Conversation No. 747-14

Date: July 19, 1972
Time: 12:44 pm - 1:51 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman.

     Domestic issues
        -Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger paper
               -Completion
        -Legislative leaders and Cabinet meeting, July 21, 1972
               -Harry S. Dent
               -William E. Timmons
               -Clark MacGregor
               -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
               -Strategy for dealing with Congress
                     -Republican National Convention
                     -Political overview
                          -MacGregor
                     -Instruction for Ehrlichman
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                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. Mar-02)


                    -Consultation with Hugh Scott and Gerald R. Ford
                           -Domestic issues
                           -Taxes and prices
     -Richard G. Kleindienst
     -Administration accomplishments
           -Supreme Court
           -Permissiveness
           -Law and order
           -Henry A. Kissinger
     -Forthcoming meeting on strategy of Congress
     -George S. McGovern's strategy
     -Congressional response
           -1948
                -Scott
           -Democratic platform
                -$1000 rebate
     -Defense proposals
           -Melvin R. Laird

Airline hijackings
     -Ehrlichman forthcoming meeting with airline presidents
            -Capital punishment
                 -Poll
                      -Haldeman
     -Regulations
            -Correspondence between White House and airlines

Capital crimes
     -Administration position
           -Hijacking and kidnapping
                 -Capital punishment
           -Effect on McGovern's stance
           -Poll
                 -Hijacking and kidnapping
                 -Rape, murder

Crime
    -Police killer youth
          -Bail
          -Repeat offense
          -Prosecutor's and police chief’s stance on bail
    -Manolo Sanchez's story
          -New York City police killer
                                         21

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. Mar-02)


                 -Repeat offense
     -Examples for speeches
           -Murder
                 -California case
           -Bail
                 -Release of suspect
     -Preventive detention

Vietnam Veterans Against the War
     -Arrests
     -Conspiracy to disrupt conventions
           -Fire bombs
           -Arms
     -Arrests and indictments
     -Secret Service
     -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
           -Infiltration

Hugh W. Sloan, Jr.
    -Resignation
          -Handling
    -Wife, Debbie Sloan
          -Pregnancy
    -Future employment
          -Gabriel Hauge
               -New York
          -John W. Dean, III
          -Banking
          -The President's former law partners
               -Randolph Hobson Guthrie
               -Ehrlichman meeting, July 20, 1972
               -Irving Trust

The President's veto strategy
     -Politics

Foreign affairs
     -Kissinger
           -Vietnam negotiations
                -1972 election
     -Egypt
           -Soviet Union's involvement
                -Effect of US power
                                      22

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. Mar-02)



Legislative strategy
     -Weinberger
            -Politics
     -Elliot L. Richardson
     -Arthur S. Flemming
     -Political implications of signing or vetoing
            -The President's disagreement with Weinberger
            -Taxes
                  -McGovern
     -Rural revenue sharing bill
            -Rural development
            -Cost
            -Richard K. Cook's prediction on Congressional passage
            -Authorization
            -Water bill
            -The President’s forthcoming message to Congress
                  -Cabinet meeting
                  -Taxes and prices
                  -Preparation
                  -Possible effect
     -Water bill
            -The President's possible veto
     -Labor Department and Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW] bill
     -Public relations
            -Ronald L. Ziegler
            -Charles W. Colson's staff
                  -Thomas F. Eagleton's predicted response
            -Handling the press
                  -The President's Omnibus Congressional message
                       -Lower taxes and prices
     -Water bill veto
            -Sustainability
     -Democrats
            -Political response
                  -Coalition with conservatives
                       -Pre- and post- convention support of the President
     -Congress
            -Schedule
     -Weinberger's suggestion
            -Demanding Congressional fiscal discipline
                  -Enlisting McGovern's support
                  -Presenting to Cabinet
                                         23

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. Mar-02)


                -Ford and Scott
     -Budget cuts
          -Revenue sharing and welfare reform
     -Welfare reform
          -Congressional votes
                -Pilot program
                -Russell B. Long
                -Abraham A. Ribicoff
     -Revenue sharing
          -Article in National Journal
                -Mayors that favor the President's support of cities
                     -Detractors
                            -John N. Lindsay
                            -Others
          -Cities
                -Philadelphia
                     -Frank L. Rizzo
                -Los Angeles
                     -Samuel W. Yorty
                -Possible endorsement of the President
                -Colson
     -Rural development
          -Pork barrel
          -Revenue sharing
     -Another Weinberger suggestion
          -Fiscal 1975
                -Balanced budget
                     -Effect on businesses
                -George P. Shultz
                     -Full-employment balance
                            -Deficit
          -Weinberger's paper

Dean

The President's schedule
     -Dinner for [Giulio Andreotti]
          -Entertainment
                 -Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra
                     -Political benefit
                     -John N. Mitchell's and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew's views

Sinatra
                                           24

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. Mar-02)


         -Concern about criminal connections
                -1972 election
         -Connection with Mafia
                -Absence of criminal charges
         -Connection to the President's administration
                -Kissinger
                -Agnew
         -Appearance before House Select Committee on Crime
                -Hearsay
         -Sinatra's counsel
                -Interview
         -Italian community
                -Rizzo's opinion of Sinatra
                      -Law and order


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 7s      ]


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    Flood relief
         -News summary
         -Alan Cranston
               -Scott
               -Ehrlichman
         -Pennsylvania
               -McGovern
         -John C. Whitaker

    Cabinet meeting, July 20, 1972
        -Briefings by Ehrlichman, Scott, Ford
              -Revenue sharing
              -Scott, Ford

    Legislative bills
                                        25

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. Mar-02)


