Conversation No. 246-1

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:50 am and 10:55 am
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

President=s schedule

President=s relatives= schedule

High school class tour
-Rose Garden
-Oval Office
-Location
-Time

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:55 am

Conversation No. 246-2

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:   Unknown between 10:50 am and 10:55 am
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with an unknown person

Request for call back

Conversation No. 246-3

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:50 am and 10:55 am
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with an unknown person

Request for call back

Conversation No. 246-4

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:50 am and 10:55 am
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  3s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:55 am

Conversation No. 246-5

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  10:55 am - 12:15 am
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman and Ken Wood

Weather

Wood left at an unknown time before 10:59 am

Sergeant Karl Taylor
-Older son Karl (ASkipper@) Taylor, Jr.
-Family

[Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 10:55 am and 10:59 am]

[Conversation No. 246-5A]

Congressional Medal of Honor
-Sergeant Taylor
-Sons ASkipper@ and Kevin Taylor

Taylor=s son

[End of telephone conversation]

Lieutenant William L Calley, Jr.
-Prosecutor, Captain Aubrey M. Daniel, III
-President=s possible conversation with John D. Ehrlichman
-Robert A. Taft, Jr.=s press conference April 7, 1971
-President=s responsibilities regarding final review
-Stanley R. Resor
-Haldeman=s possible call to Melvin R. Laird
-Tenure in office
-Prosecutor
-White House comments
-Ehrlichman
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Ehrlichman
-New York Times, Washington Post
-Prosecutor

-Calley case
-Review
-President=s call to Ehrlichman=s secretary

News stories
-Ziegler
-White House handling

[Rose Mary Woods talked with the President between 10:59 am and 11:00 am]

[Conversation No. 246-5B]

President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Changes
-Unknown man

[End of telephone conversation]

Revenue sharing

[The President talked with Ehrlichman between 11:01 am and 11:07 am]

[Conversation No. 246-5C]

Calley
-Prosecutor=s letter
-President=s conversation with Haldeman
-Resor=s tenure in office
-Inaccuracies
-Prosecutor
-Robert Goralski
-President=s review
-Ziegler
-Background

Woods entered at 11:05 am

-Ziegler
-President=s review
-Robert B. Semple, Jr., Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal
-Press coverage
-White House comments
-Ziegler

-Ehrlichman=s possible briefing
-George Herman

[End of telephone conversation]

President=s forthcoming Vietnam speech April 7, 1971
-Changes
-Distribution of copies
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Ziegler
-Woods= forthcoming conversation with Kissinger

Ziegler entered at 11:15 am

-Changes

Weather

Woods left at 11:16 am

President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Length
-Text
-Kissinger
-Distribution

Ziegler=s forthcoming press briefing
-President=s schedule
-William P. Rogers, Laird
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Kissinger
-Bipartisan meeting
-Congressional leaders
-Michael J. (AMike@) Mansfield
-Schedule
-Senate Whips
-Messages to President
-President=s conversations
-President=s forthcoming speech
-Possible statements
-South Vietnam

Calley
-President=s conversation with Ehrlichman
-President=s policy
-Judicial process
-Appeal
-Prosecutor=s letter
-President=s policy
-Review
-Ehrlichman=s press briefing
-Ziegler=s forthcoming press briefing
-Prosecutor
-Possible White House comments

Ziegler left at 11:25 am

Ziegler
-Handling of press
-Ehrlichman

Calley
-Judicial process
-Possible White House involvement
-Daniel

President=s forthcoming Vietnam speech April 7, 1971
-Television
-Camera work

[Pause]

Calley
-Taft=s forthcoming press conference
-Haldeman=s forthcoming call to Laird
-Resor=s tenure in office

Resor
-My Lai Massacre
-President=s schedule

[Pause]

President=s forthcoming Vietnam speech April 7, 1971
-Preparation

-Final copy
-Kissinger
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew=s style
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-William L. Safire
-Thomas Jefferson
-Kissinger
-Editing
-Draft
-Winston Lord

Clark MacGregor
-Kissinger=s views
-Bryce N. Harlow
-William E. Timmons
-Role with administration
-Gerald R. Ford
-Peter H. Dominick
-Southern strategy
-Kissinger=s views
-Conversation with White House staff members

