Secret White House Tapes

528–1

About this recording

528–1
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Alexander P. Butterfield
  • Stephen B. Bull
  • Charles W. Colson
June 23, 1971
Conversation No. 528-1

Date: June 23, 1971
Time: Unknown between 11:04 am and 12:45 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

Pentagon Papers
-Birch E. Bayh, Jr.
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Efforts to aid the President
-Congressional activity
-Republican activities
-House Republican action
-Henry A. Kissinger's need for documents
-Release of documents
-Involvement of administration
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Tactical use
-Subpoena power
-Problems
-Congressional hearings
-Scope
-Potential problems
-Potential advantages
-Robert S. McNamara
-Questioning by George S. McGovern supporters
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy's role
-John F. Kennedy involvement
-Ngo Dinh Diem
-Commitment of troops in 1961
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Qualities
-Ziegler
-Herbert G. Klein

Schedule
-Indianapolis
-Possible visit to farm
-Timing
2

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Television coverage
-Chicago
-Speech to American Association of Retire Persons [AARP]
-Return to Washington, D.C.
-Camp David
-George P. Shultz's request for meeting
-Attendance
-John N. Mitchell
-John B. Connally
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Advantages and disadvantages
-Connally's schedule
-Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-Paul W. McCracken
-Ehrlichman’s suggestion
-Haldeman's schedule

Pentagon Papers
-Impact on country
-Cliff Miller
-Poll results
-Regional impact
-Impact by educational background
-Age group division
-Awareness of news
-Age differences
-Revelations of Vietnam involvement
-Media handling
-Media attacks on Lyndon B. Johnson
-Media relations with the President
-President's declassification order
-Lawsuit against Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
-30 year secrecy ceiling
-Kissinger
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-1972 Democratic victory
-Results
-Bay of Pigs
-Dominican Republic
-Selectivity
-News coverage
-Mansfield's Amendment
3

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Kissinger's activities
-North Vietnamese negotiating strategy
-People’s Republic of China [PRC] pressure
-US domestic pressure
-Relations with Soviet Union
-US domestic politics
-Impact on foreign relations
Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
Public relations
-Reaction to wedding of Tricia Nixon and Edward R.F. Cox

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 11:05 am.

Ehrlichman’s location

Butterfield left at 11:06 am.

Public relations
-Reaction to wedding of Tricia Nixon and Edward R.F. Cox
-Memorability
-Compared to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy White House tour
-Letters
-Sentimental buildups
-Fighting instincts
-President
-Johnson
-Media coverage
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Ziegler

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:06 am.

Request for Charles W. Colson

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:39 am.

Public relations
-Media coverage of Senate vote
-Ziegler’s view
-Rationale
-Media coverage
4

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Privacy]
[Duration: 3s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7 Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)

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


-President's drug message
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-President and children
-Administration tactics
-Formation of \"line\"
-President's involvement

Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 11:05 am.

[Delivery of casualty figures]

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 11:39 am.

Vietnam casualties
-Trends
-Kissinger
-Cambodian action
-Indication of success
-Agnew's comments

Schedule
-Press briefing during Midwest trip
-Cincinnati
-Problems
-Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky
-St. Louis, Kansas City, and Milwaukee
-Wisconsin trip
-Necessity
-Benefits
-Kansas City
5

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Compared with St. Louis
-Facilities
-Hotels
-Compared with Rochester
-Need to visit Missouri
-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
-Montana
Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
Colson entered at 11:39 am.

Pentagon Papers
-Effect on John F. Kennedy administration
-Effect on Ted Kennedy
-Effect on Democrats
-Boston reaction
-Boston Globe article
-Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
- J. Kennedy
-Henry Cabot Lodge
-Kennedy and \"covert war\"
-Chicago Daily News
-Chicago Sun Times story
-Colson's effort
-Attack on Johnson
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Rationale
-Election posture
-Franklin C. (“Lyn”) Nofziger
-Attack on John Kennedy
-McNamara
-Clark M. Clifford
-McGeorge Bundy
-Johnson's choice of advisers
-Focus on need for secrecy
-Mention of specific papers
-New York Times, Washington Post
-Focus on classification
-Focus on Chicago peace group
-Distribution of classified stolen documents
-Defiance of court order
-Relation to May Day demonstrations
6

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 4s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8 Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)

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


-Administration response
-Benefits of low profile reaction
-John A. Scali
-Polls
-Results
-Approval of President
-Gallup poll compared with administration poll
-Focus on moral issue of publishing stolen documents
-Focus on classified documents
-Miller
-Lack of awareness
-Regional breakdown
-Public perception
-Publication of papers
-Administration’s court action
-Rationale
-Age of classified material
-Declassification procedures
-World War II
-Pear Harbor
-Korean War period
-Cuban missile crisis
-Turkish bases
-Bay of Pigs invasion
-Scope
-Colson and Ehrlichman conversation
-Effect on country
-Selectivity
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-President's prosecution of Times
7

