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Conversation 861-012

TapeTape 861StartThursday, February 22, 1973 at 11:28 AMEndThursday, February 22, 1973 at 11:37 AMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler met to review the public reception of Henry Kissinger’s recent press briefing regarding the release of U.S. prisoners in Vietnam and the establishment of liaison offices with the People's Republic of China. The pair also coordinated the President's upcoming attendance at the White House Correspondents Association dinner and his declination of an invitation to the Gridiron dinner. Finally, they discussed entertainment arrangements for White House events, specifically focusing on the involvement of Sammy Davis, Jr. and the potential participation of Sonny and Cher.

Henry KissingerVietnamPRCWhite House Correspondents AssociationPublic RelationsSammy Davis Jr.
AudioNARA Description

On February 22, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:28 am to 11:37 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 861-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 861-12

Date: February 22, 1973
Time: 11:28 am - 11:37 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Henry A. Kissinger's briefing
                                     -11-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                     Conversation No. 861-12 (cont’d)

       -Time
               -Length
       -Release of John T. Downey, Robert J. Flynn and Philip E. Smith
       -Liaison office
       -Questions
       -Aid to North Vietnam
               -Defense
               -Justification
       -Laos
               -Questions
               -Communist victory
               -1962 accords
       -Middle East
               -Visit of Hafiz Ismail
       -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
               -Communique
               -Trip to Hanoi
       -Television [TV] and radio coverage

PRC
       -Liaison offices
              -Washington, Peking
              -Associated Press [AP] report

White House Correspondents Association dinner
      -Acceptance publicized

Gridiron dinner
       -Rejection
              -Meeting with Gridiron invitation committee
              -Timing
              -Reason
       -Vice President’s attendance
       -William P. Rogers’s attendance
       -President’s attendance
                                         -12-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                   Conversation No. 861-12 (cont’d)

White House Correspondents Association dinner
      -Gift
             -Inkwell
             -Thomas Jefferson quotation
      -Entertainment
             -Sammy Davis, Jr.
                    -Evening at the White House

Norman Vincent Peale
     -Sunday worship service

Davis
        -Call to Ziegler
                -Thanksgiving
                -Support for President
        -Criticism by other blacks
        -Letter

White House Correspondents Association dinner
      -Sonny and Cher Bono
             -Compared to Karen and Richard Carpenter
             -Invitation
                     -White House pressure
                     -President’s choice
      -Awards
             -Edgar Allen Poe
             -Presentation
                     -Watergate
                     -President’s presence
                     -Scholarship fund

Poe
        -Gift to the President
        -Eleanor Stegeberg McGovern [?]
        -Cuff links [?]
                                                -13-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                         (rev. Nov.-09)
                                                            Conversation No. 861-12 (cont’d)

Ziegler left at 11:37 am.
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.

