam
-Media coverage
-Public interest
-Current situation
30
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Hubert H. Humphrey’s view
-Support for South Vietnam
-Edmund S. Muskie’s view
-Reaction to invasion
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 6m 11s ]
STEPHEN B. BULL ENTERED AT AN UNKNOWN TIME AFTER 5:51 PM.
BULL LEFT AT AN UNKNOWN TIME BEFORE 6:18 PM.
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
*****************************************************************
The President's speeches
-References to "Silent Majority"
-November 3, 1969 speech
-References to "Silent Majority"
-Cambodia speech
-1952 speech
-Emotional content
-Intellectuals' reaction
-Cambodia
-Kent State University
-White House reaction
-Poll
-Opposition to students
-Positions
-Busing
-Administration's opposition
-Marijuana
-Positive stance
-PRC trip
-Attacks on George Meany
-Hugh S. Sidey
-Public support for the President
31
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Conversation with Kissinger
-PRC trip
USSR trip
-Rogers
-Letters to heads of governments
Kissinger and Haldeman left and Manolo Sanchez entered at 6:18 pm.
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 49s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 11
*****************************************************************
The President and Sanchez left at 6:19 pm.