Secret White House Tapes

702–7

About this recording

702–7
  • Henry A. Kissinger
  • Alexander P. Butterfield
  • John N. Mitchell
  • H. R. Haldeman
  • Manolo Sanchez
  • Charles Lucet
  • White House photographer
April 4, 1972
Conversation No. 702-7

Date: April 4, 1972
Time: 3:45 pm - 5:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.


Vietnam
-Air srikes
-Marine panes
-Maneuvers
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Quality
-Close air support
-Air Force
-Accuracy
-Ceiling
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Troop withdrawals
-Impact
-Figures
9

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Public relations
-Cuts
-US measures
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Haiphong
-Support for blockade
-Weather
-Clearance
-US measures
-Haig
-Proposals
-White House
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Personnel bombs
-Air strikes
-Targets
-South Vietnamese strategy
-News summary
-Quang Tri
-Retreat
-Value
-Russians, Germans, French
-[Napoleon, King of France]Napoleon [Bonaparte]
-Strategy
-Battle of the nations
-Cavalry
-Defeat of allies
-Austrians, Prussians, English
-Waterloo
-Mistakes
-Football
-Value
-Counterattacks
-B3 Area
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Eighteenth parallel
-William P. Rogers
-Press conference
-State Department
-South Vietnam
-Control of population
-Amount
-Public opinion
10

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Rockefeller's opinion
-Support for the President
-North Vietnamese offensive
-Stakes for US
-Conduct of foreign policy
-Edmund S. Muskie's and George S. Mcgovern's charges
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Consequences of defeat
-Countermeasures
-Initiative from White House
-Pentagon
-Inaction
-Tet offensive
-Surface to Air Missiles [SAMs]
-Sorties
-Air strikes
-South Vietnam
-Government
-Problem areas
-Joseph Alsop's comments about North Vietnamese Army
-Countermeasures
-Soviets
-Haiphong
-Bombing
-Extent
-Docks
-Ships
-Mining
-Problems
-Types
-Bombing
-Eighteenth parallel
-Bombing in the North
-Soviets
-Reconnaissance
-Haiphong
-Bombing
-North Vietnamese offensive
-DMZ
-Crossing violation
-US response
-Bombing in the North
-Intensity
11

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Haiphong
-Docks
-Domestic Reaction
-People's Republic of China [PRC] and Soviet Union Reactions
-Ships in harbor
-Preparation for assault
-State Department
-US measures
-Spokesmen for the President
-Melvin R. Laird
-Rogers
-Announcements
-Bangladesh
-Rogers
-Retention in office
-Timing

1972 campaign
-Rogers
-Role
-Laird
-Speeches

Vietnam
-Rogers
-Moscow summit
-Trip to Europe
-News reports
-Moscow summit
-Poland
-North Vietnamese offensive
-US responses
-PRC and Soviet Union Reactions
-Meeting in Paris
-US refusal

US foreign policy
-Kissinger's theoretical memoirs
-Major decisions
-Cambodia invasion
-Nuclear war
-April 1972 offensive
-Relation to election
12

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-North Vietnam
-Chou En-Lai's advice

Vietnam
-North Vietnamese offensive
-B-52 strikes
-DMZ
-Orders
-Preparations
-SAMs
-Targets
-Vinh
-Opportunities
-Significance
-US bombing
-Justification
-North Vietnamese mistakes
-Kontum
-DMZ
-North Vietnamese intentions
-Alsop's analysis
-John Vann
-North Vietnamese demoralization

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 17s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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


The President's National Catholic Educational Association [NCEA] speech
-Quote
-H[erbert] G. Wells
-Educated elite
-Bellicosity

Vietnam
13

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Weather
-Clearance
-Air strikes
-North of the DMZ
-Intensity
-Target areas
-Weather
-Report

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 3:45 pm.

The President's schedule

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 4:13 pm.

