644–14

Conversation No. 644-14

Date: January 10, 1972
Time: 12:35 pm - 1:24 pm
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-12 (cont.)


Location: Oval Office

The President met with [David] Kenneth Rush and Col. Richard T. Kennedy; the White House
photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

Rush’s health

Rush's living arrangements
-Davenport
-Piper Key
-Beaches

Key Biscayne
-Compared to San Clemente
-Weather
-Views
-Houses

Rush's possible appointment as Deputy Secretary of Defense
-John N. Mitchell
-Discussion with Rush
-Rush’s schedule
-Return to Bonn
-Forthcoming meeting with Melvin R. Laird
-Recent telephone conversation in New York
-Financial aspects of Rush's holdings
-Job candidates
-Laird’s view
-Compared to the President’s
-Rush's experience
-Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions [MBFR], Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Business
-Lair’s schedule
-Vacation
-West Germany

Frank E. Cash, Jr.
-Assistant to Rush
-Present position
-Russell Fessenden
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)



Nominations for ambassador to replace Rush
-Rush's recommendations
-Meeting with Peter M. Flanigan
-Recommendations
-Unknown Texan
-West Germany
-Ambassadorial candidates
-Age
-Gen. Lucius DuB. Clay, Jr., John J. McCloy
-MBFR, European Security Conference

Free Democratic Party [FDP]
-Walter Scheel
-Poll results
-Relationship with Rush
-Size
-Importance

Poll results
-Scheel
-Compared to Dr. Rainer Barzel

Barzel
-Head of Christian Democratic Union [CDU] party in Bundestag

Forthcoming West German elections
-September 1973
-Moscow agreements
-Ratification
-CDU’s possible position
-Gerhard Schroeder, Franz Josef Strauss
-Bundestag
-FDP
-Willy Brandt
-Effect of failure on foreign policy and relations
-Berlin agreement, European Security Conference, détente, Soviet-
West German relations
-Brandt
-Possible election
-Economic situation
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)


-Timing
-Timing

The President's meetings with Brandt in Key Biscayne, December 1971
-The President’s impression

US-West German relations
-Status
-Rush’s view
-Britain, France
-West German security
-Brandt
-Troop levels
-Socialists
-Kissinger
-Neutrality
-MBFR
-European security conference
-Brandt’s talks with Leonid Brezhnev in 1971
-Purpose

Brandt
-Stance on detente
-US initial attitude
-Relations with the US vis-à-vis the Soviets
-Attitudes toward détente
-Soviet allies
-Attitude toward East Germany, East Berlin
-Konrad Adenauer
-France
-Motivations and goals
-[Ostpolitik]
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Vietnam
-Impact on German attitudes

Barzel
-Christian Social Union [CSU]
-Strauss
-Attitude toward Moscow Agreements Brandt’s Ostpolitik
-Relationship with CDU
 29

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)


-Bavaria
-Moderation on foreign policy
-Moscow agreements
-Ratification
-Party unity
-Analogy to [James] Harold Wilson
-Labor Party
-Common Market
-Economic and internal issues
-Possible effect on Brandt
-Political position of CDU
-Western allies
-Anti-Soviet posture, economic
-Brandt
-Berlin Agreement, European Security Conference
-Forthcoming trip to the US
-Electoral prospects
-Compared to Edward R.G. Heath
-West German economy

Schedule

Kennedy left at 12:58 pm.

Laird
-Forthcoming talk with Rush
-Rush’s talk with the President
-Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary
-Teamwork
-Rush
-Experience
-Government, MBFR, SALT
-Business
-Bureaucracy
-Loyalty

Rush
-Possible future responsibilities as Deputy Secretary of Defense
-Examination of Defense Department’s operation and management
-David Packard
-Laird
 30

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)


-Washington Special Actions Group [WSAG]

WSAG
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Laird's attitude
-Mission
-Implementation of White House decisions
-Bureaucracy
-Members
-Deputy, Undersecretary of State, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS],
Director of Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], Kissinger
-Rush's role
-Kissinger

Rush
-Talk with John N. Mitchell
-Role of Mitchell
-National Security Council [NSC] meetings
-Kissinger
-Necessary relationship with Laird
-Kissinger
-Possible relationship with John B. Connally
-Purchase of planes by Latin America countries, West Germany
-Northrup
-State Department
-Management problems
-Treasury Department
-Financial problems
-State Department
-John N. Irwin, II, U. Alexis Johnson
-Support from Laird
-Management role
-Independence
-Charlie McCarthy
-WSAG
-Israel
-Kissinger
-Mitchell
-State Department
-Arabs
-Mediator role
 31

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)


-India-Pakistan crisis
-Relationship with JCS
-Support
-Interest of job
-Compared to Secretary of State, Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of
Treasury
-Fund management

Kissinger

Talk with Mitchell
-Advice
-WSAG
-Kissinger, Laird, Rogers

Rush's schedule

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 12:58 pm and
1:11 pm.]

[Conversation No. 644-14A]

[See Conversation No. 18-30]

[End of telephone conversation]

Rush's schedule
-Meeting with Flanigan

Election year
-Scrutiny of Administration

Kissinger

Bull entered at an unknown time after 12:58 pm.

The President's call to Flanigan

Bull left at an unknown time before 1:11 pm.

[The President talked with Flanigan between 1:11 pm and 1:12 pm.]
 32

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)



[Conversation No. 644-14B]

[See Conversation No. 18-31]

[End of telephone conversation]

The President's image
-Europe
-Momentum
-1972 election
-Europe
-In business community
-Europe
-Max Frankel's conversation with Rush
-New York Times and Washington Post
-The President compared with Franklin D. Roosevelt
-American public
-World
-Kissinger
-Rush’s conversation with David Binder of the New York Times
-Roosevelt and Nixon
-The President’s foreign policy record

Jack N. Anderson Papers
-India-Pakistan War
-Kissinger

US policy on India-Pakistan relations
-Public interest
-US-India relations
-West Pakistan
-Soviet Union
-Middle East
-Criticism
-Mutuality
-The People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Alternatives
-Vietnam
-The President’s forthcoming PRC trip
-Soviet Union
 33

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)


-Soviet Union
-Middle East
-Balance of power
-Soviet pilots in United Arab Republic [UAR] planes
-Possible effect on Israel
-US reactions
-Sixth fleet
-US efforts
-United Nations [UN] resolution
-Soviet Union
-Refugee aid
-Preservation of stability
-Status of India
-West Bengel
-California
-East Pakistan
-Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
-Communists in West Bengal

India
-Rush’s knowledge
-Union-Carbide


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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National Security]
[Duration: 35s ]


INDIA


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


-War aims
-Pakistan
 34

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Conv. No. 644-14 (cont.)


-PRC
-Kashmir

Vietnam War
-North Vietnam
-Laos, Cambodia, South Vietnam
-1954 Geneva Accords

US policy on India-Pakistan relations
-The President’s position
-Support for India
-Newspapers
-Stories
-Comment
-Presidential advisors
-Sources
-General public
-Attitude towards India-Pakistan relations
-Comparison to Pentagon Papers, Vietnam
-Opposition to the President's policy

Rush's meeting with Mitchell
-Laird’s talk with Mitchell
-Laird’s recommendations
-Work with Laird, State Department

Rush left at 1:24 pm.