534–5

Conversation No. 534-5

Date: July 1, 1971
Time: 10:27 am - 11:49 am
Location: Oval Office
 15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



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

The President's schedule
-ACTION event
-Issues
-Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Ongoing meeting Conv. No. 534-3 (cont.)

Charles W. Colson entered at 10:28 am

-Ehrlichman's meeting

The President's schedule
-The President's Kansas City appearance July 6, 1971
-Nature of statement
-Pentagon Papers case
-Recommendations
-John A. Scali, Richard A. Moore, Ronald L. Ziegler
-Effect of locale
-Prime time television coverage
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Forum, timing
-Ehrlichman
-Draft of statement about the Pentagon Papers
-Issue of repression of the press
-John N. Mitchell
-Patrick J. Buchanan

The Pentagon Papers case
-Coordination of investigation
-Officer in charge [OIC] of handling case
-Haldeman’s conversation with Ehrlichman
-Congress
-John J. Sparkman
-James D. McKevitt
-John H. Rousselot
-White House staff
-Need for full-time handling
-Tom C. Huston
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Colson
-Moore, Ehrlichman
-Legal handling
-Mitchell
-Ellsberg
-Leaks to press
-Court case
-Colson Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Facts
-The Hiss case
-Six Crises
-Nixon’s role
-Harry S. Truman
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Comparison
-Press
-Colson
-White House staff oversight
-Brookings Institute break-in
-Melvin R. Laird
-Investigation of past administrations
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-Bay of Pigs
-World War II
-Korean War
-Embarrassing documents
-Rousselot
-Need full-time assistance
-Initiative
-Ehrlichman
-Other duties
-Colson
-Congressional support
-Rousselot
-McKevitt
-Philip M. Crane
-John M. Ashbrook
-Robert J. Dole
-William E. Brock, III
-Press coverage
-Colson’s views
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-John F. Kennedy
-Death of Ngo Dinh Diem
-Kennedy
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Need for coordinator
-Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman
-Richard V. Allen
-Huston Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Knowledge
-Problems with Department of Defense
-Work with Allen
-White House Support
-Huston and Allen
-Need for coordinator
-Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman
-Richard V. Allen
-Need for trustworthy individual
-Tom C. Huston
-Possibility of Huston and Allen working together
-The President's Kansas City speech
-Haldeman
-Press
-Public perceptions of issue
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-William S. White
-Possible statement after Supreme Court decision
-Dean Rusk's television appearance
-Maxwell Taylor's television appearance
-William B. Macomber, Jr's television appearance
-William P. Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Martin S. Hayden
-Classification
-Telephone call to Macomber
-Flag incident
-Call to Rogers
-Forthcoming testimony
-Rusk, Taylor
-Rogers
-Legal obligations of the government
-Court case
-Supreme Court decision
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Court clerks
-Chief Justice Warren E. Burger's decision
-Newspaper obligations
-Irreparable damage to the nation
-Press attitude
-Damaging effect of stories contrasted with First Amendment rights
-Delay in Prisoners of War [POWs] return as price of publication
-Hayden's comments Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Quote about Stewart J. Alsop from past editorial in New York Times
-Max Frankel's response
-Possible meeting with Ehrlichman
-The President's schedule
-Haldeman, Colson, Ehrlichman

[Haldeman talked with Ehrlichman at an unknown time between 10:28 am and 10:58 am]

[Conversation No. 534-5A]

Meeting in the President's office

[End of telephone conversation]

The Vietnam War
-Television debate between John O'Neill and John F. Kerry on the \"Dick Cavett
Show\"
-Jack F. Kemp
-Buchanan
-Kemp
-Vietnam, fact finding trip
-[Forename unknown] Kramer [NSC], William H. Sullivan [State Department],
[Unintelligible name]
-White House speeches
-Focus of material provided
-Buchanan
-Paul N. (“Pete”) McCloskey, Jr.
-Response by Kemp

Ehrlichman entered at 10:58 am

-James L.Buckley's New York effort with Vietnam veterans
-Cambodia, Vietnam
-Kemp's possible trip to Vietnam
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Charles B. Rangel
-Balance
-Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe's trip to Vietnam
-Drug use among US soldiers in Vietnam
-Kemp, Rangel
-Pentagon Papers
-Declassification response
-Laird Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Mitchell
-Supreme Court decision
-Repression argument
-Damaging effect of publication
-First Amendment rights
-Effect of publication
-Placing lives of US soldiers in jeopardy
-Response to arguments
-Letter to the editor
-Richardson
-Charles M. Cooke, Jr. (?)
-Retention in job
-Cables leaked to press via Ellsberg
-Ellsworth F. Bunker's cables
-Tran Ngoc Chau Case
-Ellsberg's security clearances
-Rand Corporation
-Revocation of clearances
-Brookings Institution
-Documents
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Rand Corporation
-Ehrlichman
-Presidents orders
-Declassification of documents
-Laird
-Supreme Court
-The New York Times
-Laird
-Coordination with Congress

Manolo Sanchez (?) entered at an unknown time after 10:58 am.
 20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



Refreshments

Sanchez (?) left an an unknown time before 11:22 am.

