Conversation No. 457-1
Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  10:19 am - 11:35 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

Personnel
-Speech writers
-John K. Andrews, Jr.
-Lee W. Huebner
-Abilities
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Ronald L. Ziegler

Economy
-Publicity
-Prices

[Recording was cut off at an unknown time for an unknown duration; this section appears on the original tape as a blank portion of 2m 41s duration]

Department of State
-Leaks
-U. Alexis Johnson
-William P. Rogers
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Personnel

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 10:24 am

Consumer legislation

Laos
-James L. Buckley=s reception
-Kissinger=s talk with Paul C. Warnke

Ziegler, Virginia H. Knauer, Lewis A. Engman, and Elizabeth Hanford entered at 10:25 am; the White House photographer was present during this portion of the meeting

Greetings
-Presentation of gifts

Consumer affairs

Knauer, Engman, and Hanford left at 10:30 am

Vietnam
-Media coverage
-Ziegler=s briefing
-Michael J. (AMike@) Mansfield=s television appearance
-Melvin R. Laird
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Henry Kahn of New York Times
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Ziegler=s statements
-Day to day operations
-Laird=s view
-John W. Chancellor=s report
-Plan of South Vietnam in Laos
-Tchepone
-Supply lines
-Cambodia
-President=s previous comments
-Justification for operation
-North Vietnam
-General Nguyen Van Thieu
-Accuracy of press accounts
-Briefings
-Kissinger=s briefing
-Casualties regarding Cambodia
-Attitudes
-Associated Press coverage of Laos
-Administration briefings
-Laird
-Claire Crawford
-Crosby S. Noyes
-Dennis Leonard
-Herbert G. Klein
-Mailing to editors and publishers
-Source
-William F. Knowland
-Cynicism of press

-Crawford
-[Forename unknown] Wiggins
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
-Yale speech
-Withdrawal
-Instructions for Ziegler=s press briefing
-President=s comments
-Democratic Senators= resolution

Ziegler left at 10:37 am

-Warnke=s assistant
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Invitation to Kissinger
-Briefings for Democrats
-Kissinger
-Mansfield
-Withdrawal

Laos military operation (Lam Son)
-Abrams
-Military reports
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Possible report
-Laird
-Military plans
-Tchepone
-North Vietnamese Army
-Roads
-Kissinger=s concern
-Problems
-Briefing for Kissinger
-Roads
-Supplies and trucks
-Compared to Cambodian operation
-Objectives
-Tchepone
-Haig
-Report
-Military assessment
-Compared to Inchon
-Status
-Briefing for Kissinger

-Kissinger=s concerns
-Problems
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-Strategy
-Schedule delays
-Quality of ARVN troops
-Appearance versus substance
-Tchepone
-Roads and supplies
-ARVN troops
-Air support
-Potential problem
-Haig
-Possible trip to Vietnam
-Assessment
-ARVN troops
-ARVN troops
-Compared to Cambodia
-Supplies
-Objectives
-Air strikes
-B-26's
-Statistics
-Damage reports
-Firebase attacks
-Effects
-Moorer
-Air support coordination in South Vietnam
-Forthcoming briefing
-Haig trip
-Moorer
-Laird
-Plan to send Haig to Southeast Asia
-Kissinger=s information
-Accuracy
-Conflicting reports

Military psychology
-Focus on objectives
-German army
-Verdun
-Stalingrad
-British army

-Somme
-Difference from conventional warfare
-Need for accurate reporting

The President=s schedule
-Briefings
-Middle East
-Haig
-Richard M. Helms

Laos military operation (Lam Son)
-Briefing
-Status
-Conflicting reports
-ARVN
-ARVN
-Supplies
-Troops
-Tchepone
-American commanders
-General William C. Westmoreland
-William H. Sullivan
-Military strategy and tactics
-Cambodia
-Laird
-Haig
-Air support
-Tchepone
-Problems
-Laos versus Cambodia
-ARVN forces
-Abrams= plan
-Forthcoming briefing
-Moorer
-General John W. Vogt, Jr.
-Laos battle plans
-Tchepone
-ARVN
-Options
-Problems
-B-26s
-Problems
-Alternatives

-B-52s
-Moorer
-Laird
-Haig
-F-4s
-C-54s

Kissinger left at 11:04 am

Rogers
-Muskie
-Request for meeting with Kissinger
-Request for meeting with Rogers
-President=s instructions

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  1m 25s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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Physical demands of office
-Connally
-Health
-Health of personnel
-Connally
-President=s previous telephone conversation with Connally
-Camp David visit
-Camp David
-Haldeman=s conversation with Connally
-Amenities
-Cabinet Secretaries
-Connally
-Renovations
-Laurel Lodge
-Administration

-Commander
-Plans
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
-Connally

