Conversation No. 881-4

Date: March 16, 1973
Time: 11:10 am - 12:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

       Julie Nixon Eisenhower's call
             -Message with Rose Mary Woods

       President's visit to dentist
             -Presence of press
                    -Secret Service
             -Departure
             -Staff
                    -Military aid
                    -Usher
                    -Secret Service
                    -Press
                    -Head of Secret Service
                    -Ziegler
             -Dr. William O. Chase

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered and Bull left at 11:10 am.

       White House social events
            -Inclusion of children
                  -William E. Timmons, Frank J. Horton
                  -Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.
                  -Woods
                        -Arrangements
                  -Policy
                  -Press story
            -Congress members
            -Cabinet officers
            -Quantity
            -Timmons
            -Marjorie Lincoln
                  -G. Gould Lincoln
                  -Age
                                         -12-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. July-2010)
                                                           Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


      -Bob Dunham [?]
      -Cabinet

Herbert G. Klein
      -New job
            -Departure from White House
President’s schedule
      -President's meeting with Lt. Cdr. Robert J. Flynn
            -Arrangements
                   -Bull
      -President's meeting with Roger Shields
            -[Unintelligible name]
      -Prisoner of war [POWs] dinner
            -Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
            -Format
            -Flynn
                   -Meeting with President

POWs
   -Gifts
             -Photograph
             -Woods
             -Eagle with inscription
                   -J. Willard (“Bill”) Marriott, Jr.
      -Citation
      -Bracelet
             -Disadvantages
      -Presidential gifts
             -President's seal
             -Cufflinks
             -New design
      -Children
             -President's gifts
                   -Pins
      -Gifts
             -Ashtrays
                   -Display value
                   -Cost
                   -Vase, platter
                   -Smoking
                                    -13-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                             Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. July-2010)
                                                       Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


     -Unit citation
            -Coordination with Defense Department
            -Copies
            -Work by Gen Brent G. Scowcroft
     -Gifts
            -Cufflinks, pins, ashtrays
            -Unit citation
            -Children
                  -Packet
     -Dinner
            -Date

Press relations
      -Favorable editorials
             -Distribution
                   -White House
                   -Klein’s office
                          -1972 campaign
      -Charles W. Colson’s group
      -American Enterprise Institute
      -Committees
      -George H. W. Bush
      -Republicans
      -Circulation of editorials
             -Subtlety
                   -Congress
                   -Campaigns
             -Bush's role
      -Congress members
      -Private citizens
      -Walter H. Annenberg, Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis

Watergate
     -John W. Dean, III
           -Richard A. Moore
           -Coordination
     -John N. Mitchell
           -Judgment
                -G. Harrold Carswell
     -Dean
                              -14-

     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                       Tape Subject Log
                        (rev. July-2010)
                                           Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


      -Quality of work
      -Advice of others
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
      -Meeting with President
             -Publicity
             -View of White House staff
                   -Possible testimony
      -President's opinion
      -Political aspiration
             -Credibility
      -Comparison with Ralph E. Flanders
             -Joseph McCarthy
      -Role on committee
-Rowland Evans, Robert D. Novak column
      -News summary report
      -Poll of Congress
-Congressional support for President
      -Barry M. Goldwater, Jr.
-Supporters throughout country
      -Gabriel Hauge
-Dean
      -Discussion of options
      -Cover-up
             -Danger to President
             -Haldeman's opinion
                   -Strategy
-Donald H. Segretti case
      -Full disclosure
             -Advantages
      -Involvement
             -Haldeman
-Dean's role
      -Containment strategy
             -Value
-Full disclosure
      -Advantages
      -Dangers
             -Exposure of cover-up
      -Dean's view
             -Containment
                                      -15-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. July-2010)
                                                        Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


     -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] files
          -Colson's view
                -Gray confirmation testimony
                -Advantages to administration
          -FBI leaks
          -L. Patrick Gray, III
     -FBI
          -Mitchell
          -Richard G. Kleindienst
          -J. Edgar Hoover
                -Political acumen

President's television [TV] address on role of government
      -David R. Gergen’s memorandum
             -John D. Ehrlichman
             -Radio
             -1973 State of the Union Address
             -Foreign policy discussion
                   -National Security Council [NSC]
                   -State of the World Address
                   -Henry A. Kissinger
             -Reaction in Congress
                   -NSC
                   -Gergen
                   -Domestic policy

State of the World Address
      -Kissinger
      -Length of address
             -Quality

Congressional relations
     -Opposition to Vietnam settlement
           -Democratic Senate
           -Press coverage
     -Lobbying by William P. Rogers
           -Economic aid to Vietnam
           -Military budget
     -Partisans
           -Republicans
                                       -16-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. July-2010)
                                                          Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


            -Sabotage of President's efforts in Vietnam

Press relations
      -President's press conference
             -Patrick J. Buchanan [?]
             -TV coverage
      -Need to get out of Oval Office
             -Hostility of press
      -TV coverage of press conference
      -TV news
             -Viewership
                   -Percentages
             -President's appearance
                   -Viewership
      -President's speech before Congress
             -Prime time
      -Press coverage
             -President’s trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
             -Vietnam settlement announcement
                   -Radio
      -Press conference
             -Effectiveness
             -[Unintelligible name]
                   -Comments on reporter's questions to President
             -Questions
                   -Submission
                   -Preparation by President
                   -Reaction by press
                   -President’s expectations
             -Subjects
                   -Foreign policy
                   -Limitations on subjects
                          -Separate press conferences on foreign, domestic, economic issues
                          -Disadvantages
             -Preparation
                   -Amount of work
                   -White House staff
                          -Buchanan, Kissinger, Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz
      -Questions
             -Wounded Knee
                                       -17-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. July-2010)
                                                         Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


            -Shield laws
            -Vietnam
            -David Lawrence
                  -Work of journalists
            -President’s preparation
            -People's Republic of China [PRC] liaison office
            -Vietnam settlement status

Watergate
     -Press conference
     -As an issue
     -President's statements on disclosures
            -Ronald L. Ziegler
     -Court challenge
            -Constitutional problems
            -Benefits
            -Dean
     -Dwight L. Chapin
     -Colson
            -Role in White House
                  -Benefits
     -Chapin
            -Legal preparation
            -Involvement with Segretti
            -Knowledge
     -Issue
            -Cover-up compared with break-in
                  -Hauge's perception
                  -Danger to administration
            -Burglars
                  -Conviction
                  -Possibility of widening the investigation
                        -Future arrests
                               -Jeb Stuart Magruder
                               -Mitchell
                        -Ties to White House
                               -Haldeman
            -Haldeman
                  -Relationship with Magruder
                  -Statement
                                             -18-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. July-2010)
                                                            Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


                  -Colson
                       -E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
                       -Knowledge
                  -Mitchell
                  -Magruder
                       -Ties to Haldeman
                             -Contact with
                       -Circumstantial evidence
                             -Compared to Chapin
                                    -Ties to Segretti
                             -Compared to Colson
                                    -Ties to Hunt
                  -Mitchell
                       -Problems
                       -Refusal to talk with President
                  -Executive privilege
                       -Questions for President
                             -Chapin
                             -Separation of powers

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 11:10 am.

       President's schedule
             -Pete V. Domenici

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 12:06 pm.

       Watergate
            -Separation of powers
                  -President's handling of questions
                  -Word "privilege"
                  -Public understanding of issue
            -News summary
            -Ervin Committee
                  -Segretti case
                  -President's responsibility
                        -Statements by President
                        -Timing

Haldeman left at 12:06 pm.
                                            -19-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. July-2010)