-Declassification
-Documents published
-Withholding of classified information by newspapers
-John W. Dean, III's report Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Mitchell
-Declassification
-January 15 National Security Study Memorandum [NSSM], Declassification
group
-Korea, World War II, Cuban crisis
-Haig
-Kennedy Presidential Library
-Hyde Park (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library)
-Possible meeting with the President
-The President's schedule
-Timing of meeting
-Publicity
-Six Crises
-Chapter on the Hiss case
-The President's speech in Congress
-Harry S. Truman
-Tom Clark
-Alexander Campbell
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Leak of story by Justice Department
-Bert Andrews
-Whitaker Chambers's revelation of the Pumpkin Papers
-Cooke
-Richardson’s view
-Background
-Views on the Vietnam War, ceasefire, and the Chau case
-Ellsberg's status on \"need to know\"
-Classified cables
-Rand Corporation
-Publication of cable information in the Washington Star
-Possible future response
-Declassification review group
-NSSM
-Staff director job
 21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Administration’s response
-Hoover, Laird
-Cooke
-Leak of story
-Richardson
-Kissinger
-Laird
-Instructions Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Draft statement
-Buchanan's work on draft
-Timing
-Perceptions of issue
-Role of Department of Justice
-Moore, Kissinger
-Television show
-Macomber and Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson's appearances
-Max Frankel, Benjamin C. Bradlee
-Timing of possible statement by the President
-Buchanan video
-Presidential statement
-Content
-Lyndon K. (\"Mort\") Allin, Buchanan
-Work
-Rogers
-Forthcoming testimony
-View
-Issue of press repression
-Conduct of the war
-Dean Rusk, Lyndon B. Johnson
-Need for Congressional statements
-Dole, Gordon L. Allott, Paul J. Fannin
-Statements

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 11:22 am

Anatoliy Dobrynin
-Death of Soviet cosmonauts
-The President’s message
-Telephone call
-The President's schedule

Vietnam War
 22

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Rogers' statement
-Negotiations
-Nguyen Van Thieu's government
-Tone of comments
-Congress
-South Vietnamese government

Kissinger left at 11:24 am Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)

Pentagon Papers case
-Coordination of effort
-Recommendations on presidential statement
-Buchanan, Rogers, Mitchell, Laird, Moore, Scali
-Timing, forum
-The President's Kansas City appearance
-The President’s San Clemente appearance
-Press conference

Ehrlichman's schedule
-Senators
-California Rural Legal Assistance [CRLA]
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Frank C. Carlucci

Pentagon Papers Case
-Declassification job
-Carlucci
-Compare to Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Meeting to be scheduled with Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Colson, Buchanan, and Moore
-Rogers's view
-Buchanan's participation
-Memorandum
-Administration’s position
-Buchanan
-Perceptions in the press of no White House comment
-Rogers' role
-Former Attorney General
-Buchanan
-Macomber
-Written version of television comments
-Scali's role
-Administration position
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Wording of possible speech by the President
-Effect
-Alternatives
-Perception of covering leak
-Revelation of Kennedy-Diem information
-Vietnam war
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Rusk, Taylor Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Rogers as spokesperson
-Charles Mc.C Mathias, Jr.
-National Security Council [NSC] documents
-Laird

Ehrlichman left at an unknown time before 11:49 am

-Buchanan
-Views on momentum and speaking out
-Perception of Democrats in government
-McGeorge Bundy
-Howard K. Smith
-Representatives of the “establishment”
-Hiss case analogy
-The “establishment”
-The President's role
-Joseph McCarthy
-Administration’s position
-Need to uphold the law
-Ziegler
-Rogers
-Dean Rusk
-Forthcoming appearance
-Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.
-President’s view
-Sincerity, decency
-[Name unintelligible]
-Possession of documents
-Hubert H. Humphrey's statement
-Support of release
-Johnson administration's credibility
-Memorandums
-Comparison to Arthur F. Burns
-White
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Era of permissiveness
-Possible speech by Buchanan
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

Unemployment statistics
-Scali
-Adjustments
-Left-wing columnists Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)
-Wall Street
-Stock market trends
-John B. Connally

Pentagon Papers
-Need for White House coordinator
-Ehrlichman
-Importance
-Colson
-Huston
-The Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], the Central Intelligence Agency
[CIA] investigation
-Defense intelligence
-Laird
-Huston
-Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA]
-Colson
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman
-Strategy
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Outside candidate
-Friend of James L. Buckley
-CIA
-Authorship of books
-Conspiracy orientation
-Huston
-Reaction to orders not supported by him
-Allen
-Vernon A. Walters
-Attitude
-Mitchell's attitude
-The President's expertise
-Hunt
-Declassification effort
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Separation from conspiracy investigation
-Rousselot

An unknown person [Stephen B. Bull?] entered at an unknown time after 11:24 am.

President’s schedule

The unknown person [Bull?] left at an unknown time before 11:49 am. Conv. No. 534-5 (cont.)

Eighteen year-old vote
-Vietnam

Haldeman and Colson left at 11:49 am