Good job.
Yes, sir.
We started at 1015 and ended right about 11.
But it was a good story.
The Flann and the Smith and the Downey release.
These guys just continue to be baffled.
The liaison office.
Of course, they are the two numbers here.
Oh, they see it.
So in the questioning, it certainly came through like they did.
I mean, it's difficult.
He handled everything very well.
He picked up your line.
He hit it strongly.
He hit it strongly.
From the standpoint of these people have been
in all their lives, either in jail or involved in some sort of conflict.
What we are doing is attempting to bring them into some sort of a normal relationship.
It's not aid to reconstruct them.
It's a move to a peace.
It's an investment in peace, Henry said.
And that's the way it should be viewed.
And he hit it in a very animal, good way.
Yes, about Laos, about whether it's a conscious victory in Laos.
Yeah, they did.
All that .
Well, I thought you would want to know that, for sure.
But he had .
No, I didn't raise any questions.
Didn't ask about .
They just said it was discussed.
We talked about the whole area of the ballroom.
They asked him about the fellow who was coming to meet then.
He said he preferred not to talk about it.
He preferred it.
He said, I want to keep this confined to the cave and the .
And I think that was a good part of what he said on the Haiti thing, which is, again, was I thought very strong .
But the VP of the United States of China today announced that they had established official governmental liaison offices in Washington, D.K.
to speed up normalization of relations between the two countries.
I think they clearly understand that.
Okay, as far as what else is—well, I'm sorry.
to the White House first.
Oh, yeah.
So that's going pretty much out now.
Sure.
Which is what you wanted to do before we turned down the radar now.
Yeah.
I have a schedule proposed by the suggestion I want to see the radar when people just went to go through that four-minute specific investigation.
Sure.
Why do you want to?
Well, we'll work it out on your schedule any time.
Sure.
That could be long, any time.
I think they should know in advance, though, before they come in, that I will not be able to tell them.
You say, look, he cannot come.
But he wants to have you in.
He wants to have you in.
And he does.
He's trying to work it out.
So he does a couple of meetings here this year.
That's not a White House response, but once the Lord's presence on both of them.
Okay.
The vice president will come to this one.
But Rogers is going.
I talked to Rogers this morning.
I had asked you to call, and you took his advice.
Yeah, I'm going in.
And he said, what do you want me to do?
And I said, I'm sure you can put it down right at the press conference.
So you can tell Rocky that I'm trying to come next year.
Yep.
That is what I'll commit to.
Obviously, you can virtually commit to that thing for next year.
So I'll come next year, and I won't do the correspondence.
I just want to go all four each year.
First of all, it's going to be a beautiful gift.
Right.
That's it.
That's it.
An old inkwell, a silver shard of silver, and the gold and the earth.
It's going back to the record of Jefferson's time.
That was a Jefferson's quote on, no man can say that I want anything more than peace.
That's a very, very nice quote.
Good.
very much hope that they can get Enzana to hand it to Sammy Davis, who got in for me at the White House.
Oh, that's great, for not the first one, I don't know what happened.
But I do, do very much.
We've got people for this Sunday, Enzana.
And I hope they're told.
And, uh, Sammy Davis is great.
And Sammy Davis will put on a hell of a show.
He called me.
Did I tell you on Thanksgiving?
No.
He called him and said, Ron, I just want you to know that I'm sitting here with my wife and children.
And he said, I want you to know just how happy I am that the President of the United States is the President of the United States and how thankful I am and how thankful my friend is.
I mean, he's a very, as he gets this, he's got to go on and keep it.
I mean, it's black, brown, it's black.
He's got to be able to show it.
Well, that's very interesting.
We're working on sunny and sheer.
Yeah, I was going to say, any physical group that can get sunny and sheer is fine.
I don't know if the Carpenters are that good.
I mean, the Carpenters, I'm afraid they might lose that audience.
The Carpenters have a beautiful sound, and they're well-liked, in terms of their records.
They don't have to get up there before a crowd of 1,500 or down to .
They're big on prime time television.
They can use all the White House .
Good.
Now that ideally corresponds.
I would prefer not to .
And you will find out from folks what the awards are going to be.
They have trouble with those awards, so it's that kind of award.
And that's something always left with us.
However we want it.
So we'll work on that.
We'll work on that.
But if there is some kind of special award,
You know what I mean?
Well, there's American Scholarship Fund.
Yeah.
Which would be a good one for you to get there and get involved.
I think there's one you can have.
And I think that's the reason for that.
And it's .
Right.
Good.
OK, sir.
Well, that's the thing.
It always feels good.
It does, yeah.
It does.
Tell the president, I appreciate this.
I'm not sure if she could have not done it with Ted, but I don't know that.
And Edgar wants to work it out, so he presents you the idea.
Again, we're going there.
It's really the only thing.
They're fixing it so that they have paper clips and so forth.
They're going to do a lot of that.
Oh, that's what they'll do?
Yes, they're going to do that.
They're going to do that.
They're going to do that.
They're going to do that.
The Cubs, the Cubs, the Cubs, right, and also the Yellow Pack.
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