Conversation: 827-010
Prev: 827-009 Next: 827-011Start Date: 20-Dec-1972 11:32 AM
End Date: 20-Dec-1972 12:16 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Kissinger, Henry A.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On December 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:32 am and 12:16 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 827-010 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 827-10
Date: December 20, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:32 am and 12:16 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R.(“Bob”) Haldeman.
Second term reorganization
-Sensitivities
-Changes
-White House staff
-Reductions
-Rate
-Press relations
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Announcements
Henry A. Kissinger entered at 11:33 am.
Vietnam negotiations
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s meeting with Nguyen Van Thieu
-Delay
-Letter to the President
-Settlement agreement
-Rejection
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Conditions
-Withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam
-Political framework
-National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord
[NCNRC]
-Coalition government
-Withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam
-US-North Vietnam’s bilateral deal
-Timing
-Technical talks
-North Vietnam
-Attendance
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Proposal
-December 23, 1972 meeting
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-B-52s
-Losses
-Sorties
-December 21, 1972 plan
-Hanoi
-Losses
-Hanoi
-Surface to air missiles [SAMs] [SA-2s]
-Congressional relations
-Congressional relations
-Edward M. Kennedy’s speech
-Thieu
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-B-52s
-Losses
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Kissinger’s conversation with Melvin R. Laird
-Expectations
-Air Force
-Timing
-North Vietnam
-Losses
-Expectations
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Continuation
-Laird’s view
-Tone
-Settlement agreement
-North Vietnam’s position
-Technical talks
-Thieu
-Ngo Dinh Diem
-Cessation of US economic and military aid
-Tenure
-Haig’s schedule
-Key Biscayne
-Thieu
-Bangkok
-Seoul
-Key Biscayne
-Meeting with Thieu
-Delay
-Compared to Thieu’s meeting with Kissinger
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-November 20, 1972
-Changes
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Public relations [PR]
-The President’s and Kissinger’s strategy
-Saigon
-Conditions
-Unconditional surrender
-Changes
-The President’s meeting with Nguyen Phu Duc, November 29, 1972
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-B-52s
-Losses
-Expectations
-Hanoi
-TACAIR
-SAMs
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-North Vietnam
-Reply
-US note
-Technical talks
-North Vietnam
-Statement
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Proposal
-December 23, 1972 meeting
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Reaction
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Soviet Union
-Settlement agreement
-North Vietnam
-Thieu
-Kissinger’s view
-October 1972
-1972 election
-Haig’s trip to Saigon
-Letter from the President
-Conditions
-NCNRC
-Withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam
-Provisional Revolutionary Government [PRG]
-Settlement agreement
-Preamble
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Effect on South Vietnam
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Effect on South Vietnam
-Congressional relations
-US aid
-Settlement agreement
-Condition
-Cessation of US aid to South Vietnam
-Communist aid to North Vietnam
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Thieu
-Settlement agreement
-Political settlement
-Motives
-US bombing and mining north of 20th Parallel
-Cessation
-Continuation
-Cessation
-US withdrawal
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Congressional relations
-Aid to South Vietnam
-Cut off
-Aid to North Vietnam
-Cease-fire
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-Tenure
-Democracy
-October 1972
-Meeting with the President
-Tenure
-Timing
-Record
-US-South Vietnam relations
-Thieu’s domestic constituency
-Tenure
-Timing
-January 1973
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Charles W. Colson’s view
-George S. McGovern, Michael J. Mansfield
-McGovern
-Unilateral withdrawal
-Cut off of US military and economic aid
-Mansfield
-POWs
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Continuation
-POWs
-Kissinger’s briefing, December 16, 1972
-PR
-Letters
-Tone
-Number
-Communists
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-Haig
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-US-South Vietnam relations
-Laos, Cambodia
-US relations
-Thieu
-Effect on Southeast Asia
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman’s view
-Settlement agreement
-August 1972
-McGovern
-Kennedy’s speech
-Tone
-Robert J. Dole’s statement
-Kissinger’s viewing on television [TV]
-Congressional relations
-The President
-Support
-Kennedy’s speech
-Republican Senators
-Support for the President
-The President’s conversation with Haldeman
-Kennedy’s speech
-Press relations
-Kissinger’s viewing on Today show or Columbia Broadcasting System
[CBS] news
-Support for the President
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Haig’s meeting with Thieu
-Haig’s cable to Kissinger
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-George Carver’s view
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-October 1972
-Hanoi
-US signing
-Protest
-Acceptance
-US signing
-Withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam
-Rejection
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Effect on US “domestic structure”
-Relations with administration
-Press relations
-The President’s relationship with Kissinger
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-B-52s
-Losses
-The President’s conversation with Kissinger
-Timing
-North Vietnam
-Moorer
-Targets
-Hanoi
-Timing
-Kissinger’s conversation with Moorer
-Changes
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-Relations with US
-Post-November 7, 1972
-The President’s meeting with Duc
-Haig’s and Kissinger’s trips to Saigon
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-US public
-The President
-South Vietnam
-US public, the President
-Condition
-Withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam
-Military Region [MR] Three
-South Vietnam’s forces compared to North
Vietnam’s forces
-US concessions
-Cease-fire in place
-October 1970; January 1972; May 8, 1972
-Right-wing
-Thieu
-Letter to the President
-Continuation of war
-North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam
-DMZ
-Laos, Cambodia
-Supply corridors
-North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam
-Meeting with Haig
-Publicity
-Settlement agreement
-North Vietnam
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Continuation
-Scale
-Three-day strike
-Hanoi
-Attacks on Soviet Union and Polish ships
-Haiphong
-Soviet Union protest
-Tone
-Hanoi
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-PR
-Kissinger’s mail
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-“Doves”
-Kennedy
-Press relations
-Cambodia
-Kent State University
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-World War III
-North Vietnam
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Thieu
-Haig’s meeting with Thieu
-Strategy
-Kissinger’s instructions to Haig
-Thieu
-Letter from the President
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Refusal
-Publication
-Thieu’s response
-Effect
-Cut off of US aid
-US-North Vietnam bilateral deal
-Thieu’s response
-Resumption of talks
-North Vietnam
-US proposal
-Settlement agreement
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-Signing
-Duress
-Moorer, Kissinger, the President
-October 1972
-1968
-1972 election
-Haig’s trip to Saigon
-Demands
-Tone
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-Relations with US
-Tone
-Possible proposal, January 5, 1973
-Possible meeting with the President
-Leak of reply
-Repetition of old propositions
-North Vietnamese strength in South Vietnam
-October 1972
-CIA analysis
-Saigon station chief
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-December 18, 1972
-Effect
-Technical talks
-North Vietnam
-Attendance
-Weakness
-Protest
-Secrecy
-Proposal
-December 23, 1972 meeting
-Breakdown in talks
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu’s acceptance
-Message to North Vietnam
-Prospects
-Tone
-January 1973
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-B-52s
-Losses
-SAMs
-Percentages
-Targets
-SAMs
-Railroads, bridges
-B-52s
-Soviet Union
-Attrition
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-08)
Conversation No. 827-10 (cont’d)
-SA-2s
-Age
Second term reorganization
-Air Force
-Army
-Navy
-Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.
Vietnam negotiations
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-PR
-The President’s conversation with Colson
-Press relations
-Newspapers and TV
-The President’s conversation with Colson
-Mechanism
-Results
-Compared to Air Force
-Debate
-Christmas
-Reply from North Vietnam
-Timing
-Forthcoming report
-Timing
Haldeman and Kissinger left at 12:16 pm.