870–2

Conversation No. 870-2

Date: March 6, 1973
Time: 3:42 pm - 4:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Thomas G. Corcoran.

Greetings

Oval Office

Linda and Claudia A. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson
-Admiration for artist [?]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


Lyndon B. Johnson
-Vietnam settlement
-Lyndon Johnson’s death, January 22, 1973
-Place in history
-Vietnam settlement
-Gratitude by Mrs. Johnson
-The President's call to Lyndon B. Johnson prior to his death

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:42 pm.

Refreshment

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:20 pm.

Corcoran
-President's gratitude for advice
-Last election
-Stakes

John W. McCormack
-Visit with Corcoran to Lyndon B. Johnson Library
-Reception for George S. McGovern
-Oral history transcription
-Inauguration
-Support for foreign policy
-Importance to President
-Unity
-Gratitude to President
-Reception
-Invitation to Golda Meir dinner
-Overnight stay in White House
-Arrangements
-Lincoln Room
-Retirement
-Anonymity

John B. Connally
-Corcoran’s acquaintance
-Idanell Connally
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-University of Texas Law School
-Presidential candidate
-Political alignment in US
-Jim Rose [?]

Corcoran
-Meeting with Connally
-Democrats for Nixon
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Candidacy
-Party identification
-Public support
-First job in Washington, DC
-Herbert C. Hoover, Jesse H. Jones
-Party identification
-Support for President
-Boldness

Walter Bedell Smith
-Party affiliation
-Abilities
-John Foster Dulles
-Service to Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Jerry Persons

Corcoran's White House experience
-Jesse Jones
-Work as corporate lawyer
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Unofficial secretary

[Anna] Eleanor Roosevelt
-President's first encounter during World War II
-South Pacific
-Noumea, New Caledonia

Franklin Roosevelt
-Robert Sherwood's biography
-Charm
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Courage
-Compared to President
-Larry Stewart [?]
-Meeting with Corcoran
-Tyrus R. (“Ty”) Cobb
-Batting record

Corcoran
-Judgment of men
-Judgment of Connally

US foreign and domestic policy
-Economic warfare
-Public opinion
-Korean War
-Japan
-Technology
-Marshall Plan
-Facsimile machine [?]
-Creation of competitors
-Public opinion
-Economic opportunity
-Land, airspace

Connally
-Abilities
-Project
-Assignment by President
-Energy crisis
-Compared with Jesse Jones
-Banking crisis
-Franklin Roosevelt
-Corcoran’s experience in energy sector
-Texaco [?]
-Oil and gas
-Nuclear power
-New role
-Democrats working with Republicans
-Model of Jesse Jones
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Herbert Hoover
-Example for other Democrats
-Income
-Houses, mortgage


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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Connally’s nomination for president
-President’s endorsement
-Problems with party switch
-Democrats
-Dominance by Left-wing
-1972 election
-George C. Wallace
-Rules changes in House of Representatives
-Democratic Study Group
-Richard Bolling
-Albert Cole
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Cloture rules
-Republican nomination
-Southern support
-Political support
-Mountain and plains states
-California, Ohio
-Republican opposition
-Charles H. Percy
-Decision making ability
-Foreign policy
-Compared to Hubert H. Humphrey
-Warmth, heart
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Age
Ronald W. Reagan
-Age
-Age of former presidents and leaders at death
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Franklin Roosevelt
-Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
-Hoover
-Gen. Charles A. J. M. DeGaulle and Konrad Adenauer
-Dwight D. Eisenhower and Winston S. Churchill
-Post-65 years
-Lyndon Johnson [?]
-Stroke
-Connally’s age
-Vigor
-Overexertion
-Courage
-Leadership abilities
-Compared to Rockefeller

Jewish leaders
-Taft Schreiber, [unintelligible name]
-Max Fischer
-Democratic supporters
-Support for President
-Previous support for Humphrey, Henry M. (‘Scoop”) Jackson
-Support for Connally

James Farley
-Talk with Corcoran
-Connally

Connally
-Future in Democratic Party
-1974 election
-Party switch
-Melvin R. Laird
-Talk with Corcoran
-Jesse Jones
-Party switch
-Timing
-Strategy
-Work with administration on special project
-Candidacy for Presidency
 -7-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Problems of early start
-Rockefeller, Reagan, Agnew
-Preparations

Corcoran’s party affiliation

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:42 pm.