The President=s schedule
-Meeting with Governors
-Black leadership meeting
-President=s participation
-Leonard Garment
-Robert H. Finch
-Ehrlichman
-George W. Romney
-Robert J. Brown
-Edward L. Morgan
-Agenda
-Revenue sharing
-Finch
-George P. Shultz
-Possible Presidential appearance
-Haldeman=s position
-Meeting with college editors
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Meetings with lobby groups
-Mechanics of ADrop by@
-Meeting with Governors
-Nelson A. Rockefeller=s reaction
-Possible Republican governors= meeting
-Pep talk
-Richard B. Ogilvie
-Revenue sharing
-View of welfare reform
-Connally, Shultz, and Ehrlichman

Governors= meeting and dinner
-The Vice President
-Revenue sharing
-Milton J. Shapp
-The President=s attendance
-Toast
-Golf balls
-Leslie T. (ABob@) Hope

-Attendance
-Entertainment
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Revenue sharing

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Privacy]
[Duration:  52s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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-Rockefeller
-Margaretta (AHappy@) Rockefeller
-George C. Wallace
-Idanell (Brill) (ANellie@) Connally
-Haldeman=s conversation with Wallace
-The President=s plans for next year
-Governors= dinner
-Republicans
-Warren E. Hearnes

The President=s schedule

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 11:34 am

-Meeting with black leaders
-Length of the President=s visit
-Press coverage
-Ziegler
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Shultz
-Ehrlichman

Haldeman left at 11:34 am

Butterfield left at 11:35 am

Conversation No. 457-2

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 11:35 am and 11:38 am
Location:  Oval Office

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

The President=s schedule
-Meeting with black leaders
-Tenure of meeting
-Berkeley G. Burrell
-Cenoria Johnson
-Suggested remarks
-Possible White House tour

Haldeman left at an unknown time before 11:38 am

Conversation No. 457-3

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 11:35 am and 11:38 am
Location:  Oval Office

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

The President=s schedule
-Meeting with black leaders
-Black history and art

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 11:35 am

-Thelma C. (Ryan) (APat@) Nixon
-Tour of White House
-Meeting with black leaders
-Presidential gifts
-Stephen B. Bull

The President, et al. left at 11:38 am

Conversation No. 457-4

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  11:55 am - unknown before 12:19 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

Meeting with black leaders

[The President talked with Clifford M. Hardin between 11:55 am and 12:01 pm]

[Conversation No. 457-4A]

Report to the President
-John B. Williams
-Hardin=s press conference

Mississippi
-Farmers
-Hardin=s visit
-Integration of schools
-Compared to northern schools

The President=s schedule
-Foreign policy
-Forthcoming trip to Des Moines, Iowa
-ASalute to Agriculture@ dinner
-Farm editors
-Publicity

[End of telephone conversation]

Public relations
-President=s remarks
-Agriculture

The President=s schedule
-Businessmen=s visit
-Morehouse College in Atlanta
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Pros and cons
-White House staff

-President=s participation in meetings
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-John N. Mitchell
-@Drop by@
-Black leaders= meeting
-Advance scheduling
-Accessibility of the President
-Black leaders= meeting
-George P. Shultz
-George W. Romney
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Rumsfeld
-Finch
-Planning

Camp David
-Invitations
-White House staff
-Finch
-Rumsfeld
-Elliot L. Richardson
-William P. Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Mitchell
-Romney
-John A. Volpe
-Rogers
-Problems

Black leaders= meeting
-Richard Hatcher

Governors= dinner
-Impression
-Leslie T. (ABob@) Hope
-Visit to White House
-Delores (Reade) Hope
-Arthur G. (AArt@) Linkletter
-John Wayne
-ATrue Grit@

Vietnam War
-Civilian versus military control
-Henry A. Kissinger=s role
-President=s position
-General John W. Vogt, Jr.
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-William L. Safire
-Forthcoming meeting with the President
-Speech draft
-Rogers/Kissinger relations
-Middle East
-Rogers
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Gerard C. Smith
-Kissinger=s meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Summit meetings

Kissinger

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Privacy]
[Duration:  38s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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-Edmund S. Muskie

Briefings by Administration spokesmen
-Democrats
-Edward M. (ATed@) Kennedy
-President=s position
-Rogers
-Muskie
-Haldeman=s forthcoming conversation
-President=s position
-Senators

-George S. McGovern
-Eugene J. McCarthy
-Vietnam peace plan

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 12:01 pm

The President=s schedule
-Federal Executive Board

Bull left at an unknown time before 12:19 pm

-Revenue sharing
-Meeting with the President
-Pros and cons
-Meeting with the Vice President
-Safire

The President and Haldeman left at an unknown time before 12:19 pm

Conversation No. 457-7

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  Unknown after 12:01 pm until 12:19 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Manolo Sanchez

