Conversation No. 316-1

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  12:32 pm - 2:15 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Robert H. Finch.

	Request that Finch talk with an unknown person

The President's speech on Vietnam peace plan, January 25, 1972
-Reading for Finch
	-Eyeglasses

The President read his "Address to the Nation Making Public a Plan for Peace in Vietnam" at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:15 pm.

[A transcript of the speech in its final form appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 100-105]

The President's forthcoming speech
-Possible reaction
-Phraseology
-Americans
-Belief in North Vietnamese statements
	-Finch’s view
-Indochina
-North Vietnamese peace plans
-Nine point compared to seven point plans
	-Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
	-Vietnam
		-Vietcong
-Michael J. Mansfield's Amendment
	-All-Indochina Peace Conference
-Understanding of word by Americans
-Nine point program

-Henry A. Kissinger's forthcoming briefing
-Cease-fire
-Laos and Cambodia

Vietnam
-Negotiations
-US proposals
	-Secret channel
-North Vietnamese response
	-Offensive
-Public disclosure
	-Possible effect
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Cease-fire
-Deadline
-Aid to Indochina
-North Vietnamese proposals
-US reply
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Resignation
	-Possible effect
		-Candidates
-Secret talks
-Public reaction
-Channels
	-References to by the President

	The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
		-Timing
			-New Hampshire primary
		-Planning
			-Mao Tse-tung

	Vietnam
-Possible criticism of forthcoming speech
-New York Times and Washington Post
-US possible military response to offensive
	-Air power
-Thieu resignation
	-National election
-The President's forthcoming speech
	-Possible effect
	-Possible leaks
		-Kissinger
			-Yeoman [Charles E. Radford]
			-Air Force
	-Time
	-Possible reaction

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  14m 7s  ]

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:35 pm.

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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Ronald W. Reagan
-Credibility
	-Television
	-Positions

[The President talked with an unknown person [the White House operator?] at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:35 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-1A]

[Aborted telephone call]

[End of telephone conversation]

Busing
-Finch's view

The President's State of the Union Address
-Length of written message
-Spoken message
-Television
-Written message
-Delivery to Congress
-Administration programs

The President's legislative programs
-Number
	-Mansfield
		-Press

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  19s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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The President's forthcoming speech
-Republican senators
-Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin and Barry M. Goldwater
-Norris Cotton and Carl T. Curtis
-Ages
-William E. Brock III and Howard H. Baker, Jr.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  1m 47s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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Senate
-Leadership
-Compared with House of Representatives
-Baker, Brock, Charles H. Percy and Edward W. Brooke
-Robert A. Taft, Jr. and John G. Tower
-The President’s experience

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  23m 8s  ]

Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 1:35 pm.

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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Rose Mary Woods entered at 1:35 pm.

The President's forthcoming speech
-Length
-Kissinger
-Preparation

Finch's instructions

Woods left at 1:37 pm.

Finch
-Departure from administration
-Impact
-Reasons
-John N. Mitchell
-Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak
-Mitchell
	-Campaign committee
-Herbert G. Klein
-Press conference

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  16m 17s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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The President's State of the Union Address
-Tone
	-Holmes Alexander's column
	-Dan Rather

The President's response to opponents
	-Timing
	-State of the Union address
	-Rather
	-Foreign trips
	-Franklin D. Roosevelt
	-Fala speech
	-Wendell Willkie
	-Harry S. Truman
	-Congress
	-Standing in popularity polls
	-Special session of Congress
		-Possible action by the Administration
			-Republican National Convention

[The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman?] at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 2:15 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-1B]

Lee W. Huebner

Peter M. Flanigan

	Ronald W. Reagan

The President's stance against opponents
-Compared with Roosevelt in 1936 and 1940

News summary
-Patrick J. Buchanan

The President's schedule
-George P. Shultz
-Finch

[End of telephone conversation]

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  3m 24s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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Issues
-National economy
-The President's prediction in 1971
	-Inflation
-1972
-Vietnam
-South Vietnam
-People's Republic of China [PRC] and Soviet Union

Congress
	-Legislative programs
		-Number
-Welfare reform
-Revenue-sharing
-Health care
-Budget
-Reapportionment
-Polls

Government
	-Public approval
		-Dwight D. Eisenhower
		-Effect of 1960’s
		-Polls
			-The President's standing

Close elections
-1972
-The President's public visibility
-Ulysses S. Grant
-Samuel Tilden-Rutherford B. Hayes
-Popular compared to electoral vote
-James G. Blaine-Grover Cleveland
-Benjamin Harrison-Grover Cleveland
-William McKinley
-Theodore Roosevelt in 1904
-William H. Taft in 1908
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Charles E. Hughes
-Warren G. Harding in 1920
-Calvin Coolidge in 1924
-Herbert C. Hoover in 1928
-Franklin Roosevelt
-Thomas E. Dewey
-Truman
-Eisenhower
-Lyndon B. Johnson-Goldwater
-Hubert H. Humphrey-Nixon
-The President's plurality
-Bombing halt

Finch's schedule
-Lunch
-Meeting with Reagan, January 26, 1972

Finch left at 2:15 pm.

Conversation No. 316-2

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 2:15 pm and 2:25 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  5s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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Sanchez left at an unknown time before 2:25 pm.

Conversation No. 316-3

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 2:15 pm and 2:25 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
-Attendance

-Appropriations Committee
-Allen J. Ellender
-Milton R. Young
-George H. Mahon
-Frank T. Bow

Henry A. Kissinger
-Health
-[W. Kenneth Riland]
	-Appointment
		-Timing

	Announcement

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  2m 44s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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Conversation No. 316-4

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  2:25 pm - 2:33 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.