White House staff views
-Cambodia and Laos
-President=s church attendance
-Vietnam

George Meany
-Attitude

Staff

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-North Vietnam
-Troop withdrawals
-President=s policy
-Ehrlichman=s comments April 7, 1971
-President=s forthcoming speech
-Troop withdrawals

-George D. Aiken
-Laird
-President=s policy

White House staff
-Review
-Peter G. Peterson
-Ehrlichman
-President=s policies
-Opposition
-Kissinger
-George P. Shultz
-Draftees

Pending legislation
-Education bill
-Possible veto

President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Phone calls to President
-Cabinet
-Kissinger, Woods, Haldeman, and Charles W. Colson
-John B. Connally
-Preparation
-Kissinger=s forthcoming backgrounder
-President=s efforts
-Consultation with Cabinet
-Laird
-Rogers
-Moorer

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:25 am

President=s schedule
-Shultz, Ehrlichman

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:49 am

National economy
-Stock market

President=s schedule
-Franco Maria Malfatti

-Council on International Economic Policy
-European Economic Community
-Connally

National economy
-Stock market
-Economic indicators
-Automobile sales
-Views of Haldeman=s friend from J. Walter Thompson Co.
-Sears, Roebuck & Co.
-Industrial production
-Construction
-Retail sales

President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Possible effect
-War weariness

Shultz and Ehrlichman entered at 11:49 am

President=s schedule

The President and Haldeman left at 11:49 am

[Pause]

[Unintelligible]

The President entered at an unknown time after 11:49 am

Congress

Pending legislation
-Education bill
-Possible veto
-Cost
-William D. Hathaway
-Possible amendment
-Possible White House response
-Military pay

-House vote
-Cost
-Education bill
-Possible veto

Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 11:50 am

President=s schedule
-Laird, Rogers, Kissinger
-Talking points
-Vietnam withdrawal

Kissinger left at an unknown time before 12:15 pm

Pending legislation
-Education bill
-Possible veto
-Military pay
-Transportation
-Urban renewal
-Revenue sharing
-Possible veto
-Budget
-President=s program

National economy
-Status
-Stock market
-Economic indicators
-Automobile sales
-Department store sales
-Home furnishings
-New York
-Southern California
-Stock market
-People=s actions
-Confidence
-Business magazines
-Washington Post, Washington Star, New York Times
-Stock market
-Administration=s economic policies
-Business writers
-Staff, Time, Life

-Southern California
-Status
-Federal Reserve
-Federal budget
-Steadiness
-Public confidence

Pending legislation
-Education bill
-Effect on budget
-Possible veto
-Instruction for Ford
-Education lobby
-Possible veto
-Elliot L. Richardson=s forthcoming speech
-Instructions for Ford
-Possible motion to re-commit
-Tactics
-Hathaway=s amendment
-Provisions
-President=s policies
-Authorization
-Levels
-Possible amendments

J. Edgar Hoover
-Tenure in office
-Alger Hiss case
-Tom C. Clark, Harry S Truman
-Taps on President=s phone
-Surveillance of Congressmen
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Charges
-Compared with Joseph McCarthy

McCarthy
-Allegations regarding State Department
-Communists

Hoover
-Boggs
-Health
-Possible Congressional hearing

-Ehrlichman=s possible conversation with John N. Mitchell
-Possible hearings

Boggs
-Carl B. Albert=s conversation with MacGregor, April 6, 1971
-Health
-Wife
-President=s conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson
-Relationship with Wilbur D. Mills

Pending legislation
-Education bill
-Possible veto
-Military pay

Ehrlichman and Shultz left at 12:15 pm

Conversation No. 246-7

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  12:16 pm - 2:00 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Melvin R. Laird, William P. Rogers, and Henry A. Kissinger

John D. Ehrlichman and George P. Shultz

Vietnam
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Conversation with Laird
-Richard M. Helms
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Jacob K. Javits
-Story in Washington Post, April 7, 1971
-Republicans
-Withdrawal from Vietnam
-North Vietnamese
-Troop withdrawals

