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Conversation 856-003

TapeTape 856StartWednesday, February 14, 1973 at 5:34 PMEndWednesday, February 14, 1973 at 6:06 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.;  Scowcroft, Brent G. (Gen.)Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon met with Ronald Ziegler and General Brent Scowcroft to coordinate an upcoming visit to the Pentagon for lunch with Secretary Elliot Richardson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The primary objective of the visit was to receive a status report on returning prisoners of war (POWs) and to determine how to formally recognize their service. Additionally, the President intended to use the meeting as a strategic opportunity to bolster military morale and acknowledge the contributions of the service secretaries and the military leadership.

POWsPentagonMilitary moraleJoint Chiefs of StaffElliot RichardsonPresidential recognition
AudioNARA Description

On February 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:34 pm and 6:06 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 856-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 856-3

Date: February 14, 1973
Time: Unknown between 5:34 pm and 6:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Gen. Brent L. Scowcroft.

        President's talk with Elliot L. Richardson
               -Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
               -President's visit to Pentagon
                        -Prisoners of war [POWs]
                               -Recognition
                               -Moorer
                               -Presidential citation
                                             - 3 -

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. Aug.-09)
                                                               Conversation No. 856-3 (cont’d)




                             -Joint Chiefs of Staff
                             -Service secretaries
                             -Moorer
                             -Henry A. Kissinger
                             -Military morale
Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

and I was going over to the Pentagon tomorrow for lunch at one o'clock.
I'd like you to go in and the purpose of your visit is to go over and get a report from the Bureau, get my hand, and discuss how they can be appropriately recognized.
I talked to, I talked to Mara about it.
My thought was she, the conversion of active races, possible, we won't say anything about this, but it would be possible, precedents of the state and that'll be the president of the state.
I mean, that's rather good for that situation.
So I think it's a good idea to do that.
So if you go home, if you go home, you won't be getting a chance to cover the chiefs and the service actors.
I do kind of do it about once a year anyway, so it'll be a good time.
Oh yeah, he called me just now to, you see, I had seen more, so Richardson called and said, could you come?
So I said, come and I'll be there.
So the secretary said, he's setting it up for that group.
We'll all be there, and we'll leave here about a quarter to go on.
Okay.
I guess you and I will attend from our side, and that purpose is to do that, and so that Henry's coming, and just let me say, the rest of the monitor, we're going to get a version of the report on the DOWs and so forth, and then we'll work on them.
And also, mainly, I read what Henry's building, and they're using this to build a little morale to it.
Okay.
Bye.
Thank you.
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