The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
-Preparation
	-Changes
		-Henry A. Kissinger's views
			-Reading copy

[The President talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:33 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-4A]

-Woods's delivery
-Possible mention of France
	-Maurice Schumann
	-Kissinger's briefing
	-French Government

Kissinger
-Health
	-Schedule

The President's schedule
-Meeting with Congress
-Kissinger
-Forthcoming speech

Ronald L. Ziegler's briefing

The President's forthcoming speech
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

The President conferred with Woods at an unknown time.

Instruction

[End of conferral]

The President's forthcoming speech
-Robert H. Finch's views
-Michael J. Mansfield
	-All Indochina Peace Conference
		-Nine-point program
-Indochina
-Cambodia and Laos

[End of telephone conversation]

-Change
-Length
-Marjorie P. Acker

[Woods talked with Acker at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:33 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-4B]

-Page count

[End of telephone conversation]

Laura Peterson
-Father, William H. Peterson
-Call
	-Request
		-Tour [?]

Woods's schedule
-Ambassador and Mrs. Robert C. Hill and Ambassador And Mrs. Wiley T. Buchanan

Ambassador Hill
-New Hampshire gubernatorial race

The President's schedule
-William J. Porter

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  22s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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Woods's schedule
-Dinner arrangements
	-Call to unknown person
	-Viewing the President's speech

The President's schedule
-Calls for the President
-Porter
-White House operator
	-Woods
	-Haldeman and Charles W. Colson

Woods's schedule

Woods left at 2:33 pm.

Conversation No. 316-5

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 2:33 pm and 2:45 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with an unknown person.

The President's schedule
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Meeting with the President

Conversation No. 316-6

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  2:45 pm - 2:55 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Kissinger's schedule
-The President's conversation with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Privacy]
[Duration:  15s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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	The President’s health

The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
-William P. Rogers's views
-Attendance at speech

-Changes
-Ronald L. Ziegler

[An unknown person talked with the President at an unknown time between 2:45 pm and 2:55 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-6A]

Call to the President
-Error

[End of telephone conversation]

The President's forthcoming speech
-Changes
-Phraseology
	-Robert H. Finch's view
	-Indochina
	-Laos and Cambodia
	-South Vietnam
-Peace settlement
	-Troop withdrawal
		-Timing
-Vietnam election
-Reconstruction program
	-Drafts
-Kissinger's previous meeting with Earl of Cromer [George R.S. Baring]
-Cromer's views
-Possible French reaction
	-French cooperation
-Cromer’s views
	-Television
-William F. Buckley, Jr.

Kissinger left at 2:55 pm.

Conversation No. 316-7

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 2:55 pm and 4:35 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez.

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

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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Sanchez left at an unknown time before 3:45 pm.

Conversation No. 316-8

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 2:55 pm and 4:35 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
-Make-up
-Timing

-Mark I. Goode [?]
-Herbert G. Klein
	-Press
-Residence
-Meeting with bipartisan leaders
-Suit
-Previous wear
-Ronald L. Ziegler
	-Henry A. Kissinger
-White House staff
	-Budget
		-Press coverage

Conversation No. 316-9

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 2:55 pm and 4:35 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez.

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

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:35 pm.

Conversation No. 316-10

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  4:35 pm - 4:36 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
-Talking points

Memorandum for William P. Rogers
	-John B. Connally [?]

Menu

Butterfield left at 4:36 pm.

Conversation No. 316-11

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 4:36 pm and 5:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with an unknown person.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  4s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1 

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Conversation No. 316-12

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 4:36 pm and 5:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed his "Address to the Nation Making Public a Plan for Peace in Vietnam".

[A transcript of the speech in its final form appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 100-105]

An unknown woman entered at an unknown time during the rehearsal.

Speech draft [?]

The unknown woman left at an unknown time.

The President resumed rehearsing his speech.

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time during the rehearsal.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  4s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The President resumed rehearsing his speech.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  3s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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Sanchez left at an unknown time.

The President resumed rehearsing his speech.

Conversation No. 316-13

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 4:36 pm and 5:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed his "Address to the Nation Making Public a Plan for Peace in Vietnam".

[A transcript of the speech in its final form appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 100-105]

Conversation No. 316-14

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 4:36 pm and 5:30 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 19-59]

Conversation No. 316-15

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  5:30 pm - 5:32 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox.

[See Conversation No. 19-60; one item has been withdrawn from the conversation]

Conversation No. 316-16

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 5:32 pm and 6:31 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President rehearsed his "Address to the Nation Making Public a Plan for Peace in Vietnam".

[A transcript of the speech, in its final form, appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 100-105]

Conversation No. 316-17

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 5:32 pm and 6:31 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with an unknown person.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  21s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The unknown person left at an unknown time before 6:31 pm.

Conversation No. 316-18

Date:  January 25, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 5:32 pm and 6:38 pm
Location:  Executive Office Building

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.

The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
-Changes
-Henry A. Kissinger's views
-Public text

-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

Haig
-Call to the President
-Interruption of meeting
-Marjorie P. Acker

[Woods talked with Acker at an unknown time between 5:32 pm and 6:31 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-18A]

-Request

[End of telephone conversation]

The President's forthcoming speech
-Date mentioned in text

[The White House operator talked with Woods at 6:31 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-18B]

[See Conversation No. 19-61]

[Haig talked with the President between 6:31 pm and 6:34 pm.]

[End of telephone conversation]

The President's forthcoming speech
-Changes

Woods's schedule
-Wiley T. Buchanan
-The President’s forthcoming speech
-Buchanan’s schedule
	-Denmark
-Call To Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon

Denmark
-State funeral
-Buchanan
-John S. D. Eisenhower

Woods left at 6:38 pm.