Conversation No. 746-16

Date: July 1, 1972
Time: 11:19 am - 12:15 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Charles W. Colson.


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 48s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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                                              20

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                          (rev. Oct-06)


     Issues
          -Housing, maritime, elderly
          -Elderly
                -Colson’s forthcoming call to Arthur S. Flemming
                     -Llewelyn J. (“Bud”) Evans, Jr.
                         -Flemming’s schedule

     Social Security
          -Veto message
                -Prices and spending
                     -Increased taxes

The White House operator talked with the President at an unknown time between 11:19 am and
11:25 am.

[Conversation No. 746-16A]

[See Conversation No. 26-36]

     [End of telephone conversation]

     The President’s press conference, June 29, 1972
          -Attempts to contact Cabinet
               -Instructions to Colson
                     -John A. Volpe
                     -George W. Romney
                     -Romney’s schedule
                          -Canada
                     -Volpe’s schedule
                          -Virgin Islands
                     -Melvin R. Laird

     Laird
          -Politics

     The President’s recent press conference
          -French prisoners of war [POWs]
                -Laird
                -Murrey Marder
                -Nationality
                     -Memorandum
                     -Gen. Douglas MacArthur In Philippines
                -French withdrawal from Vietnam
                                               21

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                         Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. Oct-06)


                      -Effect on South Vietnam

     David Kraslow’s article
         -Vietnam negotiations
               -Henry A. Kissinger
         -Jews
               -Marder, Kraslow
               -Israel
         -John A. Scali’s conversation with Kraslow
         -Vietnam negotiations
               -Kissinger
                     -POWs
         -George S. McGovern

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 11:25 am.

     The President’s statement about ship building contracts, July 1, 1972
          -Reaction
          -Value of contracts
          -Social Security bill statement
                -Timing
                     -Clark MacGregor
                     -Changes to statement
          -MacGregor's press conference

     Kraslw’s article
          -Vietnam negotiations
                -Kissinger
                      -POWs

     The President’s recent press conference
          -French POWs
                -Nationality
                -POWs held by Japan in the Philippines
                -McGovern
          -Crosby S. Noyes's article, June 30, 1972
                -South Vietnamese

Ziegler left and the President talked with Ronald W. Reagan at 11:28 am.

[Conversation No. 746-16B]

[See Conversation No. 26-37]
                                             22

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Oct-06)



[End of telephone conversation]

     Issues
          -Shipbuilding contracts
          -Andrew E. Gibson and Robert J. Blackwell
          -Elderly
                -Food program, mailing
                -Social Security
          -Compared to Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration
                -Democrats
          -Veterans
          -Aging
                -Medicare
          -Social Security bill
                -Pending legislation
                     -Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW], Office
                          of Economic Opportunity [OEO]
                     -Vetoes
                -Voting pattern of elderly
                     -Compared to Jews
                -Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger

     Pending legislation
         -Cuts
               -Public broadcasting bill veto
                      -Lobby
                      -Press and Congressional reaction
                          -Broadcasters
                          -Donald Oberdorfer, Jr.
                      -Public perception of public television
                      -Networks
                          -William S. Paley
                      -Government competition with private enterprise

     Elmer Lower's speech
         -American Broadcasting Corporation [ABC]
         -Richard S. Salant
         -Intimidation by Administration
               -Economic coercion
               -Colson's letters to Leonard H. Goldenson and Frank
                Stanton
               -Goldenson's letter to Colson
                                                23

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Oct-06)


                     -Tone
                     -James C. Hagerty
                     -Copy to Lower
                -Public mistrust of network news
                     -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

          Watergate break-in
               -Republican National Committee
               -The President's role
                     -Public impression
               -Robert F. Kennedy's bugging
               -1968 bugging
                     -Kevin P. Phillips’s column
                          -Anna C. Chennault
                          -The President's telephones
                          -Lyndon B. Johnson
                          -Federal Bureau of Investigations [FBI]
               -Bugging McGovern
                     -Vietnam negotations
               -Phillips's article

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:28 am.

     The President's schedule
          -Weinberger

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:36 am.

