381–1

Conversation No. 381-1

Date: December 13, 1972
Time: 10:54 am – 12:25 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[The conversation was in progress when the recording began]

Vietnam negotiations
-Public relations [PR]
-Paris
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Press relations
-Photographs
-Xuan Thuy
-Response
-Haldeman
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Effect
-Haldeman’s conversations with Kissinger

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 11:25 a.m.

Second term reorganization
-First Lady’s staff
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Ziegler’s telephone call to Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Ziegler’s schedule
-Press briefing
-Constance M (Cornell) (“Connie”) Stuart
-Ziegler’s meeting with Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Mrs. Nixon
-Tone
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Assistant to the First Lady
-Press Assistant to the First Lady
 -2-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Helen Smith
-Ziegler’s role
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Press relations
-Initiative
-Job description

The President talked with Haig.

[Conversation No. 381-1A]

[See Conversation No. 34-62]

[End of telephone conversation]

Second term reorganization
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Assistant to the First Lady
-Job description
-Duties
-Compared to assistants to the President
-East Wind, residence
-Staff
-Press Office
-Social office
-Residence
-Work with the President’s staff
-White House events
-State Department Protocol Office
-Compared to Haldeman
-Meeting with Ziegler and Mrs. Nixon
-Press Assistant to the First Lady
-Ziegler’s role
-Press office
-Briefings
-Frequency
-Press relations
-Betty Beale
-Mrs. Nixon’s role
-Meeting with Ziegler and Mrs. Nixon
 -3-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Press relations
-Schedule
-Trip
-Christmas
-Stuart
-Departure
-1973 Inauguration
-Departure
-Ziegler’s conversation with Mrs. Nixon

Ziegler’s press conference
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Return from Paris
-Meeting with the President
-Purpose
-Consultation
-Timing
-Vietnam negotiations
-Kissinger’s communications with Le Duc Tho
-Meetings
-Technical experts
-Status
-Possible breakthrough
-“No comment” response
-Hanoi, Saigon
-Haig’s conversation with Kissinger
-Ambivalence
-Exchange of messages
-Kissinger and Le Duc Tho
-Phrasing

Press relations
-Kissinger
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston’s article
-The President’s view

Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s schedule
-Ziegler

Ziegler left at 11:40 am.
 -4-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)


Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 11:40 am and 12:25 pm.

[Conversation No. 381-1B]

The President’s schedule
-Meetings
-George P. Shultz
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Shultz

[End of telephone conversation]

-Pre-Blair House meetings
-Military compared to political aides
-Receptions
-Identification of supporters
-Clark MacGregor
-Charles W. Colson’s role
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Unknown person
-Example
-Southern Ohio
-Colson’s letter
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Labor leaders, Democrats
-New Majority
-Hosts
-John A. Volpe
-Peter J. Brennan
-Colson
-Volpe
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Hosts
-Volpe
-Colson
-Introduction of supporters
-Symbolism
 -5-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

Second term reorganization
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Future


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

House purchase
-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
-Pool
-Privacy
-Georgetown
-Foxhall Road
-Specifications
-Virginia

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************


The President’s schedule
-Receptions
-Hand-shaking
-Christmas lights
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Cabinet dinner
-Camp David
-Cabinet dinner
-White House church services
-New Majority
-John Cardinal Krol
-Terence Cardinal Cooke’s schedule
-1973 Inauguration
-Krol
-New Majority
-Mrs. Nixon’s schedule
-Diplomatic children’s reception
-Reception for surrogates and campaign workers
-Candlelight tour
 -6-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Christmas events
-Staff open house and tour
-Reception for surrogates and campaign workers
-White House staff
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Gordon C. Strachan
-Domestic Council
-National Security Council [NSC]
-White House staff families
-Press
-Candlelight tour
-White House staff families
-Candlelight tours
-Congressional relations
-New Majority
-Reception for 1972 election supporters

Vietnam negotiations
-Haig
-Location
-Role
-Kissinger
-Kissinger’s cable
-US bombing south of 20th Parallel
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Thieu
-Possible meeting with Thieu
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu’s rejection
-The President’s conversation with Haig
-Overthrow of Thieu
-Bunker
-William P. Rogers
-Agnew
-George S. McGovern
-Agnew
-Effect
-South Vietnam
-Overthrow of Thieu
-US public opinion
 -7-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Louis P. Harris polls
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Cease-fire
-Free elections
-South Vietnam
-Clause
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Kissinger
-Mood
-The President’s conversation with Haig
-Behavior
-Haig’s view
-Negotiator
-Self-interest compared to national interest
-Reston article

