332–21

Conversation No. 332-21

Date: April 20, 1972
Time: 3:10 pm - 4:10 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles W. Colson.

Democratic caucus
-Meeting
-Results
-Resolution on Vietnam War
-Amendments
-Samuel S. Stratton
-Thomas P. (“Tip”) O'Neill, Jr.
-Sam M. Gibbons
-Results of vote
-Carl B. Albert
-Motives for actions
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-Absentees
-Substantive votes
-Results
-Election year pressures

Vietnam
-Change in public opinion
-Support for the President
-Mail
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Bary M. Goldwater
-Democratic caucus
-Administration counterattack
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Lack of condemnation by Democrats
-Brown University
-George P. Shultz
-Colson
-Nicholas Ruwe

Brown University
-Shultz
-Subsidies
-Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]
-Laser beam
-Curtailment
-Reserve Officer Training Corps [ROTC]

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 3:10 and 3:15
pm.

[Conversation No. 332-21A]

[See Conversation No. 23-55]

[End of telephone conversation]

Economy
-Latest news
-Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] report
-Consumer Price Index [CPI]
-Food prices
-Marina von N. Whitman
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-Views

The President talked with Caspar W. Weinberger between 3:15 and 3:19 pm.

[Conversation No. 332-21B]

[See Conversation No. 23-56]

[End of telephone conversation]

Education
-Cuts
-Weinberger

Vietnam
-Democratic caucus
-Results of vote
-Press coverage
-Vote on floor
-Support for the President's opposition
-Democrats
-Republicans
-Albert
-Support for vote
-Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW]
-Mailings to Congress
-Mobilization
-Pressure on Congress
-Labor
-Frank E. Fitzsimmons's statement
-The President's policies
-Frank L. Rizzo
-Support
-The President's appreciation
-Note
-Statement
-Richard J. Daley
-Call from David E. Bradshaw
-Possible call from the President
-Democratic party
-Charge of defeatism
-John C. Stennis
-George H. Mahon
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-Noel Cook [?]
-Jack F. Kemp
-Statement in House
-Elford A. Cederberg
-Republican supporters
-Mobilization
-News reports
-Washington Post
-Hawks
-Clark MacGregor

International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case hearings
-Vote in Congress
-Byrd Amendment
-Possible outcome
-Peter M. Flanigan testimony
-Flanigan
-Testimony
-Questions
-Refusal to answer
-Prior agreement
-Public relations sense
-Testimony
-Executive session
-Questions
-Birch E. Bayh, Jr.
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Executive privilege
-Public relations
-MacGregor
-Executive privilege
-Invocation
-Flanigan
-Advisory role to the President
-Executive privilege
-Compared with Henry A. Kissinger's use of
executive privilege
-Problems
-Jack Gleason
-Questions
-Handling
-Perjury
-Harold S. Geneen
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-Edward J. Gerrity, Jr.
-Cash
-Answers
-Perjury
-Geneen
-Testimony
-Impact on ITT Company
-Republican counterattacks
-Editorials
-Defense of administration's integrity
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Editorial support

Vietnam
-Editorial support for the President
-Extent
-Washington Star

-South Vietnam
-Success against North Vietnam
-North Vietnam
-Losses
-Negotiations
-Timing of election
-Advantages with administration
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-North Vietnamese invasion
-US counterattacks
-Intensity
-North Vietnamese miscalculation
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Air attacks
-Thomas H. Moorer
-Creighton W. Abrams
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.'s briefing
-White House staff

The President talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 3:19 and 3:36 pm.

[Conversation No. 332-21C]

Message to Haig
-Forthcoming meeting with Colson
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-Staff briefing on trip to South Vietnam
-Arrangements

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Colson's call to William P. Rogers

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 3:19 and 3:36
pm.

[Conversation No. 332-21D]

[See Conversation No. 23-57]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Unknown Lieutenant Colonel's remarks
-Press coverage
-Haig's comments

The President talked with Rogers between 3:36 and 3:43 pm.

[Conversation No. 332-21E]

[See Conversation No. 23-58]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Rogers
-Support
-Administration's efforts
-Melvin R. Laird
-Appraisal
-Timing
-The President's posture
-Courage
-Public recognition
-John B. Connally's assessment
-Public opinion
-Hugh S. Sidey editorial
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-Kleindienst
-The President's posture
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak appraisal
-Trip to Moscow
-Disregard for politics
-Publicity
-Impact on US foreign policy
-Sidey
-Press recognition
-Compared with Cuban missile crisis
-John F. Kennedy's handling
-Soviets
-Press coverage
-Praise for courage
-Soviets
-Position
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Considerations for US
-People's Republic of China [PRC] Army
-Soviet Summit
-Berlin
-Results
-Destruction of Presidency
-The President's successors
-Democrats
-Weaknesses
-Hubert H. Humphrey and Edward M. Kennedy
-Soviets
-Actions in Middle East
-Democratic weaknesses
-Presidency
-Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew
-Degree of understanding
-Connally
-Command decision
-Political risks
-Determination
-Protection for South Vietnam
-Priority over election
-PRC trip
-Benefits
-Cambodia operations
-Benefits
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Tape Subject Log
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-Al Capp
-Aftermath
-Hardhat demonstration
-Number
-James L. Buckley
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Conservatism
-Kissinger
-Rockefeller
-Attica Prison riot
-The President's call
-Impact on morale
-Press coverage
-Reagan
-Conservatism
-Campus unrest
-Columbia University
-Peter J. Brennan
-Protests
-Jewish students
-Percentage
-Black students

Rizzo
-Attitudes toward Jews and blacks

Minorities
-Jews and blacks


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 12m 49s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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Vietnam
-Current campaign
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
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-Administration's strategy
-Air strikes
-Hanoi
-Haiphong
-Flow of battle
-South Vietnamese performance
-Abrams's views
-Losses
-North Vietnam
-Ultimate failure
-North Vietnamese invasion
-Cabinet
-Capitol Hill
-Mood
-Support for the President
-Public opinion
-Support for the President
-Appreciation of the President's efforts
-PRC Trip
-Defense of US Troops
-Dependence on South Vietnam
-South Vietnamese casualties
-Rate
-Issue of self-defense

Economy
-Consumer Price Index [CPI] reading
-Latest figures
-Impact
-New York Times and Washington Post reports
-The President's conversation with H. R. Haldeman
-Distortions
-[William B.?] Dale's story
-Post story

The President's meeting with Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope

Economy
-Latest CPI figures

The President and Colson left at 4:10 pm.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
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