Conversation No. 807-2

Date: October 26, 1972
Time: 8:12 am - 9:05 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman.

        Legislation
            -House Resolution [HR] 1
                 -Senatorial candidate film session
                     -Winton M. (“Red”) Blount
                 -Pressure to sign
                 -John Sherman Cooper
                 -Louie B. Nunn
                 -Administration strategy
                     -Vetoes
                          -Timing
                               -News story
                     -Taxes
                          -News story
                 -Kentucky visit
                     -Cooper
                                2
        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                        Tape Subject Log
                          (rev. Oct-03)

              -Telephone call to Ehrlichman
    -Nelson A. Rockefeller
         -Telephone call to Ehrlichman
         -Position on signing bill
         -New York benefits
    -George Meany
         -Position on signing bill
    -Blount
         -Senior citizens organization of Alabama
    -Candidates
         -Interest groups
    -Feel for pressures
    -Blount
    -Reconsideration of veto
         -Water bill veto
         -Elliot L. Richardson
    -Political problems
         -Ronald L. Ziegler
    -Dollar problems
         -1974
    -Liquidation problem
         -Payroll taxes
    -Bill’s arrival
         -Timing
              -Pressures
    -Veto message
         -Pressures building
         -Veto timing
    -Mixing of vetoes and signings
    -Strategy
         -Pressures
         -Assessment of bill
         -Water bill
              -Columbia River
         -Announcement timing
              -1972 election
-Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW] bill
-HR 1
    -Delay on decision
    -Budget
         -1973
              -Payroll tax
                                 3
        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                        Tape Subject Log
                          (rev. Oct-03)

        -1974
        -Written summary of bills by Ehrlichman
             -Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
             -Contents
-Veterans
-Job Corps
    -Great Society programs
    -Need for jobs for kids
    -Rehabilitation
    -Elevator operator story
        -Unknown man
             -Death
             -Background
             -California
             -New York
             -Oregon
                  -Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC]
    -Need for program
        -Social workers
        -Congressional leadership
-Need for written summary
    -The President’s schedule
        -Campaign film session
-HR 1
    -Rockefeller opinion
        -Load off of state in rehabilitation payments
             -Compared to revenue sharing
        -Control of hospital costs
             -Medicaid
    -Nunn
    -Cooper's opinion
        -Care for old people
        -Compassion
        -Campaign benefits
    -Vetoes
        -Education bill
        -Water bill
        -Welfare bill
        -Old, blind people
        -Blind people
             -Support for Administration
    -Congressional action
                              4
    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                     Tape Subject Log
                       (rev. Oct-03)

     -Increase over Administration proposal
-Interpretation of signing
     -Payroll tax implications
          -Signing with reservations
     -New proposals for funding
          -Clean water tax
               -Treasury Department
          -Value-added tax [VAT]
-Announcement
     -Payroll taxes
     -Self-liquidation
          -1974
-Reasons for opposition
-Interpretation of the President's action by public
     -1972 election
          -Pledge not to raise taxes compared to influence of voting bloc
-Possible course of action
     -Pay-as-you-go provision
     -Study bill
     -Importance of bill
     -Cut of existing expenditures
     -Priorities
     -Buy-off argument
          -Food stamps
     -Cooper
          -Pressure
     -1972 election outcome
          -George S. McGovern
-Written summary
     -Schedule of meetings
          -Weinberger, George P. Shultz, Herbert Stein
-Charles W. Colson's opinion
     -Taxes, prices
     -Veto recommendation
          -Taxes
-Written summary
     -Alternatives
-Budget cutting
-Water bill
     -Colson
-Education
-Veterans
                                              5
                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Oct-03)

                -Politics
                -Blount


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 32s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************


       Motorcade

       Press
           -Quality of stories
           -1972 campaign
               -Endorsements
                    -Editorials
                         -Readership
                    -Television commentators
                         -Related to political polls
           -Roscoe Drummond
               -Meeting with Ehrlichman, October 25, 1972
               -Anticipation of next four years of the President's administration
               -Possible appointment with the President
                    -Series
               -Washington Post
           -Washington Post
               -Colson
               -Story on Maurice H. Stans
               -Accreditation
                    -Possible denial
                         -Effect
                              -Ehrlichman’s conversation with Ziegler
               -Press conferences
                    -Recognition
               -Ziegler
                                     6
             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                             Tape Subject Log
                               (rev. Oct-03)

            -Dealings
        -Returning of calls
            -White House staff
            -Cabinet officials
        -Alleged libel of [John N. Mitchell and Stans]
        -Social functions
            -White House parties
                 -Washington Star
            -East Wing
                 -Constance M. (Cornell) (“Connie”) Stuart

