869–17

Conversation No. 869-17

Date: March 6, 1973
Time: 12:19 pm - 12:46 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

Executive Order [11705]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



-Flags at half-mast
-Funeral of Cleo Noel and George Moore
-President's remarks
-Interment
-Flags at half-mast
-March 7
-Ziegler’s statement

Meeting with leaders
-Budget
-Hugh Scott

President's meeting with domestic counsellors
-Ziegler's presence
-President's approval
-Subjects
-Confidentiality

Press questions
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Watergate
-Gerald L. Warren [?]
-Briefing

President's meeting with John W. Dean III
-Watergate
-Stenographer
-Penny Gleason [?]

John D. Ehrlichman entered and Ziegler left at 12:20 pm.

Meeting with Jerry V. Wilson

President's meeting with Hugh Scott
-President's handling

Ehrlichman’s meeting with Franklyn C. Nofziger [?], Bryce N. Harlow
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



Chief Jerry V. Wilson and Geoffrey C. Shepard entered at 12:21 pm. Members of the press and
the White House photographer were present at the beginning of the meeting.

Press photograph

Announcement

Press photograph

Inaugural photographs
-1969, 1973

Wilson
-President’s reappointment
-Job performance as police chief
-Washington, DC
-Difficulties of Wilson's job
-Blacks
-Problems

[Photograph session]

-DC police department
-Morale

Weather
-Snow
-Cherry blossoms

[A transcript of the following portion of the conversation appears in PPP, 1973, p. 168]

[End of transcribed portion]

Wilson's work
-Success
-Crime in DC

Law enforcement
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



-Louis P. Harris poll
-Disapproval
-Administration's position on crime
-Need for publicity
-Wilson’s work
-Hard-line stance
-Judicial appointments

Marijuana
-Legalization
-Support from leading DC citizens
-President's opinion about marihuana compared with its legalization
-Law enforcement speech
-Ehrlichman


President's presence at State Department for memorial service
-Support for capital punishment
-President's speech
-Supreme Court
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Statement

Sudanese Ambassador [Abdel Aziz al-Nazri Hamza]
-Safety
-Terrorism
-Sudan’s prosecution of suspects in case of US diplomats
-Executive Protection Service [EPS]

President’s hard-line on crime
-Capital punishment
-Marijuana
-Show of compassion
-Chief of police
-Mandatory sentences for drug pushers
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Congress
-Judges
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



-Drug treatment options
-Methadone

President's law enforcement speech
-Public reception
-Content
-Statistics, budget
-Hard-line issues
-Mandatory sentences
-Justice Department
-William T. Cahill
-New Jersey
-Rockefeller's support
-Public support
-Congress
-Wilson's opinion

Sentencing
-Judges
-DC jurisdiction
-Department of Corrections
-Judges
-Alternatives to incarceration
-President’s request for a study
-Half-way houses
-President’s support for prisons
-Wilson’s opinion
-Method of administration

President’s law enforcement speech
-Judges, parole officers
-Criminal rehabilitation compared with public safety

Marijuana
-Legalization
-Youth support
-Gateway drug
-Compared with alcohol, tobacco, coffee, Coca-Cola
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



-George W. Romney, Mormons
-Marriot Selles [?]

Crime
-Congress
-Signal to country
-Administration hard-line
-Appointment of William H. Rehnquist
-Need for controversy, discussion
-Political issue
-Rockefeller
-New York
-Drug traffic
-Heroin
-Decline
-Cocaine
-Marijuana
-Heroin, marihuana use, distribution
-Marijuana
-Penalties
-Severity
-Texas
-News story
-Legalization
-Governor Allen Shivers [?]
-Death penalties
-Richard G. Kleindienst’s statement
-Justice Department position
-Second offenses
-Life sentence
-Supreme Court decision
-Congressional legislation
-List of offenses
-Wartime treason, espionage, sabotage, death during commitment of
federal crime
-Supreme Court support
-Kidnapping, hijacking
-Automatic imposition in cases involving death
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



-Penalties
-Administration's policy
-Kleindienst’s statement
-Legislation to Congress
-Timing
-President’s law enforcement speech
-Drug abuse
-Legislation for Congress
-Rockefeller drug laws
-Penalties
-Heroin

President’s meeting at State Department

Wilson's plans
-DC police chief
-Terms of job
-Future position in government
-Wilson's preferences
-Ehrlichman’s role
-Walter E. Washington’s opinion
-Experience
-Desire for change
-Training
-Crowd control
-Travel
-Law Enforcement Assistance Administration [LEAA] program
-Representative of President
-Wilson's record
-Race relations

Wilson's children
-President's autograph
Brian Wilson
-Seven-year-old
-Support for George S McGovern

Wilson
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-2010)
Conversation No. 869-17 (cont’d)



-Golf

Gift
-Ashtray

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 12:21 pm.

Ashtray

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 12:46 pm.

Gifts
-Children
-Wife

Ehrlichman, Wilson and Sheppard left at an unknown time before 12:46 pm.

[Pause]

Wilson, et al. continued the conversation in an adjoining room.

Introductions
-Mistaken identification

Wilson, et al. left at 12:36 pm.