831–3

Conversation No. 831-3

Date: January 3, 1973
Time: 9:49 am - 10:50 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

Weather in Florida
-Palm Springs, Florida

Press conference
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-Democratic Caucus
-Vietnam negotiations
-Congressional lines of attack
-Administration response
-Past votes on resolution
-The President’s policy
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Bombing
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Three conditions
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Cease-fire
-Free elections
-Peace with honor
-Moscow Summit
-1972 campaign
-George S. McGovern’s policy
-Vietnam War
-Progress
-Ground combat
-Draftees
-Serious negotiations
-Paris
-Settlement
-“Peace with honor”
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Questions
-Nuclear weapons
-Bombing
-No comment
-Ziegler’s conversation with Kissinger
-US response
-Press perception of US policy
-May 8, 1972 decision
-October negotiations
-North Vietnamese tactics
-US response
-Settlement
-Bombing
-Purpose
 -4-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-May 8, 1972 decision
-Limitation of force
-Serious negotiations
-POWs
-Cease-fire
-Negotiations
-Delaying tactics
-Congressional relations
-Interference
-Sensitive period
-Responsibility

Kissinger entered at 9:57 am.

-POWs
-Delicacy of issue
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Exchange
-Release of political prisoners
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Congressional relations
-Democrats
-Number opposing resolution
-Consultations
-Vietnam negotiations
-Possibility of breakdown
-Public statements
-Role of Congress
-The President’s consultations with Congressional leaders
-Michael J. Mike Mansfield
-Carl B. Albert
-Speculation
-Congressional relations
-Charles W. Colson
-Kissinger’s telephone calls
-J. William Fulbright
-F. Edward Hebert
-John C. Stennis
-Gerald R. Ford
-Bombing
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-Handling of North Vietnam
-Intent of press
-Administration’s indecisiveness
-Purpose
-Intent of the press
-The President as erratic
-Result
-Carl B. Albert
-Support for the President on bombing
-Bombing cities
-Nuclear weapons
-Vietnam negotiations
-Results of bombings
-Col. Richard T. Kennedy
-Amount of destruction
-May 1972 decision
-B-52s
-Haiphong
-Military actions
-No comment
-Intensity of bombing
-Opposition to the President
-Washington, DC
-Cambridge, Massachusetts
-Attitudes
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Letters to Kissinger
-Hatred
-McGovern
-Congress
-White House social events
-Cambodia

Reception for new Congress members
-Exclusions
-Washington Post, Washington Star
-Journalists from states with new Congress members
-Dewey F. Bartlett
-Oklahoma
-Atlanta Constitution
 -6-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-South
-Women
-Wire services
-Columbus Dispatch
-George Embry
-Jerald F. (“Jerry”) terHorst

North Vietnamese statement
-Tone
-Le Duc Tho
-Paris negotiations
-Length of meetings
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Acrobats

Press conference
-Congressional relations
-Consultation with leaders
-1972 State of the Union speech
-Cooperation
-Ford, Hugh Scott
-Bipartisan meetings
-Issues
-Mansfield
-Albert
-Telephone calls
-Truman memorial service
-Reasons
-Funeral in Independence, Missouri
-The President's attendance
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Wishes of family
-Private service
-Public service
-The President’s meetings with heads of state
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs's memorial service

Johnson
-Health
-Criticism of the President
 -7-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-Reasons for leaving office
-Behavior

White House staff
-Worries about criticism
-Confidence in policy

Congressional critics
-Confusion
-Fulbright
-Response to October agreement

Press conference
-The President's schedule
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Camp David
-Timing
-Meeting with William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, Adm. Thomas H.
Moorer, Richard M. Helms
-Congress
-Responses to bombing
-1972 election victory
-Public opinion
-California
-Washington Post
-Albert
-McGovern
-Congressional relations
-The President's meeting with Kissinger

Ronald L. Ziegler left at 10:28 am.

Kissinger's world report
-Vietnam
-Regular correspondence with foreign leaders
-Australia
-Mobutu Sese Seko
-Emperor of Ethiopia [Haile Selassie]
-Shah of Iran [Mohammed Reza Pahlavi]
-Edward R.G. Heath
 -8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Willy Brandt
-Shah of Iran
-Eisaku Sato
-Kakeui Tanaka
-Pierre E. Trudeau
-Emilio Garrastazu Medici
-Reasons for correspondence
-Pope Paul VI [Giovanni Battista Motini]
-Irresponsible statements
-Poland
-Vietnam
-Catholics
-Killings
-Notes

The President’s schedule
-[Names unintelligible]
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin

Vietnam negotiations
-The President’s meeting with Dobrynin
-Soviet Union’s interests in success
-Congressional relations
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-South Vietnamese Congress members
-Cable to Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Thieu
-Backfire
-Aid cut off
-Kissinger’s meeting with South Vietnamese Ambassador
-Economic measures for South Vietnam
-Thieu’s thinking
-Aid cut off
-Congressional vote
-Mansfield
-South Vietnamese lobbying
-Congressional resentment
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
 -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-Thieu’s thinking
-Paris conference
-The President’s domination
-Accomplishments
-North Vietnam
-Capacity to wage aggressive war
-Reduction
-Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Fear and respect
-The President’s enemies
-Exposure
-Press, intellectuals, Congress
-1972 election results
-Access to White House
-1960 election
-John F. Kennedy
-Results
-The President’s exclusion from White House
-Bay of Pigs
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-John W. Gardner
-Dean Francis B. Sayre
-Nastiness of attacks
-Lack of patriotism
-Hatred

Vietnam negotiations
-The President’s October 1972 letter to Kissinger
-The President’s political interests
-The President’s meeting with Kissinger
-Preparations
-Dobrynin
-Options
-Kissinger’s trip to Paris
-Preparations
-Consultations between Kissinger and the President
-Negotiator compared to lawyer
-Final meetings
-Goals
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
 -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Oct.-08)

Conversation No. 831-3 (cont’d)

-International voting commission
-Civilians in South Vietnam
-Depiction of the President’s role
-Thieu
-1972 election
-Announcement
-Purpose
-Relations with ally
-Bombing halt
-The President’s support
-Kissinger’s support for negotiations
-The President’s decision to bomb
-Breakdown
-Le Duc Tho
-October 1972 agreement
-Press relations

The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Timing
-Trip to New York

Instructions to make calls
-Rogers
-Laird
-Meeting with the President
-Photographs
-Location

Kissinger left at 10:50 am.