Conversation: 759-005
Prev: 759-004 Next: 759-006Start Date: 2-Aug-1972 10:34 AM
End Date: 2-Aug-1972 11:47 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On August 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:34 am to 11:47 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 759-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 759-5
Date: August 2, 1972
Time: 10:34 am – 11:47 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
Kissinger's schedule
-Return from Paris
-The President’s schedule
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Kissinger's children
Vietnam negotiations
-Paris meeting
-William J. Porter
-Length and complexity of meetings
19
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Haig
-Proposals by North Vietnamese
-Proposals by the US
-The President and Leonid I. Brezhnev
-The President’s previous press conference
-Mention of private meetings
-North Vietnamese
-Reaction to publicity
-News coverage
-Kissinger’s record of the negotiations
-Effect on 1972 election
-The President’s instructions
-Possible breakdown of talks
-George S. McGovern
-Senate “doves”
-Aid to North Vietnamese by Americans
-The President's view
-Mcgovern’s proposal
-Withdrawal of US forces for return of prisoners of war [POWs]
-Kissinger's recommendation
-Schedule of talks
-Current session of Congress
-Antiwar resolutions
-McGovern
-Kissinger’s view
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 11m 2s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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Vietnam negotiations
20
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Paris meeting
-Kissinger’s defense of the President
-Kissinger’s proposal
-The President and Brezhnev
-Constitutional convention
-Speech by Kissinger
-Response to seven points of the North Vietnamese
-Meeting recess
-Refreshments
-Bombing by US
-Kissinger's reaction
-Kissinger’s meeting with Le Duc Tho, May 2, 1972
-Ceasefire offer
-North Vietnamese proposal
-Removal of unconditional surrender deadline
-Significance
-New timeframe for withdrawal
-Signed agreement
-Government of national concord
-Previous government composition proposal
-“Peace loving” Saigon element
-Neutralists
-[Communists]
-New government composition proposal
-Saigon government
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Power to appoint representatives
-Provisional Revolutionary Government [PRG]
-Selection of component by Saigon and PRG
-Significance of new proposal
-Proposal for new talks
-Saigon-PRG talks
-Thieu
-Hanoi-PRG-Saigon talks
-Implementation of political matters
-Military matters
-Change in North Vietnamese
-Willingness to speak with Thieu
-Coalition government
21
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Provincial governments
-Provinces controlled by Saigon or PRG
-Status quo
-Contested provinces
-Provisional governments of national concord
-Ceasefire
-Release of POWs
-Possible settlement
-Standstill ceasefire
-Saigon and PRG areas
-Possible coalition government
-North Vietnamese offer
-Language of agreement
-Vietnamese negotiations to establish a government of
national concord
-US influence on Thieu
-Effect of possible publicity
-Possibility of success
-Possibility of US “sell out” in Vietnam negotiations
-Kissinger’s view
-Compared to possible McGovern victory
-North Vietnamese strategy
-Timing
-Effect on 1972 election
Middle East negotiations
-State Department
-Soviet presence in Egypt
-Effect in Egypt
-Anwar el-Sadat’s message to the President
-Kissinger’s possible meeting with an Egyptian representative
-Timing
-Soviets
-Conduct of negotiations
-Egypt
-Soviet Union
-Israel
-Kissinger’s view
-Timing
22
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-US-Soviet Union relations
-William P. Rogers’s negotiations
-Kissinger’s view
-Israel
-Soviet Union
-Egypt’s perception of US role in negotiations
-Compared to Soviet role
-US standing in Arab world
-Israel
-Rogers Plan
-Timing of negotiations
Vietnam negotiations
-Forthcoming meeting, August 14, 1972
-Subsequent meetings
-Republican National Convention
-Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Possible meeting with North Vietnamese in Paris
-Timing
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 42s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
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Japan
-Kakuei Tanaka
Soviet Union
-Trade negotiations
-Peter G. Peterson’s previous meeting with Brezhnev
-Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Announcement of agreement
-News summary
-The President’s memorandum
-Resolution of Lend-Lease issue
-Peterson
-The President’s previous meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Timing for agreement
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 2s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
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William D. Eberle
Peterson
Japan
-The President’s trip to Hawaii
-Possible participation of wives
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Perception of the Foreign Minister
-Masayoshi Ohira
-Tanaka
-Compared to previous prime ministers
-Strategy for talks
-Talks between Rogers and Ohira
-Dinner meetings
Vietnam negotiations
-Kissinger's view
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-North Vietnamese proposal
-Settlement
-Effect of 1972 election
-US strategy
-Survival of South Vietnamese
-Possibility of not adhering to settlement
-Thieu
-Difficulty of mining or bombing halt
