Conversation No. 711-5

Date: April 18, 1972
Time: 11:00 am - 11:24 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Vietnam
          -Kissinger’s staff
          -Soviets
               -Strikes against Hanoi and Haiphong areas
                     -Kissinger’s conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
               -Domestic situation
          -Bombing
               -Intensity
               -Lyndon B. Johnson
               -Orders
                     -Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
                     -Massive attacks
               -Number of sorties
                     -Possible cutbacks
                     -Kissinger’s conversations with Adm. Thomas H. Moorer and [David]
                     Kenneth Rush
                     -Intensity
                           -Concentration of bombing
                                 -Press stories
                     -Current number in north
                           -Melvin R. Laird
                     -Number in south
                           -Distribution
                                       24

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 7/07)



                          -Military Region Three
          -Impact
          -Increases
                -B-52s
          -The President’s previous conversation with Moorer
                -Enemy retreat
                     -Increases
     -Naval action
          -Destroyers
     -Bombing
          -Resumption
                -North Vietnam
          -Haiphong
                -Soviets

Soviets
     -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s previous conversation with the President
          -Earl L. Butz’s meeting with Kissinger
                -Scheduling
     -Butz’s meeting with the President
          -Trips abroad
                -Haldeman
                -Problems
                     -George W. Romney, Butz, and John A. Volpe
                           -Reporting
          -Meeting with Leonid I. Brezhnev
                -Evaluations of Jacob D. Beam and Butz
                     -The President’s past conduct
                     -The President’s view
     -Brezhnev
          -The President’s view
          -Meeting with Butz
                -Butz’s knowledge of Soviets
                     -Grain deal
                -Relevance to US-Soviet relations
                     -Dobrynin
                     -US bombing of North Vietnam

Vietnam
     -Bombing
         -People’s Republic of China [PRC] reactions
         -US overflights of PRC
                                        25

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. 7/07)



                -Channels of protest

PRC
      -Visit by Hugh Scott and Michael J. Mansfield
            -Possible Mansfield statement

Vietnam
     -Bombing
          -Supporters
                -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
                      -Statement
                            -Significance
                            -The President’s previous conversation with Haldeman
                      -Charles W. Colson
                      -Timing
          -Provocation
                -North Vietnamese mistakes
          -Impact on Kissinger’s trip to Moscow
     -Soviets
          -US-Soviet relationship
                -Kissinger’s trip
                      -Possible results
                            -Summit
     -Bombing
          -Impact on North Vietnam
     -Blockade
          -Risks to summit
                -Kissinger’s view
     -Laird
          -Statements
                -Aggresiveness
          -Statements
                -J. William Fulbright
                      -Questioned by Laird
     -US policies
          -Supporters
                -Barry M. Goldwater
                      -Soviets
     -War in south
          -Moorer and unknown person [?]
          -Halt in action
                                                26

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 7/07)



Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:00 am.

     Barber
          -The President’s appointment

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:24 am.

     Vietnam
          -Past offensives
                -Llewellyn E. (“Tommy”) Thompson, Jr.’s report [?]
                      -Laos and Cambodia
          -North Vietnamese strength
                -III Corps
                      -The President’s opinion
          -An Loc
                -Army of Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] divisions
                -North Vietnamese loss of momentum
          -B-52 strikes
                -Sir Robert Thompson
                      -Impact of bombing on enemy
                           -The President’s experience in Bougainville
                                 -Japanese planes
                -Impact
                      -Latest report
          -Naval action
                -USS New Jersey
                      -Impact
                      -Use
                           -Kissinger’s previous conversation with Moorer
                -USS Newport News
                      -Employment
                -USS New Jersey
                      -Inadequacies
                -North Vietnamese reaction
                -North Vietnamese small boats
                      -Torpedo boats
          -Military operations
                -Moorer
                      -Previous telephone conversation with Kissinger
                -Gen. John W. Vogt, Jr.
                -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                      -Message to Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
                                              27

                              NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. 7/07)



                           -Vogt
                      -Effectiveness
           -Abrams
           -US policies
                -Effectiveness
                -Accomplishments
           -Vietnamization
                -Laird’s statements
                -Success
                      -Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
                      -Dependence on US
           -US policies
                -Joseph C. Kraft article
                      -Hostility to summit
                             -Hostility to the President
           -Soviets
                -Summit
                      -Cancellation
                      -Kissinger’s note to Dobrynin
                             -Timing
           -Negotiations
           -Kissinger’s trip to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
                -Failure
                      -Vulnerability of US position
                      -Blockade
                -Message to Soviet leaders

Kissinger left at 11:24 am.