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Legal necessities
-Focus on previous administrations
-Effect on Hubert H. Humphrey
-Effect on Edmund G. Muskie
-Effect on Ted Kennedy
-Effect on Jackson
-Muskie’s comments
-Link between Ted and John Kennedy Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
-Humphrey handling of attack on Johnson administration
-Compared to Chappaquiddick
-Victor Lasky's article
-Patrick J. Buchanan's article
-President's conduct of the War
-Mailing to House and Senate
-Mailing to dinner guests
-President's involvement
-Buchanan
-Scali
-William P. Rogers story to Haldeman
-Rationale for low profile
-Alger Hiss case
-Mood in country
-Avoidance of escalation
-Attack on newspapers
-Timing
-Administration response
-Democratic infighting
-Lawrence F. O'Brien's role
-Gale W. McGee and J. William Fulbright
-McGovern's situation
-Attack on main actors
-James P. Roche’s defense of Johnson
-William S. White's reaction
-Stewart J.O. Alsop's article
-Impact on country

Mansfield Amendment
-Effect on US foreign policy
-Impact on negotiations
-Vietnam
-Prisoners of War [POW]
-Ceasefire
8

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Administration fortitude
-F. Edward Hebert
-Rationale
-Clark MacGregor
-President's foreign policy efforts
-Vietnam
-Drop in casualties
-Laos Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
-Cambodia
-Public perception

Public relations
-Support for the President
-Compared to Johnson
-President's standing in polls
-Trends
-Johnson
-Reaction to President in person
-Effect of wedding
-Barbara Walters’ comments
-Comparison with coronation
-Tricia Nixon Cox pictures
-Audience ratings
-Network draws
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-National Broadcasting Company [NBC]
-War in Vietnam
-Impact
-Economy
-President's contact with retailers
-Harry B. Cunningham, Chairman, S.S. Kresge Co.
-Gordon M. Metcalf, Chairman, Sears Roebuck and Co.
-Edward W. Carter
-Inflation
-Unemployment
-Teamsters Union
-President’s call to Frank S. Fitzsimmons
-George T. Bell
-Voting power
-George Meany's tactics
-Political power
-Prior support for President
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Helen Gahagan Douglas
-Political courtship
-President's contact with Fitzsimmons
-Upcoming report
-Fitzsimmons’s demeanor
-American Medical Association [AMA]
-Support for President
-Drug request Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
-Political power


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 10s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


-Politics compared with profession
-Socialized medicine

Mansfield Amendment
-Attack on supporters
-Republicans
-Charles H. Percy
-Past record
-Marlow W. Cook
-Ted F. Stevens
-Effect on negotiations
-Ziegler's comment
-Conversation with Mansfield
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Views of Republicans
-President's strength
-Polls
-Upcoming \"breaks\" for administration
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



Economy
-Positive talk on economy
-Public perception
-Arthur F. Burns
-Construction industry statistics
-Industrial production
-Retail sales
-Burns Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
-McCracken
-Connally
-Shultz
-Present condition
-Compared to Great Depression
-Pressure of money supply
-Level of employment
-Vietnam veterans
-Effect on figures
-Airframe workers
-Areas affected
-Southern California
-Pacific northwest
-Wichita, Kansas
-Future growth areas
-Seattle, Washington
-Southern California
-Florida
-Rationale
-Retirement
-Arizona and Nevada
-Skill level
-Southern California
-Crowding
-Compared to New York
-President’s recollections
-Nassau
-Westchester
-New Jersey suburbs
-Empty land
-Types
-Population
-Confidence in economy
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Related to world affairs


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 5m 8s ] Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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


Domestic affairs
-Charles B. Kuralt
-Nicholas P. Thimmesch column
-Popular opinion
-Melville Stephens
-Perception of the people
-Atlantic City trip
-Problems in US
-Media contributions
-State of the Nation
-Vietnam
-Urban unrest
-Police support
-Black policeman
-President’s supporters
-President's schedule
-Play to particular groups
-Focus on supporters
-Youth


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 9s ]
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)




END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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

Mansfield Amendment
-Rationale for votes
-Effect on negotiations Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)

Pentagon Papers
-Furor
-Focus on John Kennedy and Johnson period
-Focus on theft of papers
-Rationale
-Publication
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
-Poll findings
-Method of removal of papers
-Involvement of peace group
-Infiltration
-Richard H. Ichord
-Congressional action
-House Committee on Un-American activities
-John L. McClellan
-Phillip M. Crane
-Jack F. Kemp
-Treason charge

Colson left at 12:41 pm.

Citizens Committee
-Use of money for supporting revenue sharing
-Request of citizens committee for money
-Connection to campaign

Schedule
-Postal celebration ceremony
-Schools of thought
-Winton M. (“Red”) Blount dinner
-Robert H. Finch
-Focus on administration accomplishments
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Ray Grace
-Focus on a few issues
-Drugs
-Ehrlichman
-Postal celebration
-Blount plans

Ambassadorships Conv. No. 528-1 (cont.)
-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
-Ambassador to Brussels
-Former Ambassador to Ireland [Winston] Guest
-Raymond R. Guest
-Campaign contributions
-John Eisenhower
-Wife
-Herbert W. Kalmbach
-Political office
-Related to campaign contributions
-Amount
-Fred J. Russell
-Length of Ambassadorships
-Charles H. Bluhdorn contribution
-Sugar quotas

Haldeman left at 12:45 pm.
Secret White House Tapes |

528–1

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