543–6

Conversation No. 543-6

Date: July 22, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:35 pm and 6:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with an unknown man.

[Conversation No. 543-6A]

H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

[End of conversation]

Haldeman entered at 5:36 pm.

The President's schedule
-The President's meeting with Melvin R. Laird
-Forthcoming visit to the People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Public reaction
-Motorcade and communications considerations
-Radio communication

Laird and Henry A. Kissinger entered at 5:36 pm.

[The President talked with the White House operator at 5:36 pm]

[Conversation No. 543-6B]

[Telephone call not completed]

[End of telephone conversation]

Gloria Steinem
-Contact with Kissinger, the President
-Dinner with Laird
-Merv Griffin
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-New Yorker
-Contacts during campaign in 1968
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.

Foreign relations
-US-Japan
-Laird's trip to Japan
-Changes in Cabinet
-Former Defense Agency Chief
-Yasuhiro Nakasone
-New Defense Agency Chief
-Eisaku Sato
-Review of Japanese defense forces
-Seventh and Eleventh Divisions
-Troops
-Equipment
-Compared to Germany and the US


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 9s ]


JAPAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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-Military equipment
-US sales to Japan
-Budget
-Size of Japanese Defense Forces
-Modernization
-Japanese Air Force
-F-4 Phantoms
-US policy towards Japan
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-National Security Decision Memorandum [NSDM]
-Economic Assistance Fund
-Vietnam
-Cambodia
-Japan’s role in Asia

******************************************************************************
Conv. No. 543-6 (cont.)
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National Security]
[Duration: 56s ]


CHINA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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-Laird’s trip to Japan
-Laird’s conversations with Japanese officials
-The Nixon Doctrine
-PRC
-Announcement of the PRC initiative
-Taiwan
-Spiro T. Agnew, John B. Connally, Donald H. Rumsfeld


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[National Security]
[Duration: 3m 44s ]


MILITARY


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
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-Laird’s conversation with Sato
-The President’s July 6, 1971 Kansas City speech
-PRC
-Rochester, New York, Alabama
-Laird’s meeting with Japanese Ambassador (Nobuhiko
Conv.Ushiba)
No. 543-6 (cont.)
-William P. Rogers
-Sato
-Diet
-First visit by a Secretary of Defense
-Okinawa

An unknown man (Manolo Sanchez?) entered at an unknown time after 5:36 pm.

Refreshments

The unknown man (Sanchez?) left at an unknown time before 6:20 pm.

-US Embassy in Japan
-Staff
-Armin H. Meyer
-Compared to US Embassy in the Republic of Korea [ROK]
-Staff
-William J. Porter
-Military attaché
-Porter
-US-ROK relations
-Laird’s trip to ROK
-Modernization


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security]
[Duration: 4m 47s ]


KOREA
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(rev. 10/08)




END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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-Visits with ROK troops
-Visits with US troops Conv. No. 543-6 (cont.)
-Drug abuse
-Japan
-Sexual activity
-”Trial marriages”
-Kissinger’s opinion
-Contraception, abortion
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-People’s Democratic Republic of Korea [PDRK]
-Proximity of PDRK Air Force to Seoul
-Laird’s 1955 visit to ROK


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 40s ]


KOREA, UNITED NATIONS [UN]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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US military
-Morale
-ROK
-Japan
-Drug abuse
-Laird’s conversation with Jerome H. Jaffe
-Hawaii
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Tape Subject Log
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-Perceptions from news reports
-Walter Cronkite
-Troops in South Vietnam
-Heroin
-Marijuana
-Public perception

South Vietnam Conv. No. 543-6 (cont.)
-Military supplies
-Future conditions
-US troop withdrawal
-Congressional funding
-Effect on negotiations
-Possible settlement
-Effect

David Packard
-The President's conversations during Laird's absence
-Trip to California
-Bohemian Grove
-Conversation with Kissinger
-Departure from office

The Vietnam War
-US forces
-Fire Base Mary Ann
-Kissinger’s knowledge
-Command problems
-Casualties
-Investigation
-The Geneva Convention violation
-Burning of North Vietnamese bodies
-Compared to Guadalcanal
-United State Marine Corps [USMC]
-Japanese Casualties
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Possible US action
-Troop strength
-Potential casualties
-South Vietnam
-Casualties
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Tape Subject Log
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-Timing
-PRC trip
-B-52 bombing sorties
-Laos
-Military situation
-Press coverage
-Cambodia
-Plain of Jars Conv. No. 543-6 (cont.)
-Meo tribesmen
-Souvanna Phouma
-North Vietnam
-Cambodia
-Situation
-Conroys
-Pnhom Penh
-Lon Nol
-Compared with perception given by network television coverage
-North Vietnam
-Military situation
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Effect of US bombing sorties

Congress
-Laird's testimony
-John C. Stennis
-Stance
-Laos
-Negotiations
-Anti-ballistic missiles [ABM]
-Weapons tests
-Military manpower
-Troop strength in South Vietnam
-Selective Service
-PRC initiative
-Congressional support for the President
-Armed Services committees
-Laird's testimonies
-Effectiveness
-Department of the Army
-Budget
-Morale
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Privacy]
[Duration: 37s ]
Conv. No. 543-6 (cont.)

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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


Spiro T. Agnew
-Laird’s Congressional testimony
-Blacks
-Effect of comments on voters
-Perceptions

Laird left at an unknown time before 6:20 pm.

Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Forthcoming meeting
-President’s schedule
-Support for the administration's policies
-Compared to John V. Lindsay
-Kissinger’s advice

Vietnam War settlement
-Forthcoming negotiations in Paris
-Possibility of cancellation
-Record of secret negotiations
-Options for US action

Rockefeller
-Support for the President
-The President's leadership
-Rockefeller's New York contacts
-Effectiveness of comments
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The PRC initiative
-Letters to Kissinger
-Harvard professor

Kissinger left at 6:20 pm.


Conv. No. 543-6 (cont.)