-Military=s reaction
-President=s position
-Negotiations
-Timing
-Kissinger
-John Sherman Cooper=s call to Kissinger, April 6, 1971
-Troop withdrawal
-Timing
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Jack R. Miller=s approach
-POWs
-Negotiations
-Possible Congressional action
-President=s options
-Draft bill
-Status
-John C. Stennis
-Withdrawal date
-Possible effects
-Discussions
-Options
-Laird=s forthcoming testimony
-Military=s reaction
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-National mood
-President=s forthcoming speech
-Congress= role
-Vietnamization program
-Troop withdrawals
-World Wars I & II, Civil War
-Troop withdrawals
-Rate
-President=s forthcoming announcement
-Military operations
-Message to Ellsworth F. Bunker
-General Nguyen Van Thieu
-Thieu=s conversation with Bunker
-Troop withdrawals
-Rate
-Thieu
-President=s message to Nguyen Cao Ky
-NSC
-Withdrawal rate

-Bunker
-Laird=s conversation with Thieu, Bunker, General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Following announcement
-President=s forthcoming announcement
-Official comments
-North Vietnamese military capability
-Laos
-Cambodia
-United States= military dispositions
-Troop withdrawals

Latin people

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Privacy]
[Duration:  17s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

Vietnam
-Troop withdrawals
-Military=s reaction
-President=s policies
-Cambodia
-Views of Cooper, Frank F. Church, Javits
-Moorer=s comments regarding Edmund S. Muskie, Edward M. (ATed@) Kennedy
-President=s forthcoming speech
-Television
-Charts

Ronald L. Ziegler and members of the press entered at 12:49 pm

President=s schedule
-Latin ambassadors
-Photo session

President=s forthcoming speech
-Preparation of speeches

Ziegler and the members of the press left at 12:50 pm

Time magazine

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech
-Chart
-John F. Kennedy
-US military presence
-Congress
-Republicans
-Democrats
-Vietnamization
-Comments
-Carl B. Albert
-Foreign policy making
-Responsibility
-Possible actions
-Draft bill
-Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-Negotiations
-POWs
-President=s responsibility
-Albert, Charles M. Teague, Gerald R. Ford

Congress
-Clark MacGregor=s views
-Revenue sharing
-Government reorganization
-Laird=s forthcoming conversation with Ehrlichman and Shultz

Vietnam
-Troop withdrawals
-Agreement with President
-Joint Chiefs of Staff
-Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.

Rogers and Laird left at 1:00 pm

-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Charts
-Additions
-Troop withdrawals
-Dates
-Woods= revisions
-Possible changes
-Troop withdrawals
-US casualties
-Forthcoming enemy activity
-Rogers= views
-Possible changes
-Kissinger=s forthcoming briefing
-Topics
-Casualties
-Air sorties
-Possible press questions
-POWs
-Laird=s possible reaction
-Residual force
-Laird=s view
-POWs
-United States= policy
-Possible Congressional action
-President=s comments to Laird
-President=s responsibilities
-Donald H. Rumsfeld=s comments in staff meeting, April 7, 1971
-Javits
-Charles H. Percy
-Political ambitions
-Laird, Rogers

[H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman talked with the President between 1:15 pm and 1:16 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-7A]

President=s schedule

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Support of President=s policies
-Laird and Rogers

Rogers
-Foreign Service

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National Security]
[Duration:  29s  ]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

******************************************************************************

-Views regarding Vietnam

Haldeman entered at 1:20 pm

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Changes
-Preparation
-Woods

MacGregor

Rumsfeld
-Relations with the New York Times and Washington Post
-Tenure in office
-Forthcoming trip to Europe with Robert H. Finch
-Role with administration
-Comments in staff meeting April 7, 1971
-Vietnam

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Kissinger=s forthcoming briefings
-Robert B. Semple, Jr., Chalmers Roberts, Joseph W. Alsop

President=s schedule
-Unknown newsman

Karl (ASkipper@) Taylor, Jr.
-Nickname ASkipper@

[Pause]

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Content
-Shirley Taylor, sons Karl and Kevin
-Possible effect
-Laird, Rogers