HR 1
   -Financing
        -Richardson
             -1974
             -Raise taxes
             -Signing of bill linked with cuts within HEW
             -Richardson's recommendation
             -Budget of HEW
             -HEW cuts
                  -Personnel cuts
                      -Check writing, nurses
   -Personnel cuts in general
        -Research office
        -Press office
        -Attitude of offices
        -Government size
             -Reorganization
   -Signing bill
        -Results
             -Fiscal conservatives
                  -Effect of election on attitudes
                      -McGovern
        -Spending limit for Fiscal Year [FY] 1973
        -Congress’ recent override of water bill veto
   -Colson
        -Albert E. Sindlinger and other pollsters
        -Unknown person
        -Perspective
   -Strategy
        -Veto of bill
             -Timing
                                        7
             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                            Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. Oct-03)

            -Blind
            -Old people
            -Financial considerations

Watergate
   -Washington Post story
        -Colson
        -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
        -Foundation of stories
   -Propriety of campaign tactics
        -Sabotage charge
        -Heckling
            -Tricia Nixon Cox's visit [to Morgantown, West Virginia]
                 -John A. Volpe
            -Double standards
            -San Francisco incident
            -Los Angeles incident
            -Statue of Liberty
            -Planning by Democrats
            -Motorcade
        -History of Republican campaign problems
   -Collecting campaign intelligence
        -Dwight L. Chapin
   -John W. Dean, III's report
        -Chapin
            -Recruitment of [Donald H. Segretti]
                 -Purpose
   -Tactics of Washington Post
        -Haldeman story
            -Benjamin C. Bradlee
            -Pressure on reporters
        -US Attorneys
            -Calls from reporters
            -Verifying leads
                 -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
        -FBI
            -Calls to US attorneys
            -Verifying leads
            -Haldeman, Mitchell, Ehrlichman
        -Success of tactics
            -Bradlee
                 -Pressure on reporters
                                            8
                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                   Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. Oct-03)

              -Yellow journalism
                   -Use of term
                        -1968 campaign
                        -New York Times article on Vice Presidential candidate Spiro T.
                                Agnew
                   -Public perception
          -Washington Post denial
          -McGovern stories
          -Washington Post
              -Denial
                   -Reasons
                        -Response to Ziegler's statement
                            -Preparation
              -Possible strategy
                   -Attack on Haldeman
                   -Sunday paper
                        -Unknown woman
                   -Interviews of Haldeman's associates
                        -Compared to Sherman Adams case
              -Haldeman advantages
                   -Anonymity
                        -Compared to Ehrlichman
                        -Compared to Adams
              -Short term effect
              -Neutralizing television coverage
              -McGovern corruption speech
                   -Washington Post denial
                   -Inside Washington Post story
                   -Effect of Ziegler's response
          -Robert J.Dole and Clark McGregor
              -Television coverage
          -Chicago Tribune story by Frank C. Starr [News summary item]
              -Effort to contact and inform
                   -Opponents tactics
                   -Ziegler’s response to the Washington Post
                        -Radio stations
                   -Starr
              -Press
                   -Motive


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                                             9
                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. Oct-03)


BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 48s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

*****************************************************************


       Campaign practices
          -Agnew
              -Yellow journalism charge
                    -News reports of charges
          -Use of rhetoric
          -Ziegler's counterattack on Washington Post
              -Opportunity
          -Dole
              -Tactics
          -Ehrlichman's talk with Drummond
              -Effect of Ziegler's denial
              -Nature of administration in second term
          -McGovern
              -Campaign rhetoric
              -Press treatment
                    -[News summary item]
                        -Baltimore Sun’s John Carroll’s view

       Press conference in Oval Office
           -Reason
                -Scandal
                    -Vietnam
                         -Negotiations
           -Announcement

       Radio story on Vietnam
           -North Vietnamese
                -Paris negotiations
                -Publication of terms of agreement
           -New York Times story
                -Henry A. Kissinger
                                              10
                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Oct-03)

                     -Possible meeting

        R. Sargent Shriver's statement [News summary item]
            -Administration's foreign policy
            -Democratic supporters of the President
                -John B. Connally
            -Attack on the President
                -War record of Nixon compared to McGovern
                     -Connally
            -War records

        Watergate
           -The President's press conference
           -Administration position
                -Drummond
                -Public perception
                -Basis of stories in press
                -Timing
                     -Compared to the President’s Fund broadcast [Checkers speech of 1952]
           -Hugh W. Sloan, Jr.
                -Deposition
                -Sloan's attorney
                     -Haldeman
                         -FBI
                     -Secret fund
                -Ziegler statement
           -McGovern statement
                -Dole and MacGregor
           -Next move
                -Statement on yellow journalism for surrogates
                     -Haldeman story

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 8:12 am.

        Film session
            -Blount
            -Radio messages
            -Blount
                 -Possible conversation with the President
            -J. Caleb Boggs
            -Mark I. Goode
                 -Lighting
                                             11
                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                       Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. Oct-03)


        Telegram from Blount
            -Ehrlichman's meeting

Ehrlichman and Bull left at 9:05 am.