Secret White House Tapes

466–2

About this recording

466–2
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • Alexander P. Butterfield
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • White House operator
  • Peter M. Flanigan
  • John D. Ehrlichman
March 11, 1971
Conversation No. 466-2

Date: March 11, 1971
Time: 9:19 am - 11:12 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

Presidential letters
-Ambassadors
-The President’s signature
-Rose Mary Woods

Butterfield left at 9:20 am

President’s schedule
-John B. Connally
-George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Peter G. Peterson, Peter M. Flanigan, Ehrlichman, and Henry A. Kissinger
-Administration strategy
-Harlow’s meeting with Mills
-Possible meeting with Mills
-John W. Byrnes
-Minority members of the House Ways and Means Committee
-Possible public statement
2

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Legislation
-Kissinger
-Possible statement from President regarding textile legislation
-Byrnes
-Ehrlichman, Peterson, and Flanigan
-Time
-Ehrlichman and Shultz meeting
-Possible postponement
-Harlow
-Byrnes
-Flanigan
-Kissinger

[Haldeman talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 9:24
am]

[Conversation No. 466-2A]

Flanigan’s meeting with President and Haldeman

[End of telephone conversation]

Textile negotiations with Japan
-Peterson and Kissinger
-Shultz
-President’s March 10, 1971 meeting

[Haldeman talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 9:24
am]

[Conversation No. 466-2B]

Ehrlichman’s meeting with President and Haldeman

[End of telephone conversation]

-Harlow
-Flanigan
-Meeting of Republican Congressmen

Flanigan entered at 9:24 am
3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Draft statement by President
-Legislation
-Flanigan’s previous meeting with industry representatives
-Support for President’s position
-Mills
-Possible 1972 support for President
-Effect of President’s actions
-Legislation Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Peterson, Kissinger, and Shultz’s views
-President’s view
-President’s decision
-John N. Mitchell and Maurice H. Stans’ views
-Effect of legislation proposal
-Possible 1972 effect
-Possible future actions
-Legislation
-Quotas
-Mills
-1972


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 24s ]

JAPAN

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


-Harlow’s meeting with Byrnes, March 10, 1971
-Byrnes’ forthcoming action
-Possible legislation
-Caucus of Ways and Means Committee
-Mills
-Harlow’s previous experience
-Byrnes’ forthcoming action
4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



Ehrlichman entered at 9:29 am
-Possible speech by Byrnes
-Possible meeting between President and Byrnes
-Mills
-Harlow’s assessment
-Strategy
-Eisaku Sato
-Peterson’s staff Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Possible administration action
-Legislation
-Textile industry
-Effect
-Mills
-Byrnes
-Harlow
-Possible statement by President
-Negotiations with Japanese
-Political implications
-Textile industry
-Stans, Harry S. Dent, Mitchell
-Textile industry
-Need for strong administration position
-Response to continuing Japanese negotiations
-Possible administration action
-Administration plans
-Mills
-Negotiations with other countries
-Legislation
-Legislation
-Timing
-Byrnes
-Mills
-Previous year’s bill
-Negotiations with three unnamed countries [Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong]
-Effect on legislation
-Japan
-Opinion abroad
-Implications
-Possible passage of Mills’ bill
-Multilateral negotiations
-Possible options
-Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan
5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Kissinger’s view
-Letters from President
-A draft statement for President
-Japan
-Possible effect
-Possible outcome
-Mills’ possible action
-Byrnes’ possible action Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Current legislation
-Mills’ role
-Ehrlichman’s view
-Possible proposal by administration
-Byrnes
-Mills
-Possible textile industry response
-Draft statement
-Revisions
-President’s view
-Wording
-Legislation
-Effect
-Political impact
-Textile industry views
-Flanigan’s view
-Revisions
-Mills
-Mills and Byrnes
-Textile industry
-Political considerations
-Byrnes
-Draft statement
-Legislation
-Quotas
-Textile industry
-Draft statement
-Tone
-Textile industry position
-Administration action
-Legislation
-President’s statement
-Message
-Byrnes
6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Possible meeting with President
-Possible speech in House
-Japanese proposals
-Trade bills
-Textile quotas
-Administration timetable
-Congressional schedule
-Monitoring provision Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Mills’ proposal
-President’s view
-Textile industry position
-Monitoring and quotas
-Possible action
-Administration action
-Mills
-Byrnes
-Textile industry position
-Department of Commerce role
-Stans
-Monitoring activities
-Possible meeting with President, Byrnes, Connally, and Harlow
-Timing
-Statement
-President’s schedule
-Peterson, Kissinger, and Shultz
-Flanigan and Ehrlichman’s forthcoming meeting with Byrnes
-Harlow
-Discussion topics
-President’s schedule
-Connally’s position
-Ehrlichman’s previous conversation with Connally
-Possible outcome
-Possible legislation
-Connection with tariff bill
-Eastern Establishment
-Jacob K. Javits
-Possible Congressional action
-Textile industry position
-President’s view
-Japan
-Views
-Textile industry response
7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Mills
-Possible alternative proposals
-Influence with Senators
-Russell B. Long and Javits
-Shultz and Peterson’s views
-Japan, quotas
-President’s forthcoming letter to Sato
-Content Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Administration’s position on legislation
-Quotas
-Previous legislation in Ways and Means Committee
-Shultz and Peterson’s position
-Compared to President’s position
-Possible agreement with Japan
-State Department view
-Indonesia