Gifts
-Presidential cuff links

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:20 pm.

Cuff links
-Color
-Value


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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Corcoran
-Help with Connally
-Party allegiances
-Robert C. Hill [?]
-Republican Party posts
-District Attorney of New York
-Secretary to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. [?]
-Hoover’s administration
-Switch to Democrats
-Lack of Republican boldness
-Support for President
-Democratic Party
-Demise
-New party system
 -8-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Liberal and conservative
-Third party name

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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President’s image
-Benjamin Disraeli
-Comparison with Robert Walpole
-Bernard Baruch
-Frederick S. Oliver's book, Endless Adventure of Governing Men
-Walpole
-Impact on 18th century England and effect on unity and later
Napoleonic challenge
-Compared with President

Corcoran
-Children
-Vietnam veteran
-Harvard Law School
-Work in District Attorney’s office
-Work with Connally
-Robert Hill
-Link with Lyndon Johnson during Eisenhower administration
-Corcoran’s retention of Democrat affiliation
-Anecdote from George B. Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra
and from Plutarch's works
-Rolled carpet analogy

1968 election
-Anna C. Chennault, Herbert G. Klein
-Acquaintance with Corcoran
-Air America
-Corcoran’s ownership of predecessor
-Executive
-Claire L. Chennault
-Death
-Governor of Louisiana
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Maj. Gen. [first name unknown] Cooper
-Corcoran
-Letter to President
-Request for interview with President
-Wealth [?]

Offer to help President
-Support for Democrats
-Support for Connally
-Vietnam War

Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Meeting with President
-Olin E. \"Tiger\" Teague
-Wives
-Meetings with President
-Age
-Length of captivity
-Conditions of captivity
-Sense of pride
-Support for President
-B-52 bombings
-December 1972

Khartoum incident

US ambassadors
-Brig. Gen. Henry A. Byroade
-Ambassador to Philippines
-Acquaintance with Corcoran
-China
-Appointment to Sudan
-Head of Near East Division
Egypt, Afghanistan
-Accident

US strategic interests
-New Caledonia
-Corcoran’s mission to Micronesia
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-US Navy
-United Nations [UN] mission [?]
-Yap, Pulau, Ponape
-Military bases
-Maurice R. Greenberg
-Protégé of W. Clement Stone
-C. V. Starr and Co., Inc.
-Ponape
-Sullivan [?] Life Insurance Co.
-Interest in Philippines
-Ferdinand E. Marcos
-Assassination
-Civil war
-Subic Bay naval base
-Micronesia
-Edward E. Johnston [High Commissioner for the Trust Territory of the Pacific
Islands (TTPI)]
-Johnston’s wife
-Honolulu
-Departure
-Rats at a hotel
-Compared to William McCormick Blair, Jr’s wife
-Independence
-Peace Corps
-Congress of Micronesia
-Corcoran’s experience
-Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]-funded legal
advisors
-Naval presence
-Newport News
-Aircraft carrier
-Byroade
-Johnston’s replacement
-Tourism
-Continental Airlines
-Hotels
-Water supply
-Pulau, Truk
-Sewage facilities
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 870-2 (cont’d)


-Roads

Exit door

Corcoran’s assistance
-Connally [?]

Photographs

Byroade
-Middle East, Pakistan
-Donald McI. Kendall
-Philippines

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:42 pm.

Photographers

Bull left at an unknown time before 4:20 pm.

Corcoran's health

Corcoran left at 4:20 pm.