-Advantages of settlement
-Effect on 1972 election
-Margin of electoral victory
-House of Representatives
-Senate
-Effect of settlement on other countries
-Thieu
-Possible offers
-Government of national concord
-US strategy
-Kissinger’s possible acceptance of most of North Vietnamese proposal
-Haig's possible visit to Saigon
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Saigon
-Departure from Hawaii
-Possible meeting with Tanaka
-Kissinger's view
-Increased US latitude
-North Vietnamese offer to talk to Thieu
-Deadline of the President’s reelection
-The President’s view
-North Vietnamese proposal
-North Vietnamese willingness to negotiate with Thieu
-Effect of publication
-US strategy
-Desire to have settlement appear imminent by Election Day
-Settlement
-Effect on 1972 election
-McGovern
-“Doves”
-Views of the President’s opponents
-Soviet Union
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Japan
-Effect on US relations with the Soviet Union and the PRC
-Need to avoid appearance of US “bugging out” of Vietnam
-Survival of South Vietnam
-The President’s view
-Need for a settlement with appearance of strong US negotiation stance
-Secret deal
-Ceasefire agreement
-US influence in political settlement
-Ceasefire agreement
-Kissinger’s view
-General ceasefire
-Likelihood of US intervention upon North Vietnamese violation
-Dual ceasefire
-Advantage of individual ceasefires
-North Vietnamese strength
-Effect of mining and bombing
-Bombing
-Kissinger's view
-Weather
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer’s possible meeting with the President
-Washington Special Action Group [WSAG]
-Need for continued bombing
-Melvin R. Laird
-Moorer’s tenure as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Kissinger’s view
-Possible appointment of Haig as Chairman of the JCS
-Moorer
-Laird
-Spending limit
-Defense spending
-Base closures
-View of McGovern
Vietnam
-Bombing
-The President’s possible meeting with Moorer
-Strategy
26
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Kissinger's forthcoming trip to Moscow
-Bombing north of the 20th parallel
-Paris negotiations
-Possible bombing halt
-Timing
-Post election plans
-Targets
-Hanoi
-Dock areas
-Avoidance of PRC border
-Dikes
-Kissinger’s view
-POWs
-North Vietnamese proposal
-The President’s May 8, 1972 proposal
-Conditional deadline for withdrawal
-Negotiations with Thieu
-Government structure
-Statement by Kissinger
-The President’s comments with Chou En-lai
-US coexistence with Communist countries
-North Vietnamese willingness to continue negotiations
-Ellsworth F. Bunker’s possible meeting with Thieu
-Haig or Kissinger
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Saigon
-Kissinger’s August 14, 1972 meeting with the North Vietnamese
Public relations impact of the trip to Saigon
-Timing
-Kissinger’s August 14, 1972 meeting with the North Vietnamese
-Republican National Convention
-Kissinger's plans
-Parents’ anniversary plans
-Switzerland
-Effect on McGovern campaign
-Kissinger’s trips to Paris to meet with North Vietnamese
-Public relations impact
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Saigon
-Republican National Convention
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Paris
27
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Republican Convention
-Paris negotiations
-Publicity
-North Vietnamese objection
-Kissinger's schedule
-Parents’ anniversary
-Switzerland
-The President’s forthcoming press conferences
-Democrats
-Rogers
-Information about Kissinger’s meeting with the North Vietnamese
-Marshall Green
-Coalition government
-The President and Brezhnev’s proposal
-January 25, 1972 proposal
-North Vietnamese proposal
-Leaks
-Haig
-Kissinger's forthcoming trip to Saigon
-Announcement
-Timing
-Kissinger’s May 14, 1972 meeting with the North
Vietnamese
-Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to Switzerland
-Public relations impact
-Kissinger's forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Possible settlement
-Possible standstill ceasefire
-Possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-Effectiveness
-North Vietnamese casualties
-ARVN casualties
-Seizure of mortar ammunition
-Discovery of North Vietnamese bombing
casualties
-Effectiveness of North Vietnamese military
-Bombing casualties
-Estimates of killed and wounded
28
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-B-52s
-Sir Robert Thompson’s estimate
-Paris negotiations
-Kissinger’s forthcoming recommendations
-Thieu
-North Vietnamese proposal
-Thieu's role in negotiations
-Government of national concord
-Possible role of Saigon government
-Interim status
-Possible nationwide election
-Influence of province chiefs
Book [Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam]
-Frances (“Frankie”) Fitzgerald
-Marietta Tree
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Vietnam
Tree
-Associations
-Adlai E. Stevenson, II
-“Georgetown crowd”
Edward M. Kennedy
-Amanda Burden
-Divorce
-Carter Burden
-Kissinger’s view
-Joan Braden
-Physical appearance
-Kissinger’s view
-Alcohol
-Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy
-Christina Ford
-Interaction with Edward Kennedy
-Dinner
-Opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
-New York
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)
-Carlysle Hotel
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 13s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
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Kissinger left at 11:47 am.