Vietnam
-Weather
-Report
-Source
-Abrams
-Conversation with Adm.Thomas H. Moorer
-Caution
-Replacement
-Health
-Air strikes
-Proposals
-Moorer
-Richard M. Helms
-Mining

John N. Mitchell and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 4:13 pm.

Greetings

Kissinger's travels
-Soviet Union
-Mexico

[David] Kenneth Rush

Butterfield entered at 4:13 pm.

John D. Ehrlichman
14

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Delivery of unknown article

Butterfield left at 4:13 pm.

Laird
-Rush
-David Packard

Mitchell's schedule

Kissinger left at 4:13 pm.

-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
-Key Biscayne
-Swimming Pool
-Charles G. (”Bebe”) Rebozo
-White House Staff
-Campaign
-Golf
-Fishing
-Boating
-Dinner


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 16s ]


Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:13 pm.

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:50 pm.


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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


Vietnam
-Weather
15

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Bombing
-Problems
-Air Force
-World War II bombing runs
-Bad weather
-Navy pilots
-Favorable conditions
-Bravery of pilots
-Prisoners of War [POWs]

ITT case
-1972 campaign
-Disposal of case
-Issue in election
-Republican boycott of investigative committees
-Charge of harassment
-Confusion of issue
-Newspaper reporting

Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:13 pm.

-Mitchell

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:50 pm.

-Vance Hartke


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Privacy]
[Duration: 5s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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


-Media representation
-Conflicts with other Democrats
-Susan Lichtman
16

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Press conference
-Location
-Law office
-Link to Democrats
-News reports
-Harold S. Geneen
17

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)




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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5m 35s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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


-ITT case
-Admission of guilt


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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5m 14s ]


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9

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


-San Diego
-ITT contribution
-Amount
-Herman [first name or surname unknown]
18

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)




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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 19m 19s ]


Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:13 pm.

Bull left at an unknown time before 4:50 pm.


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10

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


Charles Lucet and Kissinger entered at 4:50 pm. The White House photographer was present at
the beginning of the meeting.

Greetings

Ambassadors
-Lucet's departure

Mitchell and Haldeman left at 4:50 pm.

Photographs
-Arrangements

Ambassadors
-Lucet
-Stay in US
-New post
-Italy
-Importance
-Number of political parties

Italy
-Proliferation of parties
-The President's 1969 trip
-Compared with France
19

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Constitution
-Gen. Charles A. J. M. DeGaulle
-Current political issues
-Need for a strong President
-Manlio Brosio
-Political Parties
-Brosio
-Giuseppe Saragat
-Lucet's new position
-Unknown Italian Prime Minister
-Rome
-Beauty

US-France relations
-Assessment
-Stabilization
-De Gaulle
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Relations with US
-De Gaulle
-Meeting with the President in 1969
-Intended trip to the US
-Funeral
-The President's attendance
-Cathedral
-Impressions
-The President's trip to France

The President’s schedule
-Trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union

Vietnam
-US actions

US foreign policy
-Soviet trip
-Opportunities for negotiations
-Rogers’s trip
-Europe
-Preparations
-Rogers’s trip
-Brussels
20

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)



-Kissinger's trips
-Japan
-Rome
-Visit with Giovanni Battista Motini [Pope Paul VI]
-US and French cooperation

World War I
-Sacrifices
-France
-Germany
-Great Britain
-Issues
-Absence
-Alsace-Lorraine
-Guns Of August
-Mobilization
-Serbia
-Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand
-Initial reactions
-Austrian ultimatums

Ambassadors
-Cooperation between Lucet and Graham Martin
-Italy
-Current situation
-Lack of leadership
-Possible coup

Presidential gifts
-Ash trays
-Presidential seal
-Photographs

The President’s forthcoming trip to the Soviet Union
-Teheran
-Europe
-Rogers's trip
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Invitations to the President


Lucet and Kissinger left at 5:06 pm.
21

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
Secret White House Tapes |

702–7

This recording is currently not available on millercenter.org. To listen to it, please email Mike Greco at mdg4u@virginia.edu

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