Conversation No. 460-1
Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  10:26 am - 10:27 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield

Schedule

Butterfield left at 10:27 am

Conversation No. 460-2

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  10:29 am - 10:36 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler

Welfare
-John A. Burns
-Federal control
-Press stories
-Burns
-Forthcoming conversation with Ziegler

Media
-Film of 2/25
-Use by networks

The President=s schedule
-National Security Council meeting
-Ziegler=s attendance

Public relations
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Film clips
-William L. Safire
-Use by networks

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:29 am

The President=s schedule
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Melvin R. Laird

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:36 am

Media
-Film of 2/25
-Use by networks
-Advantages

Ziegler left at 10:36 am

Conversation No. 460-3

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:36 am and 10:40 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Meeting cancellation
-Bull=s conversation with Kissinger
-Forthcoming National Security Council meeting
-George H. W. Bush

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:40 am

Conversation No. 460-4

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:40 am and 12:35 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown men [Secret Service] met

[Unintelligible]

Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 12:35 pm

Conversation No. 460-5

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  12:35 pm - 12:48 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Melvin R. Laird, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, and Henry A. Kissinger; members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting

Greetings

Photograph

Seating

Schedule

Admiral Sir Nigel Henderson entered at 12:38 pm

Photograph

US foreign policy
-Vietnam
-Middle East
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-President=s position
-Soviet Union
-Soviet Union=s concern about People=s Republic of China

-NATO
-Soviet Union=s Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] positions

NATO
-Future NATO bases
-Types of deterrents
-Moorer
-Conventional
-President=s view
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  5m 16s  ]

NATO

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

Farewells

Laird, Moorer, and Henderson left at 12:48 pm

Middle East
-Briefing paper

Kissinger left at 12:48 pm

Conversation No. 460-6

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  12:48 pm - 12:54 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Patricia R. Hitt, Robert E. Hampton, Barbara Bates Gunderson, Jeanne Wilson Davis, Dr. Florence Johnson Hicks, Juanita Morris Moody, Essie Davis Morgan, Rita M. Rapp, Dr. Joan Raup Rosenblatt, and George T. Bell; members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting

Greetings

Photograph

Gifts

Oval Office furnishings and paintings
-Carpets
-Presidential Seal
-George Washington portrait

Appreciation

Farewells

Hitt, et al. left at 12:54 pm

Conversation No. 460-7

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  12:54 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule
-Press corps

The President and Bull left at 12:54 pm

Conversation No. 460-8

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  12:54 pm - 1:00 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Stephen B. Bull met with Francis E. White, Frederick C. Wieting, Bonnie Cook, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Conley, Dr. Eva M. Johnson, and George T. Bell; members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting

Schedule

The President entered at 12:54 pm

Greetings

Photograph

Gifts

Appreciation
-President=s policies

Farewells

Bull, et al. left at 1:00 pm

Conversation No. 460-9

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:00 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule
-Thomas L. Lias, Guilford Dudley, Jr., and Harry S. Dent
-Location
-Dwight L. Chapin

Bull left at 1:00 pm

Conversation No. 460-10

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:00 pm - 1:08 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with T. Harding Jones, Anthony Radd, Charles Kolb, and Jeb Stuart Magruder; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

Greetings

Princeton University

Appreciation
-Support for the President
-Laos
-President=s policy
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

Southeast Asia
-President=s policy
-Laos
-Public perception
-Cambodia
-Vietnam
-Rationale
-Television coverage

Princeton University
-Areas of study

Gifts

Appreciation
-Attitudes of youth
-The President
-Effect of draft
-Students= efforts

Farewells

Jones, et al. left at 1:08 pm

Conversation No. 460-11

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:08 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule

Bull left at 1:08 pm

Conversation No. 460-12

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:08 pm - 1:12 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Cecil W. Stevenson, Frank G. Wood, and George T. Bell; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

Greetings

Photograph

Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Disabled American veterans
-Administration policy
-The President=s previous speech

Presentation of resolution to the President

Appreciation

Autographs

Gifts

Farewells

Stevenson, et al. left at 1:12 pm

Conversation No. 460-13

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:12 pm - 1:14 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Thomas L. Lias and Harry S. Dent; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

