372–11

Conversation No. 372-11

Date: October 25, 1972
Time: 9:40 am - 10:08 am
Location: Executive Office Building


The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.


The People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Chou En-Lai

Vietnam peace settlement negotiations
-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s previous message
-Kissinger’s response
-Hanoi
-Kissinger’s possible trip
-Timing
-1972 election
-Paris talks
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Saigon
 8
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Possible leaks
-US proposal
-Final Document
-Saigon’s approval
-Possible bombing halt
-Rationale
-Quality of offer
-Concessions
-Compared with 1968 bombing halt
-Public announcement
-The President’s suggestion
-20th parallel
-Public opinion
-Forthcoming 1972 election
-Possible press statement
-Breakthrough
-Further negotiations
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Fritz G. Kraemer’s view
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Public Position
-US Position
-The President’s view
-Thieu
-Coalition government
-Bombing halt
-North Vietnamese military situation
-Possible cease-fire, October 31, 1972
-Thieu‘s recent speech
-Kissinger’s view
-Strategy
-Role in negotiations
-Coalition government
-Communist infrastructure in South Vietnam
-Possible bombing halt
-Political risks
-Rationale
-Timing compared with 1972 election
-Compared with 1968 bombing halt
-Public announcement
-Extent of halt
 9
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Reasons
-Risks
-Timing
-Secrecy
-Thieu’s strategy
-Possible North Vietnamese reply
-US public relations strategy
-Possible North Vietnamese reply
-Le Duc Tho
-William P. Rogers
-Issue of coalition government in Vietnam
-Possible statement
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-US message
-Possible attack on McGovern
-Wording of press statement on coalition government
-Ziegler
-Washington Post article
-Unknown reporter's name
-Kissinger’s recent name
-Coalition government
-The President’s participation in negotiations
-John B. Connally
-Leaks
-Thieu
-Stewart J.O. Alsop
-Murrey Marder
-Television
-Howard K. Smith
-Statement regarding efforts of the President and Kissinger
-Messages
-Content of Kissinger’s statement
-McGovern’s proposal compared to the Administrations
-Tone
-Type of Peace
-Surrender
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Coalition government
-Assistance to South Vietnam
-Thailand
-Laos
 10
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Cambodia
-“Peace with honor”
-1972 election
-McGovern’s possible response
-Bombing halt
-Nature of announcement
-Wording
-De facto compared to de jure status
-Progress
-Le Duc Tho
-US position
-Ziegler
-Soviet Union
-US global commitments
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Hanoi
-The President’s view
-Le Duc Tho
-Thieu
-Handling
-US equipment shipments
-Kissinger’s meeting with unknown person
-Timing
-Settlement
-Possible agreement to settlement
-Timing
-November 20, 1972
-Kissinger’s forthcoming telephone call to Nelson A. Rockefeller
-1968 peace initiative
-McGovern’s statements
-Compared with current US proposal
-Compared with McGovern’s proposals
-POWs
-Laos, Cambodia
-Communist government in South Vietnam
-The President’s schedule
-Priority of peace negotiations
-The President's and Kissinger’s role
-Joseph W. Alsop’s column
-History's verdict
-Abraham Lincoln
-Opposition to the President's policies
 11
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Compared to Lincoln
-Bureaucracy, media
-Compared with Lyndon B. Johnson
-Administration problems
-Consensus

Kissinger left at 10:08 am.