318–23

Conversation No. 318-23

Date: February 2, 1972
Time: 2:21 pm - 2:50 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)




The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

The President’s schedule

Vietnam
-Air strike
-The President's conversations with Melvin R. Laird and Adm. Thomas H.
Moorer at recent National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Pentagon leak
-Duration
-William P. Rogers
-Effect
-France
-Possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-State Department
-Relations with the President's People's Republic Of China [PRC] trip
-News summary
-South Vietnam
-The President’s trips to PRC, and Soviet Union
-US operations
-Timing
-The President's forthcoming PRC Trip
-“Protective reactive” strikes
-Possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Bombing
-Deployments
-USS Kitty Hawk
-Change In Position
-B-52's
-A-1's
-F-4's
-B-52's
-Number
-Soviet Union and PRC
-Negotiations
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Compared to Edward M. Kennedy
-Clark M. Clifford
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)


-Prisoners of war [POWs] release
-Deadline
-Cease-fire proposal
-Muskie's statements
-Administration attack
-The President’s position in 1968
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Rogers
-Negotiations
-Partisanship
-Possible impact
-1972 campaign
-John V. Lindsay
-George S. McGovern
-Iowa and Arizona caucuses
-Harriman
-Wall Street Journal editorial
-Administration attack
-Barry M. Goldwater
-PRG [Viet Cong] peace plan
-Similarity to US position
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-POW release
-US troop withdrawal
-Thieu's resignation
-US peace plan proposal of January 25, 1972
-North Vietnamese response
-Thieu's possible action
-South Vietnam
-Preparedness for possible North Vietnamese offensive
-Muskie's statements
-Administration attack
-Ziegler
-Rogers
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Request for a call to the President
-Meeting with the President and Ziegler
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Ziegler
-Laird
-Rogers
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)


-Delicacy of talks
-Effect of Muskie's statements
-North Vietnamese perception
-Administration attack
-Media coverage
-Washington Post and New York Times
-Television networks
-Kissinger's conversation with Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Muskie’s statements
-Administration attack
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Bombing
-Hanoi
-Previous attacks
-Five day strike
-Timing
-The President’s forthcoming PRC trip
-Administration attack
-Stewart J.O. Alsop
-Rogers
-Hugh Scott
-Ziegler's statement
-Errors in Muskie's statement
-Ceasefire
-Rogers
-Scott
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Agnew
-Rogers
-Scott
-Gerald R. Ford
-Editorials
-Unknown journalist

PRC trip
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Invitation
-Meeting with the President
-Criticism of Administration
-Meeting with Kissinger
-James L. Buckley
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)



Vietnam
-Air strike
-Contingency plans
-Timing
-Three fronts
-The President’s forthcoming PRC trip
-Deployments
-US carrier
-B-52’s


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 23s ]


INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 32

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-Agnew
-Warnings
-Laos, Cambodia, Christmas 1971 bombings

Agnew
-Kissinger’s view
-Goldwater's view in letter
-Haldeman's report
-Briefing on issues
-Kissinger’s forthcoming breakfast with Goldwater

Michael J. Mansfield breakfast, February 3, 1972
-Kissinger's schedule
-The President's forthcoming PRC trip
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)


-Japan
-Vietnam
-US peace proposal
-Troop withdrawal for POWs offer
-Political settlement
-North Vietnamese position
-Leaks
-Mansfield
-Soviet Union
-Andrei A. Gromyko and Nikolai V. Podgorny
-Chou En-lai
-Gromyko
-Muskie's statements
-Threat to negotiations

Vietnam
-US peace proposals
-North Vietnamese response
-Thieu
-Political prospects
-Muskie's statements
-The President's speech of January 25, 1972
-Effect on Muskie
-Muskie's statement
-North Vietnamese position
-South Vietnam government
-Quotes
-Negotiations
-Casualties
-Civilians
-US troops
-Cease-fire proposal
-Validity
-Administration attack
-Ziegler
-Cease-fire offers of October 1970, January 1972
-Withdrawal of North Vietnam
-Democrats' rhetoric
-News coverage
-Timing
-Kissinger forthcoming talk with Ziegler
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)



Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
-Nomination as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Richard M. Helms's and Laird's actions
-Helms’s recommendation
-John C. Stennis
-Kissinger's recommendation
-Helms's support
-Talking points
-Kissinger's possible call to Stennis
-Stennis's possible call to Helms
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Helms
-The President's wishes
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Laird
-Qualifications
-Helms’s view
-Position vis-à-vis Administration
-Military attaché in France
-Compared with Gen. Robert E. Cushman, Jr.
-Kissinger's call to Helms
-The President’s decision
-Liaison with White House


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National Security]
[Duration: 12s ]


INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


-Kissinger's call to Helms
-The Administration’s relationship with Helms
 29

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/10)
Conv. No. 318-23 (cont.)



Vietnam
-US peace proposal
-Unity within the Administration
-Recent briefing
-Muskie
-Administration attack
-1972 campaign
-Bombing
-Timing
-The President's forthcoming PRC trip
-Television coverage
-US peace offers
-Muskie

Kissinger's schedule
-Kenneth B. Keating

Kissinger left at 2:50 pm.