     Weinberger
         -Defense Department
              -Meat purchase cuts

Weinberger entered at 11:36 am.

          -Defense Department procurement
               -[David] Kenneth Rush
                    -Kenneth W. Dam
                    -Paul H. Riley
                    -Press release

     Social Security bill statement
          -Necessity for taxes to balance spending
                -Congress
                                          24

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. Oct-06)


           -Veto strategy
     -Elliot L. Richardson
           -Education, health
     -House Resolution [HR] 1
           -Social Security increase

Necessity for budget cuts
    -Model cities
    -Amount of Social Security increase
    -Public broadcasting
    -Model cities
    -Urban renewal
    -Day care
    -OEO
    -Forthcoming message
    -Spending ceiling
    -University grants
           -Advisory committees
                -HEW
    -Effects on economy
           -Timing
                -Urban renewal
                -1974, 1975
                -October 1. 1972
                    -Announcements

Social Security
     -Bill signing
            -Compared to veto
            -Budget cuts
     -Date of checks
     -Notice in envelopes
            -Wording
                 -Past practice in California
                     -Franchise tax board
                             -Legislature
                 -Credit to Administration
                     -Social Security Administration [SSA]
                             -Robert M. Ball
                             -Colson’s previous action
                                   -Unknown project
                                         -Presidential statement
                             -Presidential quote
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                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. Oct-06)


     -Numbers of recipients
     -Bill signing
            -Possible veto

Budget
    -1973, 1974, 1975
         -Possible vetoes

Instructions for Weinberger
      -Forthcoming calls to Cabinet officers
            -Veto message
            -Budget
                 -Increases
                 -Cuts
            -The President's directive
                 -Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
                      -Possible vetoes
                 -Department program cuts

Defense spending
    -Meat purchase cuts
    -HEW
          -Hospitals
    -Weinberger memorandum
    -Press coverage

OMB
   -Weinberger’s forthcoming call to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

Forthcoming budget announcements
     -Weinberger’s forthcoming call to Haldeman
           -Frank C. Carlucci
           -Timing
                -Democratic National Convention
                -Cabinet officers’ roles
                -Meeting with food retailers and chain store executives
     -Strategy and proposed message
     -Debt ceiling, 1974
           -Cabinet

1974 budget ceilings
    -HEW
    -HUD
                                              26

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Oct-06)


          -HR 1

     The President’s schedule

     Social Security bill
          -Winston S. Churchill's statement on electoral defeat
                -Conversation with wife
                      -Potsdam
          -Signing
          -The President’s conversation with Clark MacGregor
                -Olin E. (“Tiger”) Teague
                      -Veterans bill
          -Budget
                -Congressional spending
                      -Veto strategy
                      -Debt ceiling extension
                          -October 31, 1972
                          -Possible special session of Congress
                                  -Timing

Weinberger left at 11:53 am.

     Social Security increases
          -Budget
                -Congressional spending
          -The President's press conference June 29 1972
                -Briefing book
                      -Domestic Council
                      -John D. Ehrlichman
                      -Patrick J. Buchanan
          -Dwight D. Eisenhower's vetoes
                -Overrides
                      -Social Security
          -Future vetoes
                -Cost of living

     Weinberger
         -Political sensibilities
                -Colson
                     -Veterans, Social Security
                -Compared to George P. Shultz
                     -Treasury Department
                                              27

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Oct-06)


     Social Security
          -Mailings
                -Bureaucrats
          -Ball
                -Reappointment
                -Previous mailing
                     -Colson
                -SSA

The President left and returned at an unknown time before 11:56 am.

     The President’s schedule

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:53 and 1:56
am.

[Conversation No. 746-16C]

[See Conversation No. 26-38]

[End of telephone conversation]


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 19m 2s ]

The President talked with Julie Nixon Eisenhower between 11:56 am and 11:59 am.

[CONVERSATION NO. 746-16D]

[SEE CONVERSATION NO. 26-39]

[End of telephone conversation]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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                                              28

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Oct-06)


Colson left at 12:15 pm.