Kissinger left at 1:30 pm

-Poll
-President=s policy
-Calley

[Pause]

-Opinion Research Corporation [ORC]

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:30 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-7B]

Call to Major General James D. (ADon@) Hughes

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Polls
-President=s policy
-Calley

[The President talked with Hughes between 1:30 pm and 1:31 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-7C]

Sergeant Karl Taylor
-Medal of Honor citation

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Polls
-Results
-Calley
-Elmo Roper
-Claude Robbins [sp?]
-George H. Gallup
-Dwight L. Chapin
-President=s policy
-Troop withdrawals
-ORC
-National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC]

[Hughes talked with the President between 1:36 pm and 1:37 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-7D]

Medal of Honor citation

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Polls
-ORC
-Democratic caucus
-President=s policy
-Gallup
-Withdrawal issue
-Forthcoming demonstrations
-Forthcoming demonstrations
-Possible administration response
-Polls
-National mood
-Laos, Cambodia
-Calley
-Possible effect of President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Calley
-Ehrlichman, Shultz

-Son Tay raid
-General Douglas MacArthur

Laird
-Conversation with President
-Haldeman=s forthcoming conversation with Ehrlichman
-Stanley R. Resor
-Tenure in office
-Possible replacement
-Robert F. Froehlke
-Haldeman=s forthcoming conversation with Laird, April 8, 1971

Vietnam
-Public opinion on withdrawal
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Kissinger
-Calley

Revenue sharing
-President=s conversation with Ehrlichman
-Congress
-Program problems
-Presentations
-Edwin L. Harper, Shultz
-Slogans
-Domestic Council
-Laird=s possible meeting with Ehrlichman and Shultz
-Presentation

Vietnam
-Emmett Dedmon=s comment
-Polls
-Calley
-Haldeman=s conversation
-[Forename unknown] Derge [sp?]
-Haldeman=s conversation with Thomas Veneman
-Calley
-President=s policy
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Timing
-Polls
-Forthcoming call to unknown pollster
-Chapin

-Derge
-Polls

Revenue sharing
-Ehrlichman and Shultz
-Selling administration=s program

Briefings
-Length
-Kissinger, Ehrlichman, Shultz
-Points
-John B. Connally
-Paul W. McCracken

Vietnam
-Polls
-Disclosure

Rumsfeld
-Role with administration
-Finch
-Comments in staff meeting April 7, 1971

Peter G. Peterson

Vietnam
-Polls
-Possible release
-Timing
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Effect
-Military services
-Views of Douglas L. Hallett and Patrick J. Buchanan
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Calley

Domestic Council
-Shultz
-Public relations
-Ehrlichman
-Herbert G. Klein
-Edward L. Morgan

Public relations
-President=s personality
-Connally=s views

Revenue sharing
-President=s conversation with Laird
-Ehrlichman, Shultz

President=s schedule
-Briefing April 8, 1971
-Media

Haldeman left at 2:00 pm

Conversation No. 246-8

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:00 pm and 2:07 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  10s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 2:07 pm

Conversation No. 246-9

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:00 pm and 2:07 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  19s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 2:07 pm

Conversation No. 246-10

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:00 pm and 2:07 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with the White House operator

Call to Ronald L. Ziegler

Conversation No. 246-11

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  2:07 pm - 2:11 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler

Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.
-President=s policy
-Prosecutor, Captain Aubrey M. Daniel, III

President=s schedule
-Forthcoming speech April 7, 1971

Conversation No. 246-12

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:11 pm and 3:10 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman?]

President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Changes

Conversation No. 246-13

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:11 pm and 3:10 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler

Vietnam
-Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.
-Prosecutor, Captain Aubrey M. Daniel, III
-Book contract

-Letter to President
-Motives
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Background
-Letter to the President
-Motives
-Possible White House response
-Calley
-Daniel
-Public opinion

Conversation No. 246-15

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  3:10 pm - 3:11 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman talked with the President

President=s schedule
-Congressional leaders
-Allen J. Ellender
-Richard B. Russell, Patrick J. Buchanan
-Melvin R. Laird

Conversation No. 246-16

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 3:11 pm and 3:15 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-17

