711–3

Conversation No. 711-3

Date: April 18, 1972
Time: 9:20 am - unknown before 10:02 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with William P. Rogers between 9:20 and 9:23 am.

[Conversation No. 711-3A]

[See Conversation No. 23-14]
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(rev. 7/07)




Henry A. Kissinger entered at 9:22 am.

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Rogers's testimony
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Calls from staff
-Respect for the President
-Press
-Reports on Melvin R. Laird
-Opposition to air strikes
-Story from Saigon
-Air strikes
-Laird’s position
-US policies
-Show of strength
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]

PRC
-Message to the President
-Urgency
-Call to Kissinger
-Actions on air strikes
-Message
-Warning on territorial violation
-Bombing of Haiphong
-Significance
-Hugh Scott and Michael J. Mansfield
-Hainan Island
-Geographic location

Vietnam
-Laird
-Release of story
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Staff
-The President’s call to Laird
-Need for unity

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 9:23 and 9:27
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

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am.

[Conversation No. 711-3B]

[See Conversation No. 23-15]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Laird
-Release of story
-Motives
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Kissinger’s trip
-American public opinion
-Support
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Comparisons to current administration
-Air strikes
-Call to Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-Number of sorties
-Kissinger’s trip to Moscow

The White House operator talked with the President at 9:27 am.

[Conversation No. 711-3C]

[See Conversation No. 23-16]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Battle report
-Military Region One
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] action
-Effectiveness
-North Vietnamese casualties
-Fire base near Hue
-Encirclement
-Protection
-Military Region Two
-B-52 strikes
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Tape Subject Log
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-An Loc
-North Vietnamese movements
-Direction
-ARVN actions
-North Vietnamese movements
-Weaknesses
-B-52 strikes
-Phantoms
-Air strikes
-Weather
-South Vietnamese strikes
-Moorer’s comments
-Need for study of US airpower
-B-25s
-World War II
-Comparisons
-A-1s
-Capabilities
-US air tactics

Israel
-Yitzhak Rabin
-Use of Phantoms
-Altitude

Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Pilots
-Naval action
-Destroyers
-Numbers
-Surface to air missiles [SAMs]
-Destroyers
-US casualties
-Air strikes against North
-Secondary fires
-Haiphong
-Hanoi

Manolo Sanchez [?] entered at an unknown time after 9:27 am.

Refreshment
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

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Sanchez [?] left at an unknown time before 9:49 am.

Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Truck parks
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-Bill
-Aid cut-off
-Timing
-Prisoners of war [POWs] release
-Mansfield
-Amendment
-Battle reports
-Further details
-Soviet note
-Mild nature
-US response
-Soviet ships
-US response
-Indian protests
-US response
-US aid
-Further discussions
-Friendly acts
-Kenneth B. Keating
-Cable
-Possible dialog with India
-Keating
-Respect from Kissinger
-Rogers’s testimony
-Soviet ships
-Charles W. Colson's staff
-Public relations work
-Discussions with Kissinger
-News summaries
-Attack on Edmund S. Muskie
-Muskie's statements
-Kissinger's attendance at Henry Brandon dinner
-Charles D. Hamilton
-Comments regarding the President
-The Sunday Times
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
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-Acquaintance with the President
-Roy H. Thomson
-Date
-Francis D. L. Astor
-The Observer
-Interest in Africa
-Benjamin C. Bradlee
-Washington Post
-Criticism of Democratic candidates
-Comments
-Feelings towards the administration
-Mood
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Discussion with critics
-Defense of Vietnamization
-Arguments
-Potential success
-Bombing
-Diplomatic act
-Laird testimony
-Vietnamization
-Bombing
-Administration intentions
-Kissinger’s upcoming talk with Laird
-Hanoi and Haiphong
-Impact on Soviets
-Critics of Kissinger
-Defensiveness
-Current offensive
-Bradlee's comments
-Duration
-September
-Possible end to hostilities
-Laird
-Testimony
-Line of argument
-Troop withdrawals
-Goals
-Abrams's assessment
-Agreement with the President
-Level in 1969
-Ceiling
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 7/07)



-Rate
-Ceiling levels
-Decline
-Reasons
-The President's schedule
-Trip to Moscow
-Troop reduction
-Trip to Moscow
-Kissinger’s upcoming meeting
-Timing

PRC
-John A. Scali’s concern
-Table tennis team
-Moscow

Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Haiphong
-Kissinger’s Moscow trip
-US intentions
-Kissinger’s previous conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Laird and Abrams
-USSR
-Benefits from war
-Hanoi’s dependence
-Kissinger’s trip
-US position
-Haiphong
-Air strikes
-Pressure on Hanoi
-1972 election
-Summit
-Benefit for US
-US pressure
-Stance toward Hanoi
-US pressure on Moscow and Peking
-Concessions
-Options
-Continuing relations
-Kissinger’s trip
-Results
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
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-Further actions
-Summit
-Advantages
-Conditions
-Attacks on North Vietnam
-Options
-Strikes
-Blockade
-Soviet response
-Timing of US position
-Kissinger’s trip
-Blockade
-Implementation
-Problems
-Soviet summit
-Possible response from Hanoi
-Blockade
-Duration
-USSR
-Public support
-Administration’s demands to USSR
-Possible results
-POWs

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 9:49 am.

PRC
-Table tennis game
-Scheduling
-Team
-Meeting with the President
-Possible photograph opportunity
-The President’s remarks
-US-PRC relations
-Soviets

Butterfield left at 9:51 am.

-Rogers’s attendance at table tennis match, April 17, 1972
-Protesters
-Types
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
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Vietnam
-Bombing
-Protests at University of Wisconsin
-Size
-Television coverage
-Blockade
-US capabilities
-Laird
-Ships to Haiphong
-Interception
-Possible confrontation
-The President’s previous conversation with Moorer
-Mining
-Moorer’s opinion
-Mining over blockade
-Problems
-Soviet minesweepers
-Advantages
-Preparations
-Heavy raids
-Bombing
-Effectiveness
-Laird
-Complaints
-Release of story
-Reaction of Hanoi
-Negotiations
-Le Duc Tho
-Trip to Paris
-Significance
-Possible sign of weakness
-Soviets
-Further actions
-Cautiousness
-Kissinger’s trip
-Dobrynin
-Summit
-Kissinger’s position
-Conditions from the President

The President talked with Laird between 9:55 and 9:56 am.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

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[Conversation No. 711-3D]

[See Conversation No. 23-17]

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Bombing
-Laird’s statement
-Military operations
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s cable
-Abrams’s assurances
-Air strikes
-Gen. John W. Vogt, Jr.
-Morale

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:56 am.

PRC
-Table tennis team
-Arrangements
-A platform
-Press coverage

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:00 am.

Vietnam
-Military operations
-Haig cable
-Thailand
-Encouragement
-Reassurances
-Battlefield situation
-North Vietnamese units
-Saigon area
-Abrams
-North Vietnamese capabilities
-Weaknesses
-Negotiations
-May meeting

Kissinger
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

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-Washington Special Actions Group [WSAG] meeting

Vietnam
-North Vietnamese capabilities

Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:56 am.

-Nikita S. Khruschev memoirs [?]
-Dien Bien Phu
-French

Kissinger left at 10:00 am.

Retention of something

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:02 am.