Flanigan left at 10:00 am

-Further action
-Meeting between Ehrlichman, Peterson, Byrnes, and Harlow

Ehrlichman left at an unknown time after 10:00 am

President’s schedule
-Connally

Textile meeting
-Compared with Kissinger’s National Security Council [NSC] meetings
-Peterson and Shultz’s concerns
-Free trade position
-Kissinger’s concerns
-Sato
-Korea
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Peterson
-Ehrlichman
-Harlow
-Forthcoming meeting with Byrnes
-Previous meeting with Byrnes
-Ehrlichman
-Views
8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)




President’s schedule
-Williamsburg trip
-Senators and Congressmen
-William B. Spong, Jr. and Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Mitchell
-Connally Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-A taped interview
-Marya McLauglin and Fay G. Wells
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] and National Broadcasting Company
[NBC] interviews
-Radio interview
-Preparation

President’s previous interview with Cyrus L. (“Cy”) Sulzberger
-Effect
-Publicity
-President’s statement on future wars
-Small conflicts
-Biafra
-US role

President’s previous press conference
-Dan Rather’s report on President’s credibility
-President’s note to Ronald L. Ziegler
-White House News Summary
-Polls
-President’s press conferences
-George H. Gallup poll

President’s interview with Sulzberger
-Ziegler

Rather’s report
-Selling of domestic programs compared with “Selling of the Pentagon” television
program
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-President’s press conference
-Jeb Stuart Magruder

Anti-ballistic Missile [ABM] story on CBS
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-CBS’s response to White House response
-James C. Fletcher
-Retraction
-Position on ABM
-Previous meetings with President
-Position on ABM
-Daniel L. Schorr’s report
-Fletcher’s possible meeting with President Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Interview with Fletcher
-Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.
-Ziegler’s statement

Clark MacGregor
-Relations with Congress
-Effectiveness
-Meeting with the President

ABM story on CBS
-Schorr

The President left at an unknown time before 10:13 am

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 10:00 am

President’s schedule
-MacGregor

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 10:13 am

[Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 10:13
am]

[Conversation No. 466-2C]

President’s schedule
-Use of helicopter time

[End of telephone conversation]

MacGregor entered at 10:13 am
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Possible meeting with Byrnes
-MacGregor

John O. Pastore
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Tricia Nixon

The President entered at an unknown time after 10:13 am Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)

Greetings

MacGregor’s work

[The President talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 10:13 am and 10:47
am]

[Conversation No. 466-2D]

President’s assent to an unknown item

[End of telephone conversation]

President’s schedule
-Byrnes
-Williamsburg

[The President talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 10:13 am and 10:47 am]

[Conversation No. 466-2E]

President’s schedule
-Williamsburg
-Newport
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[National Security]
[Duration: 3m 2s ]


JAPAN Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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


[End of telephone conversation]

Congressional relations
-President’s breakfasts with Congressmen
-President’s future actions
-Democrats
-Long
-Mills
-Byrnes
-Purpose
-Connally’s meeting with Republican Congressmen
-Long
-Forthcoming meeting with President
-Relations with Connally
-Republican Congressional leaders
-Meeting with President
-Gerald R. Ford
-John B. Anderson
-Gordon L. Allott
-Problems with the Administration
-Dr. James R. Schlesinger
-William E. Timmons
-Compared with Cabinet officers
-President’s forthcoming meetings
-Long
-John L. McClellan
-Position on government reorganization
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Committee chairmen
-MacGregor’s forthcoming efforts
-List
-Potential problems
-President’s time
-Long
-McClellan
-Republicans Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Congressional leaders
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-House members
-Daniel H. Kuykendall
-Travels on behalf of President’s programs
-Possible White House dinner
-Number and organization
-Possible White House breakfast
-Possible Oval Office or Roosevelt Room meeting
-Number of participants
-Possible dinner or breakfast
-Number
-Possible dinner or breakfast
-Reports to President
-Rumsfeld
-Purpose
-President’s possible trip to Capitol Hill
-Frank T. Bow
-President’s possible trip to Capitol Hill
-Various committees
-Possible problems
-Carl B. Albert
-William M. Colmer
-Committees
-Kuykendall group
-Location of meeting
-Value
-Connally’s meeting
-President’s possible trip to Capitol Hill compared with invitation to
White House
-Connally’s statement
-Rayburn House Office Building
-Unannounced drop-in by the President
-President’s phone calls
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Possible visit by President to Capitol Hill
-Senators
-Meetings with the President
-Purpose
-Barry M. Goldwater’s previous meeting with President
-National Air and Space Museum
-Problems
-Goldwater’s status Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Allott
-Peter H. Dominick
-Senate Campaign Committee
-Robert J. Dole and Mitchell
-Robert C. (“Bob”) Wilson
-Leaks from leaders’ meeting in Jack N. Anderson’s column
-Dominick’s concern
-Hugh Scott’s staff
-Dominick
-Importance
-Dominick
-Newly-elected Congressional members
-Robert A. Taft, Jr.
-Edward W. Brooke
-Number
-Goldwater
-Brooke
-John Sherman Cooper
-George D. Aiken
-”Wednesday group”
-Position on President’s policies
-Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.
-Charles H. Percy
-Balance between conservative Republicans and liberal Republicans
-House
-Samuel L. Devine
-”Wednesday group” of Senators and conservatives in House
-Senate
-Norris Cotton
-John G. Tower
-Previous meeting with the President
-Milton R. Young
-North Dakota press
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-President’s previous actions
-North Dakota legislators
-Position on revenue sharing
-North Dakota newspapers
-Devine’s conservative group
-Possible meeting with the President
-Number
-President’s actions Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-”Wednesday group”
-Concerns
-Carl T. Curtis
-Karl E. Mundt
-Health
-”Wednesday group”
-House supporters
-Long
-George H. Mahon
-Mills
-Albert
-Appropriations committee

