866–16

Conversation No. 866-16

Date: March 1, 1973
Time: 12:41 pm – 1:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

Press briefing
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 866-16 (cont’d)


-Subjects of discussion from meeting with Golda Meir
-US aid
-Security
-Negotiations

-President's meetings with Hussein Ibn Talal [King of Jordan], Hafez Ismail
-Nature of talks
-Future negotiations

Middle East negotiations
-Settlement prospects
-Israel’s negotiating style
-Egypt

President's press conference
-Scheduling

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 12:44 pm.

Press briefing
-Questions on president's meetings with Ismail and Meir
-Frankness
-US policy
-Talks with various parties
-Nature of settlement
-US talks with parties
-Egypt
-Public channel
-Direct talks
-Timing
-Reporters from Israel

Ziegler left at 12:49 pm.

Meeting with Meir
-Difficulty
-William P. Rogers meeting with Egyptians
-Israel’s knowledge

Egypt
 -34-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 866-16 (cont’d)


-Acceptance of Meir’s proposal
Israel’s withdrawal
-Joseph J. Sisco
-Suez Canal
-Egyptian police, military
-Interim agreement
-Fuzzy language
-General principles
-Sisco proposals
-Procedures for talks
-Conversations with Kissinger
-General principles
-Private channel
-Desire for US involvement
-Ismail
-Egypt’s position
-Pressure on Israel

Meeting with Meir
-President’s negotiating style
-Compared with John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
-Airplanes
-Linkage
-Meir’s negotiating
-Kennedy’s foreign policy knowledge
-Johnson’s interest in foreign policy
-Johnson’s crudeness

Emigration of Soviet Jews
-Kissinger talks with Jacob K. Javits and Jackson
-American Jewish community
-Exit permits
-Soviet treatment of Jews
-US foreign policy interest
-Gas chambers
-Humanitarian concern
-War
-Right of emigration
-Indians
-Parsis
 -35-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 866-16 (cont’d)


-Jackson
-Contributions
-Jews
-1976 campaign
-Javits
-Congress
-Anti-Semitism
-Anti-Communists
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]

US-USSR relations
-Most Favored Nation [MFN] status for USSR
-Brezhnev
-Dealings with President
-US advantage
-Vietnam settlement
-Middle East
-Europe
-Berlin settlement
-Soviet gains
-MFN
-Gas deal
-Nuclear treaty

USSR weapons build-up
-Intelligence
-Richardson
-Strategic arms balance
-SALT
-President’s role
-US strategic programs
-Clements, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer,
-Richardson
-SALT
-Negotiations
-Gerald C. Smith
-U. Alexis Johnson
-Military proposals
-Expense
-SS-9, SS-11 missiles
 -36-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 866-16 (cont’d)



******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[NATIONAL SECURITY]
[DURATION: 1M 14S]

MISSILES

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
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US-USSR relations
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Scholars
-Foreign policy expertise
-SALT
-1972 agreement
-Future agreements
-Necessity
-Compared with John F. Kennedy [?], Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert S. McNamara
-Meetings with scholars
-Support for SALT
-Camp David
-Scientists
-Zbigiew Brzezinski
-Marshall Shulman
-NSC group

Prisoners of War [POWs] issue
-Press
-President's policy
-Firmness
-International Conference on Vietnam
-Mines
-Private talks
-Compared to John F. Kennedy
-Public impact of return from Vietnam
-Support for President
-Press reports
 -37-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 866-16 (cont’d)



Arab-Israeli negotiations
-State Department’s role
-Sisco
-Talk with Kissinger and President
-Timing
-Kissinger
-Verification meeting
-US policy
-New approach

Kissinger left at 1:06 pm.