Conversation No. 730-11

Date: June 12, 1972
Time: 3:03-3:24 pm.
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Bui Diem and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.[Members of the press and the
White House photographer were present at the beginning of the meeting.]

     Greetings

     Departure of Ambassador Diem

     Vietnam
          -Military operations
                -Mekong Delta
          -Weather
                -Rains

     Photograph session

     Diem
          -Feelings about the US
          -The President’s policies
                -1969 moratorium
                -Cambodia operation
                -Laos operation
                -North Vietnamese offensive

     Vietnamese attitudes toward US
          -World War II
          -US foreign policy
          -Diem
               -The President’s policies
                                     25

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. Jan-02)


The President's message to Nguyen Van Thieu
     -US policy
     -South Vietnam
     -An Loc
     -Hue
     -South Vietnam morale
     -US policy
     -Negotiations
           -The President’s view
           -North Vietnamese
                 -Military condition
                 -US military operations
     -North Vietnamese military offensive
           -Army of the Republic of South Vietnam [ARVN]
                 -Response
                       -The President’s view
           -Rubicon analogy
           -Ground troops
                 -ARVN
                 -US troops
           -ARVN response
                 -An Loc
                 -II Corps
                 -I Corps
           -Air power
     -Comparison with other battles
           -World War II
           -World War I
           -Battle of the Bulge
                 -German offensive
                       -Allied response
                 -George S. Patton
     -ARVN offensive operation
           -The President’s view
     -1972 election
           -North Vietnam
     -International implications
           -Soviet Union
           -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
           -The President's assessment
                 -Soviet Union involvement
                 -Chinese
                 -North Vietnamese
                                             26

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Jan-02)


                           -Hanoi position

     South Vietnam
          -Fighting strength
          -Soviets
          -Chinese

     Damage to North Vietnam
         -Air strikes
         -Sea blockade
               Sihanoukville
         -Bombing
               -Effectiveness analyzed

     South Vietnam
          -Morale
                -Comparison to North Vietnamese
          -Thieu
          -Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
          -Military Region [MR] I
          -Quang Tri
          -Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
          -An Loc
          -Saigon
          -Parrot's Beak
                -B-52s
          -Air power
          -Ground forces

     Diem
         -Recollection of seeing the President in 1968
              -US policy

     The President's view of war developments
          -Mining of North Vietnamese ports
          -Conclusion of war

     Gifts


Diem and Haig left at 3:24 pm.
                                               27

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Jan-02)