US-Soviet Union and US-People’s Republic of China [PRC] relations
-Kissinger’s role

NSC
-Haig’s possible role
-Army background
-Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Kissinger’s possible departure
-Foreign policy
-Bureaucracy
-Army background

Congressional relations
-The President’s attempted to telephone call to [Carl B. Albert]
-Message
-William E. Timmons
-Albert’s Secretary, Mrs. [Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Relationship with John C. Stennis
-Relationship with Dr. James R. Schlesinger
-Haldeman’s conversation with Schlesinger
-Possible meeting

Second term reorganization
 -8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Richard M. Helms
-Ambassadorship to Iran
-Condition
-Schlesinger confirmation [as Director of Central Intelligence
Agency]
-Outsider status
-Press relations
-Ambassadors
-Age questions
-Foreign service
-Promotions
-Retirement age
-Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-Career ambassadors
-U. Alexis Johnson
-Johnson
-Possible Ambassador at Lodge
-Health
-Saigon
-William H. Sullivan
-Saigon
-Kissinger
-Japan [?]

Kissinger
-Behavior
-Conversation with Haig
-Television [TV] statement
-Haig’s view
-Relationship with Haig

Vietnam negotiations
-US bombing south of 20th Parallel
-Pace
-The President’s conversation with Haig
-Compared to the US bombing of Hanoi-Haiphong area
-B-52s
-Criticism
-Military purpose
-Kissinger’s view
 -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Minutiae
-Kissinger
-Negotiator
-“Peace is at hand” statement, October 26, 1972
-Effect
-The President’s possible TV statement
-Blame on North Vietnam
-Settlement agreement
-North Vietnam
-US-South Vietnam relations
-The President’s message to Kissinger
-North Vietnam’s intransigence
-Effect
-Congressional aid to South Vietnam
-US position
-Public opinion
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-The President’s possible TV statement
-Haldeman’s view

Second term reorganization
-Schlesinger’s confirmation
-Helms’s assistance
-Stennis
-The President’s meeting with Stennis
-Possible difficulty
-Confirmation
-Press relations
-Washington, DC
-Examples
-Supreme Court, Attorney General
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Congressional relations
-Edward M. Kennedy’s statement
-News summary
-The President’s trip to the PRC
-Public opinion
-Partisanship
-Watergate
 -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-1972 election
-Cooperation
-The President’s trip to the PRC

Second term reorganization
-Congressional relations
-Need for drama
-Cabinet changes
-Announcements
-George P. Shultz
-Press relations
-Change in Executive Branch structure
-Timing
-First half of second term
-Cabinet departments

The President’s schedule
-Possible meetings with black leaders
-Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
-Leonard Garment’s role
-Jordan
-Black caucus
-Liberals
-Administration supporters
-Roy Wilkins
-Jordan
-Previous meetings
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan

Vietnam negotiations
-Kissinger
-Work habits
-Effect
-Emotional strain
-Expectations of success
-Kissinger’s recommendations
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-The President’s conversations with Haig
-Absence of objectivity
-Haig
 -11-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Treatment of NSC staff
-Relationship with Haig
-Mental health
-Haig’s view
-Timing
-Pressures
-Rogers
-Departure
-Timing
-Settlement agreement
-Acceptance
-Rogers’s conversations with Haldeman and the President
-Informing Thieu
-Haig’s view
-Cables
-Cables
-Contingencies
-Cables
-Challenge
-Conversations
-Tone
-Haig
-Trip to Moscow

Public relations [PR]
-Rogers
-Mail
-The President’s trips to the PRC and the Soviet Union
-Compared to Kissinger

Second term reorganization
-Kissinger’s role
-Appointments
-Defense Departments
-Ambassadorships
-Valve
-Foreign Service Officers [FSOs]
-Veto
-Unknown person
-Foreign affairs
 -12-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 381-1 (cont’d)

-Elliot L. Richardson
-Liberals
-Resignations
-Cambodia invasions
-Defense Department

The President’s schedule
-Diplomatic reception
-Location
-West Wing
-Oval Office
-Roosevelt Room
-Lobby
-Oval Office
-Christmas decorations
-Diplomatic Reception Room
-Invitations
-List
-Meeting with Schlesinger
-Meeting with Shultz
-Edwin S. Cohen

Haldeman left at 12:25 pm.