Textile legislation
-MacGregor’s previous meeting with House Republican leaders
-Ford
-Leslie C. Arends
-John J. Rhodes
-Byrnes
-Charles R. Jonas
-Rhodes’ view
-Mills
-Ford and Byrnes’ view
-Japan
-Mills

Congressional relations
-Compared with Cabinet relations
-Compared with liaison work with youth and blacks
-An event with twelve blacks [Congressional Black Caucus?]
-March 23-25, 1971
-Brooke
-Administration black appointees
-Forthcoming meeting
15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 10:13 am

An unknown item
-Byrnes

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 10:47 am

Congress Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Long

Vietnam
-Military situation
-Compared with President’s other programs
-Economy
-North Vietnam

President’s programs
-Democrat opposition
-MacGregor’s March 10, 1971 discussion with members of Yale Political Union
-President’s legislative efforts
-MacGregor’s press contacts
-Public comments
-”Wednesday group”
-Forthcoming meeting with President
-Timing
-President’s view
-Reorganization plan
-Percy’s position
-Forthcoming meeting with the President
-Vietnam troop withdrawals

MacGregor’s schedule
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs

President’s phone calls to Congressmen

Timmons

MacGregor left and Charles W. Colson entered at 10:47 am

Colson’s work
16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



President’s schedule
-Forthcoming meeting on textile quotas

Congressional relations
-MacGregor’s work
-President’s meetings with Senators and Congressmen
-Harlow’s work
-President’s meetings Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)

John A. Volpe
-Camp David visit
-[Forename unknown] Gray

Press and Presidential availability
-Public relations
-Administration efforts
-Speech in Congress by Baker
-A tapes project at Vanderbilt University
-Media coverage
-Bias
-Availability of tapes
-Library of Congress
-”Doves”
-Baker, William E. Brock, III, Goldwater, Dominick, and others
-George S. McGovern, Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy, Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield,
and others
-Possible showing of CBS and NBC newscasts
-Three weeks prior to last press conference
-Bias
-Economic coverage
-Press credibility
-War coverage
-Press credibility issue
-Confidentiality issue
-Administration issue
-Demonstrators
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew’s speech, November 3, 1970
-CBS story on Fletcher
-Schorr
-Ziegler
17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Current war coverage by networks
-David Brinkley of NBC, March 10, 1971
-Cambodian oil refinery
-Administration strategy
-Long-term
-Morale of Colson’s staff
-Rather’s report
-President’s interview with Sulzberger Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)
-Timing of arrangements
-President’s previous meeting with CBS executives
-Network’s concerns
-Regulation
-William S. Paley and Frank Stanton
-Equal time and fairness doctrine
-Colson
-Administration’s position
-President’s possible meeting with NBC executives

Colson’s previous meeting with Louis Harris
-Location
-Reason
-Possible assistance to Administration
-Previous experience
-Government contracts
-Harris’ support for President
-Possible funds to Harris
-Opinion Research Corporation [ORC] polls
-Possible California polls by Harris
-President’s previous memorandum
-Robert H. Finch’s role
-Harris’ polls compared with ORC polls and Gallup polls
-Questions
-Possible work for the White House
-Value
-Harris’ polling technique compared with Gallup’s technique
-Possible work for White House
-Colson’s view
-Harris
-Harris’ use of polls
-Gallup
18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 7m 12s ]


An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 10:47 am Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 11:12 am


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 12

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


Issues
-Economy
-Vietnam War
-Effect on polls
-Economy
-February and March 1970 polls
-Vietnam War
-February and March 1970 polls and effect of Cambodian operation
-Current polls
-Effect of Laos operation
-Economy
-Domestic programs
-Personality
-Foreign policy
-President’s interview with Sulzberger
-President’s Newport speech
-Future wars
-Nixon Doctrine
19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 30s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 13 Conv. No. 466-2 (cont.)

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


The President’s schedule

The President, Haldeman, and Colson left at 11:12 am
Secret White House Tapes |

466–2

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