820–16

Conversation No. 820-16

Date: December 12, 1972
Time: 1:30 pm - 1:55 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

The President’s schedule
-Meeting [with Jewell S. Lafontant]
-Timing
-Items for the President’s signature
-Gen. Andrew J. Goodpastor
-Vietnam negotiations
-1973 Inauguration
-December 13, 1972
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Dr. W. Kenneth Riland

The President talked with the White House operator at 1:35 pm.
 -45-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)

[Conversation No. 820-16A]

[See Conversation No. 34-52]

[End of telephone conversation]

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:30 pm.

The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

Bull left at an unknown time before 1:36 pm.

The President’s schedule
-Cabinet dinner
-William E. Timmons
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Church service
-German children’s choir
-German ambassador
-Invitation
-Cabinet dinner
-Haldeman
-List
-The President’s review
-Assistants to the President
-Timmons
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Timmons
-Haldeman
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Invitations
-Flanigan
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Kissinger
-Flanigan
-Timmons
-Butterfield’s conversation with Haldeman
 -46-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)

-Ziegler, Timmons
-Leonard Garment
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Ziegler
-Flanigan
-Timmons

Butterfield left and Haig entered at 1:36 pm.

The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewish, John H. Kauffmann and Michael J.
O’Neill
-Vietnam negotiations

Vietnam negotiations
-Haig’s conversation with Lewis, Kauffmann and O’Neill
-Cabinet Room
-Haig’s conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Report from Hanoi
-Kissinger’s instransigence
-Unresolved issues
-Settlement agreement
-Timing
-End of December 1972
-Kissinger’s view
-Effect on North Vietnam
-Context
-Constraint
-Christmas
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-Breakdown, recess in talks
-Issues
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-Political prisoners
-Kissinger’s assurance
-North Vietnam’s tactics
-US concessions
-US civilians
-December 9, 1972
 -47-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)

-Settlement agreement
-Le Duc Tho
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-The President’s call to Dobrynin
-Pressure
-Haig’s message to Kissinger
-Soviet Union
-Dobrynin
-December 11, 1972 meeting
-Kissinger’s report
-Issues
-Atmosphere
-Communists
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]-Soviet Union relations
-Chou En-Lai statement
-Peking
-Cease-fire
-Timing
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-US
-North Vietnamese in South Vietnam
-Tactics
-Haig’s and Kissinger’s view
-Shanghai Communique
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]
-Compromise
-Relationship with US
-Credibilty
-US public opinion
-Interests
-Unconditional surrender of North Vietnam
-Compared to honorable withdrawal and political victory
-Further conflict
-Thieu’s inability to win on battlefield
-US bombing
-Duration
-Soviet Union, PRC aid to North Vietnam
-Possible meeting with the President
-Timing
 -48-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)

-Midway
-Settlement agreement
-Haig’s and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Status
-Kissinger’s concerns
-Concessions
-October 8, 1972
-The President’s view
-North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s view
-Haig’s conversation with Kissinger
-Timing
-Haig’s trip to Saigon
-DMZ
-North Vietnam’s tactics
-Compromise
-Exploitation
-Breakdown
-December 12, 1972 meetings compared to December 11, 1972 meetings
-Settlement agreement
-December 13, 1972
-Haig’s view
-1973 Inauguration
-Breakdown
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer’s conversation with the President
-Targets
-Communications
-1968
-Power plant
-1968
-Bridges
-Civilian airport
-Civilian casualties
-Military side
-Dam
-Targets
-Docks
-Smart bombs
 -49-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)

-B-52s
-Power plant in Hanoi
-Transshipment point
-Moorer
-B-52s
-Casualties
-Radio Hanoi
-Hanoi
-Rail, maintenance shops
-Casualties
-B-52s
-Airfields
-Number
-Compared to Israel attacks in Egypt
-Soviet Union planes
-Military side of civilian field
-Buffer zone
-PRC
-Settlement agreement
-Haig’s view
-Thieu’s speech to National Assembly
-North Vietnam
-“Hurting” assumption
-US bombing and mining
-Uncertainty about US and the President’s actions
-Military actions
-January 1973
-Commitment to conventional strategy in South
Vietnam
-Breakup of units
-Cease-fire
-Vulnerability
-Thieu’s attacks
-Instructions to cadres
-Cease-fire
-Momentum
-Thieu
-Thieu’s speech to National Assembly
-Fear of political contest
 -50-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)

Conversation No. 820-16 (cont’d)

-Settlement agreement
-Justification
-Force [by US]
-Sympathy of South Vietnam
-Compared to accusations of naiveté
-The President’s view
-The President’s speeches before Congress
-Tone
-Audience
-Record
-Reaction
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu’s possible successors’ view
-Kissinger’s message to Haig
-Timing
-Kissinger’s return to US embassy

Haig left at 1:55 pm.