     -Scott
          -Possible call from Ehrlichman
                 -Cranston
     -Flood relief
          -Credit
                 -Meeting
                     -Agnew
     -Agnew to call on McGovern
          -Repudiation of Cranston

Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon's schedule
    -South Dakota
          -Place of parents' marriage

Scheduling
    -Ziegler
    -Kissinger, Ehrlichman to hold meetings with network people
          -Groups compared to individuals

Press relations
     -Ziegler's comment view
            -1968 election
     -[Arnold] Eric Sevareid, Walter L. Cronkite, Jr., David Brinkley, John W. Chancellor,
            Harry Reasoner
            -Political stances
     -Herbert E. Kaplow, John Hart
     -Hart
            -Connection with Ehrlichman
     -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
     -Kaplow
     -American Broadcasting Corporation [ABC
     -National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC]
            -Richard Valeriani
            -Brinkley
            -Chancellor
     -Miami campaign
            -Help from Kaplow
                  -Republican National Convention

Busing
     -Michigan court decision
          -Michigan
          -Stephen J. Roth
                                        26

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. Mar-02)


                -Possible legal action
                     -Point of order
                            -Timing
                            -Appeal
          -Possible White House legal action
                -Appeal
          -Effect on election
          -William S. Broomfield's order
           -National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] legal
                action
          -Controversy of the issue
          -Citizens protest meeting
                -Michael P. Balzano, Jr. to attend
          -William G. Milliken
          -Edward L. Morgan
          -Controversy
     -Legislative efforts
           -Robert P. Griffin's amendment
           -Moratorium
                -William M. Colmer
           -Rules Committee
                -House Judiciary Committee

The President's Equal Education Opportunity Act Bill
     -Roman C. Pucinski's efforts
     -Charles H. Percy
     -Education and Labor Committee

Congress
    -Percy
          -Richard J. Daley
               -McGovern
          -Support for the President
               -Pucinski
          -The Administration’s position vis-a-vis
    -Richard B. Ogilvie
          -Daniel Walker

Busing
     -Handling in the House of Representatives
          -John Anderson of the Rules Committee to meet with Ehrlichman
                                          27

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. Mar-02)


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 8m 28s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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    Watergate
        -Ehrlichman's conversation with Dean, July 19, 1972
        -Haldeman's conversation with John N. Mitchell
        -Dean’s conversation with Mitchell
        -Jeb Stuart Magruder
              -Legal action
        -Story
        -Magruder's involvement
              -Lying
              -Cover-ups
                    -Alger Hiss case
        -White House aid to Magruder
              -Vietnam Veterans against the War
                    -Amnesty
        -Haldeman and Dean's forthcoming conversation with Mitchell
        -Douglas Caddy, lawyer for Watergate burglars
              -Questioned
              -Held in contempt of court
                    -Appealed
              -Background
                    -Young Americans for Freedom [YAF]
              -Notified of capture of burglars
                    -E. Howard Hunt , Jr.
              -Grand jury
                    -Questioned Caddy
                        -Ties to Hunt, G[eorge] Gordon Liddy, Colson
                               -Colson's secretary
              -Knowledge
        -Magruder's involvement
              -Testimony
        -Magruder statements
                                                28

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Mar-02)


                 -Responsibility
                 -Wiretapping
          -Extent of Ehrlichman's information
          -Justice Department
                 -Richard G. Kleindienst
                 -Henry E. Petersen
                      -Helping Dean
                          -US attorney

An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time between 12:44 pm and 1:51 pm.

     American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations [AFL-CIO]
        -Endorsement of candidates
               -Executive Council
               -Congressional races
               -James D. Hodgson

     Watergate
         -Need to resolve
               -Ehrlichman's talk with Dean on July 18, 1972
         -Circuit court ruling
               -David L. Bazelon
         -Supreme Court
         -Caddy testimony
         -Haldeman and Ehrlichman dealing with Dean
               -Haldeman's political judgment
         -Dean's meeting with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
         -Dean's meeting with Petersen July 18, 1972
         -Magruder's explanation
               -Knowledge
               -Dirty tricks
                    -White House rebuttal
                          -Vietnam Veterans against the War
               -Reliance on Liddy
         -Extent of Magruder testimony
         -Extent of Watergate investigation
               -Mitchell
               -Haldeman
         -Magruder
               -Dean’s view
         -White House staff's prior knowledge of break-in
               -Mitchell
                    -Transcripts
                                     29

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                             Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. Mar-02)


           -Haldeman
           -Timmons
    -Haldeman and Dean's meeting with Mitchell, Magruder
           -Operation
    -Magruder responsibility
           -Mitchell
           -Edward Bennett Williams
           -Possible questioning
                -Connection with Mitchell
    -White House delaying tactics
           -Depositions
                -Colson
           -Unknown judge
    -Criminal liabilities
           -Magruder
    -Tactics
           -Criminal liability
                -Liddy
                -Hunt
    -Dean's demeanor
    -Petersen's demeanor
    -Justice Department attorneys
    -Cover-up
           -Burglars, Liddy and Hunt
                -Convictions
    -Magruder
           -Effect on Justice Department
                -Alfred C. Baldwin, III
           -Potential damage to White House
           -Dean
           -Risk factor
    -Magruder and Mitchell's relationship

White House staff
    -Russell E. Train
         -Robert Cahn, Gordon J. F. MacDonald leaving
               -Replacements
                    -[Forename unknown] Lane
                           -Sunset Magazine
                    -Shirley Temple Black
                           -Credibility
                    -Other prospects
                    -Black
                                              30

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Mar-02)



     Watergate
         -Haldeman and Ehrlichman
         -Mitchell and Magruder

The President and John Ehrlichman left at 1:51 pm.