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  3:15 pm - 3:55 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech April 7, 1971
-Kissinger=s conversation with George Meany
-Deadline for withdrawal 
-Kissinger=s Conversation with Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Margaretta (AHappy@) Rockefeller
-Rockefeller=s conversation with Earl Bridges

Taft Schreiber
-Conversation with Kissinger
-Television time on networks

Joseph W. Alsop

Vietnam
-Melvin R. Laird
-William P. Rogers
-Conversation with President, April 6, 1971
-Congress
-Gerald R. Ford
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Changes
-Combat casualties
-Other casualties
-Kissinger=s briefing
-Ngo Dinh Diem
-Troop withdrawals
-Prisoners of war

Laird

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-United States= position
-Prospects

-H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman=s views
-Rogers
-Laird

President=s foreign policy
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-People=s Republic of China [PRC]
-President=s opponents

Vietnam
-Effects of possible loss by United States
-Germany after World War I
-Russia after World War I
-Effect of possible loss by United States
-Views of United States= intellectuals
-Congress
-Public opinion
-Forthcoming election in South Vietnam
-General Nguyen Van Thieu
-President=s schedule
-Summit
-Thieu
-Announcement
-Clark MacGregor=s views

Anatoliy F. Dobrynin=s schedule

United States-USSR negotiations
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Withdrawal from Vietnam

President=s schedule
-Summit
-Thieu
-President=s opponents

President=s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
-John J. McCloy
-General Lucius DuB. Clay, Jr., Thomas S. Gates, Jr.
-Walter P. Reuther, John N. Mitchell
-Purpose
-Arms Control and Disarmament Agency [ACDA]
-McCloy

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Meany

Elliot L. Richardson

John B. Connally

Cabinet

Vietnam
-McCloy, David Rockefeller
-Dean G. Acheson
-Call to President before November 3, 1970
-New York Republicans

Cabinet
-Calls to President
-Rose Mary Woods

Senate
-Hugh Scott
-Republicans as minority party

President=s opponents

George C. Wallace

Ronald W. Reagan
-Scott

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration:  25s  ]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

******************************************************************************

President=s schedule
-Unknown foreign leader=s [Anastasio Somoza Debayle?] anniversary
-Nicolae Ceausescu

Turner B. Shelton

Mexico
-Luis Echeverria Alvarez
-Trade relations with United States
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Rogers

Laird
-Comments regarding revenue sharing

President=s mood

White House staff
-President=s conversation with Haldeman

Cabinet
-Mitchell
-Connally
-Forthcoming call from Kissinger
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Thieu
-Lyndon B. Johnson=s Cabinet
-John F. Kennedy

-Dean Rusk, Robert S. McNamara
-Dwight D. Eisenhower=s Cabinet
-John Foster Dulles
-Secretary of Defense
-Neil H. McElroy, Gates
-Dulles
-Vice President Nixon
-Kissinger=s conversation with General Andrew J. Goodpaster

Vietnam
-President=s policies
-Cambodia
-Polls
-Timing

United States-USSR negotiations
-Dobrynin=s schedule
-Arms control
-Possible summit
-SALT

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971

Kissinger left at 3:55 pm

Conversation No. 246-18

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 3:55 pm and 4:09 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the President, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-19

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 3:55 pm and 4:09 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with the White House operator

Call to Rose Mary Woods

Conversation No. 246-20

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  4:09 pm - 4:10 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with Rose Mary Woods

President=s forthcoming speech on Vietnam, April 7, 1971
-Press copy
-President=s forthcoming conversation with Henry A. Kissinger

Conversation No. 246-21

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger

President=s forthcoming speech on Vietnam, April 7, 1971
-Possible changes
-Press copy
-President=s conversation with Rose Mary Woods
-Possible changes
-Kissinger=s conversation with John B. Connally
-Possible changes

Conversation No. 246-22

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-23

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman

Haldeman=s schedule

Conversation No. 246-24

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  11s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:30 pm

Conversation No. 246-25

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-26

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  4:30 pm - 5:05 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman

Melvin R. Laird
-Haldeman=s conversation with William E. Timmons
-Clark MacGregor

