917-33

Conversation No. 917-33

Date: May 14, 1973
Time: 4:15 pm - 4:36 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Nelson A. Rockefeller, Russell W. Peterson, and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
The White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting. The recording
began at an unknown time while the conversation was in progress.

Watergate
-President’s role
-Possible effects on Republican Party [GOP]
-Duration of issue’s prominence
-Compared with Rockefeller’s handling of Attica prison issue
-Response for legal community
-American Bar Association [ABA] [?]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM


Tape Subject Log

(rev. June-2012)

Conversation No. 917-33 (cont’d)

Rockefeller’s project [Commission on Critical Choices for Americans]

-Anne Armstrong and Tobin Armstrong

-King Ranch
-Cole
-Peterson’s role
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield and Carl B. Albert’s opinion
-Rockefeller’s forthcoming meeting with Hugh Scott and Gerald R. Ford
-Howard W. Cannon [?] and Clinton P. Anderson [?]
-President’s conversation with Herbert [Last name unknown]
-Need for bipartisanship
-Meeting at Camp David

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 4:15 pm.

Refreshment

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 4:36 pm.

Rockefeller’s Commission on Critical Choices for Americans

-Need for bipartisanship

-Rockefeller’s meeting with press

-Appointments
-Compared with support for Rockefeller’s Special Studies project, 1960s
-Consensus
-Compared with the President’s Electoral Reform Commission
-Appointments
-Dean G. Acheson, Thomas E. Dewey, Dean Rusk, John J. McCloy, and
David Rockefeller
-Possible appointments
-Conservatives

-Irving Kristol

-Leo Cherne

-Liberals

-John Gardner

-Kristol’s view

-Editor and manager
-Anne Armstrong
 -38-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2012)

Conversation No. 917-33 (cont’d)

-Need for centrists

-Philosophy of man

-Bible

-Possible contributions

-Mao Tse-tung

-Age
-Chou En-lai
-Jean-Francois Ravel, author of Neither Jesus nor Marx [Without Marx or
Jesus]

-Andre Malraux

-Association with Mao, world leaders

-Nature of man, improvement of quality of life

-Projected trends

-Economic, military, political, social

-1976, 1989

-Oil, energy, gas, foreign exchange

-Impact on US
-Robert O. Anderson of Richfield Oil

-New Mexico

-Previous conversation with Rockefeller, Petersen

-Initiative
-Energy
-Weight of automobile compared to cost of gasoline
-Impact on jobs
-US dependence on automobile industry
-Meeting with Arthur E. Johnson and President
-Support for Rockefeller’s project
-President’s assessment
-Possible appointment
-[First name unknown] Bridges of Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic
Energy
-America’s energy use
-Waste
-Projected foreign exchange gap, 1985
-Spiro T. Agnew’s [?] interest

1974, 1976 election
 -39-


NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM


Tape Subject Log

(rev. June-2012)

Conversation No. 917-33 (cont’d)

-Agnew [?]

-Rockefeller’s health

-Political life

-Rockefeller’s divorce and remarriage

-Resiliency


Watergate

-John N. Mitchell

-Robert L. Vesco

-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman

-Vesco

-President’s nephew [Donald A. Nixon]


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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

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[Deed of gift - Privacy]

[Duration: 2 s ]


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[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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Watergate

-Vesco

-Hiring of Donald A. Nixon

-Presence in White House

-Vesco

-George Smathers

 -40-


NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM


Tape Subject Log

(rev. June-2012)

Conversation No. 917-33 (cont’d)

-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo’s advice
-Mitchell and Maurice H. Stans
-Public’s view
-Rockefeller’s view
-President’s view
-Involvement
-Rockefeller’s view

-President’s role

-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s conversation with Henry A. Kissinger

Rockefeller’s Commission on the Critical Choices for Americans

Watergate
-Press coverage
-President’s accomplishments in 1972
-Historical perspective
-Popular concerns

-Cole’s assessment

-Inflation

-Dwayne Andrews

-Soybean uses

-Compared with Vietnam

-Possible allegations

-Stopping leaks

-National Security Council [NSC]
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]

Mansfield’s and Albert’s comments on the President

-Tone


Support for President

Rockefeller’s Commission on the Critical Choices for Americans

Rockefeller et al. left at 4:36 pm.
 -41-


NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM


Tape Subject Log

(rev. June-2012)