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  52s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The President and Sanchez left at 12:19 pm

Conversation No. 457-8

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:19 pm and 12:35 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown people met

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Non-historical]
[Duration:  1m 10s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The unknown people left at an unknown time before 12:35 pm

Conversation No. 457-9

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:35 pm and 12:43 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man

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

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The unknown man left at an unknown time before 12:43 pm

Conversation No. 457-5

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  12:43 pm - 1:24 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

Radio statement by the President
-Speech draft
-William L. Safire
-Henry A. Kissinger
-President=s view

Press
-Television coverage
-Laos military operation
-Kissinger
-Bipartisan leadership meeting
-Newspaper editorials
-Chalmers Roberts
-Kissinger

Safire
-Speech draft
-Length

Personnel
-Kissinger
-Rose Mary Woods
-Alexander P. Butterfield
-William P. Rogers
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Harry S Truman
-Allocation of the President=s time
-Kissinger
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-General John W. Vogt, Jr.
-Briefing
-Safire=s speech draft
-Kissinger
-Allocation of the President=s time
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Edwin L. Harper

[The President talked with the White House operator at 12:47 pm]

[Conversation No. 457-5A]

Call to Haig

[End of telephone conversation]

Personnel
-Ehrlichman

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 12:47 pm and 1:24 pm]

[Conversation No. 457-5B]

Haig=s schedule

[End of telephone conversation]

Personnel
-Haig
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer

Forthcoming briefing
-Kissinger
-President=s view
-Kissinger
-Vogt
-Safire
-Vogt

[Haldeman talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 12:47 pm and 1:24 pm]

[Conversation No. 457-5C]

Briefing for the President
-Vogt
-Scheduling
-Speech preparation
-Safire=s role

[End of telephone conversation]

The President=s schedule
-Kissinger
-Role in speech
-Safire
-Attendance at briefings
-President=s view
-Speech preparation
-Safire=s role
-National Security Study Memoranda [NSSMs]
-President=s view

Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 12:47 pm

Vogt
-Present location
-Press briefing
-Meeting with the President and Kissinger
-Safire
-Speech

Kissinger left at an unknown time before 1:24 pm

Rogers
-Previous trip with the President
-Walker=s Key

The President=s schedule
-Kissinger
-Role in briefings
-Melvin R. Laird
-Bureaucratic position

Cabinet officers
-Communication
-Laird
-Ehrlichman
-President=s position
-Kissinger
-John N. Mitchell
-Staff participation
-Rogers
-Middle East views
-Kissinger
-Middle East views
-Paperwork
-Compared with Ehrlichman
-National Security Council [NSC] staff
-State Department
-Staff work
-Allocation of President=s time
-APaper route@
-Rogers
-Allocation of President=s time
-Meeting with the President
-Connally
-Mitchell
-Laird
-Rogers
-Moorer
-Kissinger
-Safire speech draft
-Rogers
-Cabinet officers
-Access to the President
-Kissinger

-Rogers
-Laird
-Mitchell
-Staff versus Cabinet
-Ehrlichman
-George P. Shultz
-Kissinger
-Compared to Ehrlichman
-Cabinet officers

Southeast Asia portion of speech
-United States= interests
-Wording
-Safire
-Length

Democratic proposal on Vietnam
-Possible Administration response
-Robert J. Dole
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-President=s position
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Dole
-Hugh Scott
-Differing proposals within Democratic Party
-White House strategy
-Muskie
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman
-Withdrawal
-Compared to Henry M. (AScoop@) Jackson
-Support for President
-Muskie
-Administration response
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Laird
-Rogers
-Michael J. (AMike@) Mansfield
-Administration response
-Democratic caucus
-Withdrawal proposal
-Intra-party opposition

-Dole
-Buchanan
-Franklyn C. (ALyn@) Nofziger
-Charles W. Colson
-Safire
-Haldeman=s role
-Rogers
-Laird
-Kissinger
-Ziegler
-Possible press questions
-Need for Administration response
-Buchanan
-Dole
-White House strategy
-News summary
-Dole
-Rogers and Laird
-Ziegler
-Withdrawal
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Effect of Democratic proposal
-Jackson

Campus activity
-May Day demonstration
-Problems
-Students for a Democratic Society [SDS]

Leslie T. (ABob@) Hope
-Charlton Heston
-Foreign pornography
-Hollywood unemployment
-President=s position
-General quality of movies
-President=s view
-Haldeman=s view

The President=s schedule
-Eisenhower dinner
-Hope
-Speech preparation
-Meeting

-Attendance
-Kissinger
-Vogt
-Moorer
-Old Executive Office Building

Haldeman left at 1:24 pm

Conversation No. 457-6

Date:  February 24, 1971
Time:  1:24 pm - 1:25 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Manolo Sanchez

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

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The President and Sanchez left at 1:25 pm