President=s schedule
-Allen J. Ellender
-Views
-Russell B. Long
-Big Six
-George H. Mahon
-President Pro Tempore

[Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:42 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-26A]

President=s schedule
-Ellender
-Instructions for Timmons

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Press briefing
-Henry A. Kissinger, General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

Cabinet
-William P. Rogers
-Elliot L. Richardson

White House staff
-Robert H. Finch, Donald H. Rumsfeld

Congress
-President=s supporters
-Schedule

Cabinet 
-Evaluated
-John B. Connally
-Maurice H. Stans
-George P. Shultz
-George W. Romney, James D. Hodgson
-John N. Mitchell

-Rogers, Laird, Richardson
-Rogers
-Calls to Haldeman

Business community
-Kissinger=s views
-Calls to President

President=s schedule
-Telephone calls after speech

White House staff
-Loyalty
-William L. Safire, Raymond K. Price, Jr.

Cabinet
-Evaluated
-Mitchell, Connally, Richardson
-Rogers

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Tenure in office
-Possible future
-Television
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Leslie T. (ABob@) Hope

Cable television
-President=s policy
-Hope
-Richard A. Moore
-Wife

Vice Presidency
-Connally
-Agnew
-Possible resignation

[The President talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:42 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-26B]

Egil (ABud@) Krogh, Jr.

John W. Dean, III

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:42 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-26C]

Call to Dean

[End of telephone conversation]

Vice Presidency
-Filling vacancies
-Congress
-Connally

[The President talked with Dean between 4:42 pm and 4:44 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-26D]

Constitutional Amendment on Presidential succession
-Status
-President=s daughters
-Vice Presidency
-Congress
-President=s suggestions

[End of telephone conversation]

Dean

Vice Presidency
-Agnew
-Possible resignation
-Supreme Court
-Activities
-Francis A. (AFrank@) Sinatra, Hope
-Possible resignation
-Future
-Richardson

J. Edgar Hoover
-Tenure in office
-Agnew=s possible resignation

Opposition to administration
-President
-Agnew
-Polls
-Dwight D. Eisenhower and the President
-Adlai E. Stevenson, II

Agnew
-Approval by President
-Possible second term
-President=s possible death
-Eisenhower
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Possible removal
-Connally

Connally=s schedule
-AMeet the Press@
-Rogers
-Herbert G. Klein
-Hugh Scott
-Head of Blue Cross
-George S. McGovern

National economy
-Stock market
-Connally

[Dean talked with the President between 4:51 pm and 4:52 pm]

[Conversation No. 246-26E]

Vice Presidential succession

[End of telephone conversation]

Vice Presidency
-Congress
-Succession Amendment

-Possible consequences
-Agnew
-Possible resignation
-Timing
-Summit
-Reasons
-Bryce N. Harlow=s possible role

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  2m 26s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

Vietnam
-Polls
-Results
-President=s expectations
-Timing
-George H. Gallup
-Laos
-Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.
-Wording of questions

President=s schedule
-Phone calls after forthcoming speech
-Women=s briefing, April 8, 1971
-Location
-Council on International Economic Policy
-Peter G. Peterson

President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Close
-Commentators= possible reaction
-Support

Haldeman left at 5:05 pm

Conversation No. 246-27

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:05 pm and 5:22 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-27]

Conversation No. 246-28

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:05 pm and 5:22 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-29

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  5:22 pm - 5:40 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger

Cabinet
-President=s conversation with H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman
-Kissinger=s reaction
-William P. Rogers= calls
-President=s schedule
-Phone calls after speech, April 7, 1971

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Melvin R. Laird
-Cease fire
-Troop withdrawals

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  55s  ]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

-Robert O. Anderson=s views regarding North Vietnam
-North Vietnamese morale
-Congress
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Negotiations
-Anderson

-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Timing
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Laird
-President=s options
-Possible actions

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 4:30 pm

[Unintelligible]

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 5:40 pm

President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Kissinger=s calls to Ronald W. Reagan, William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Possible reaction
-Possible calls
-Reagan, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Cabinet
-Congress
-John B. Connally

Vietnam
-Policy
-Donald H. Rumsfeld=s comments to Haldeman in staff meeting, April 7, 1971
-General Nguyen Van Thieu
-Troop withdrawals
-Timing
-Thieu=s forthcoming election
-Troop withdrawals
-Terminal date
-Residual force
-Negotiations
-United States= policy
-Prisoners of war
-Timing
-Military activity
-Bombing
-President=s options
-President=s forthcoming briefing of Congressmen
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971

Kissinger left at 5:40 pm

Conversation No. 246-30

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:40 pm and 5:50 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp.  522-527]

Conversation No. 246-31

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  5:50 pm - 5:55 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler

President=s schedule
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs

Vietnam
-Congress
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Evaluation

President=s schedule
-Mark I. Goode

President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Television
-Charts
-Press copy
-Goode
-Timing

Ziegler left at 5:55 pm

Conversation No. 246-32

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:55 pm and 6:01 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-33

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  6:01 pm - 6:10 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler and Mark I. Goode

President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Charts
-Use
-Television coverage
-Microphone
-Pointers
-Lights
-Position
-Alexander P. Butterfield=s office
-President=s schedule

Ziegler and Goode left at 6:10 pm

Conversation No. 246-34

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 6:10 pm and 7:09 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Conversation No. 246-35

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 6:10 pm and 7:09 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with an unknown person

Charles W. Colson

Conversation No. 246-36

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 6:10 pm and 7:09 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

President=s schedule
-Hugh Scott
-Location
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Press copies
-Press photo

Bull left at an unknown time before 7:09 pm

Conversation No. 246-37

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  7:09 pm - 7:59 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Hugh Scott, Robert C. Byrd, Robert P. Griffin, Gerald R. Ford, Carl B. Albert, William E. Timmons, and Clark MacGregor

Scott

Greetings

Allen J. Ellender
-Schedule

Photo session

President=s office

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 7:10

J. Bruce Whelihan and members of the press entered at 7:11 pm

General conversation

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 7:12 pm

Kissinger=s schedule
-Media

Whelihan and the members of the press left at 7:13 pm

President=s conversation with Michael J. (AMike@) Mansfield, April 6, 1971

President=s schedule
-Congressional leaders
-Richard B. Russell
-Ellender
-Meetings with the President

Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971

-Troop withdrawals
-Korea
-Cambodian incursion
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] performance
-Effect on North Vietnamese military capability
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Rate
-United States= goals
-Troop withdrawal
-Date
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Flexibility
-South Vietnam
-Possible actions by Congress
-Responsibility
-POWs
-President=s options
-Albert and Ford
-Timing
-POWs
-Congress
-Negotiations
-President=s options
-Combat forces
-Laotian incursion
-Effect
-President=s policies
-Air strikes
-Reductions since 1969
-Laos
-Lam Son
-Figures
-Casualties
-Reductions
-Tet Offensive
-Timing
-Negotiations
-Prospects
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-POWs
-Timing
-South Vietnamese military activities
-Casualties

-Congressional action
-Possible effects
-Unknown man
-Trip to Bonn
-POWs
-Melvin R. Laird
-Possible United States= withdrawal
-Troop withdrawals
-Timing
-United States= policy
-Residual forces
-Korea
-POWs
-Timing
-POWs
-Issue
-United States-held prisoners
-Troop withdrawal
-South Vietnamese military capability
-United States= bargaining position
-Troop withdrawal
-Difficulties
-Negotiations
-Thailand
-United States= treaty responsibilities
-Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan
-South Vietnam
-US forces

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  30s  ]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

-Laos
-Casualties
-Cambodia
-French
-South Vietnamese incursion
-Air campaign
-Prospects
-Congress
-Possible actions
-Responsibility

Donald W. Riegle, Jr.

House of Representatives
-Ford and Albert

General conversation

Ziegler and Kissinger left at 7:43 pm

Forthcoming calls to Senate Committees
-Laird
-William P. Rogers

General conversation

Scott=s efforts

MacGregor=s conversation with Laird

Scott, et al. left at 7:59 pm

Conversation No. 246-38

Date:  April 7, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 7:59 pm and 8:15 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed a speech

[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]

Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 8:15 pm