Greetings

New York
-George H. W. Bush
-New position at United Nations

Cuff links

Farewells

Lias and Dent left at 1:14 pm

Conversation No. 460-14

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:14 pm - 1:18 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Guilford Dudley, Jr. and Harry S. Dent; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

Greetings

Dudley=s plans
-Resignation as US Ambassador to Denmark
-Rationale
-The President=s appreciation
-Peter M. Flanigan

Gifts

Golf
-The Vice President
-Leslie T. (ABob@) Hope

Farewells

Dudley and Dent left at 1:18 pm

Conversation No. 460-15

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:18 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule
-Frederic V. Malek
-Henry A. Kissinger

Butterfield left at 1:18 pm

Conversation No. 460-16

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:18 pm - 1:23 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler

Public relations
-National Association of Retarded Children
-Bonnie Cook
-Dissemination to press

Ziegler=s previous press conference
-Ziegler=s handling
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:18 pm

Henry A. Kissinger=s schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 1:23 pm

Ziegler=s previous press conference
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Welfare reform

Media
-Holmes Alexander
-Column, 2/26
-George W. Romney
-New York Times
-Washington Post
-Ziegler=s comments to press
-Administration policies
-Communications
-Foreign policy radio address
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-View of unknown Department of State employee
-William P. Rogers
-Administration policy
-Ziegler=s comments
-Kissinger=s comments

Ziegler left at 1:23 pm

Conversation No. 460-17

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  1:26 pm - 2:20 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield met with H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman

Schedule
-Open Hour
-Delays
-Participants

The President entered at an unknown time after 1:26 pm

The President=s schedule
-Frank J. Shakespeare
-Report to the President
-Yugoslavia
-Saudi Arabia

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  8s  ]

SAUDI ARABIA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

-Egypt
-Shakespeare=s meeting with Egyptian publishers
-Possible meeting with the President
-Timing
-Henry Brandon
-Shakespeare

-Dwight L. Chapin
-Possible conversation with President
-Ambassadorship
-Peter M. Flanigan

-Open Door Hour

Butterfield left at 1:30 pm

-Camp David
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (APat@) Nixon=s trip to New York
-John B. and Idanell (Brill) (ANellie@) Connally

Butterfield entered at 1:31 pm

-Camp David
-The Connallys
-Arrangements
-Accommodations

Butterfield left at 1:35 pm

George H. W. Bush
-White House ceremony

Wilbur D. Mills
-Breakfast meeting with the President

White House ceremonies
-Bush
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Need for ceremony
-Mills
-Bush

Portraits of John Quincy and Louisa C. (Johnson) Adams
-Press accounts
-The Johnsons
-The Kennedys
-Mrs. Nixon
-Dolley P. T. Madison
-Book to Rose Mary Woods and Marjorie P. Acker

Media
-Mark I. Goode
-Tricia Nixon
-Previous talk at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
-Assistance
-Mrs. Nixon
-T. Nixon
-Efforts
-Al Scott
-William H. Carruthers
-Goode
-Efforts

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration:  2m 14s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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

Bryce N. Harlow
-Haldeman=s previous conversation with Harlow
-Contact with the Vice President
-Tennis
-Attendance at Gridiron Dinner
-The Vice President
-Position of Vice President
-Role of Vice President
-Intergovernmental relations

The President=s schedule
-William P. Rogers
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Henry A. Kissinger

-Middle East
-Charles W. Yost

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 12:35 pm

-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Timing

Bull left at an unknown time before 2:20 pm

Harlow
-Agriculture
-Hyde Murray
-Possible position
-Robert J. Dole
-Forthcoming Presidential trip to Iowa
-Murray
-Clifford M. Hardin
-Conversation with the President
-Page Belcher
-Gerald R. Ford=s view
-Attendees
-Murray

The President=s schedule

Louis Harris poll
-Congressional effectiveness
-The President=s relationship with Congress
-Questions
-Results
-Congressional reputation
-Pollution
-Cigarette advertisements
-Federal aid to education
-Vote for eighteen-year-olds
-Supersonic Transport [SST] subsidy
-Antiballistic Missile [ABM] treaty
-Anti-crime efforts
-Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr. nomination
-G. Harrold Carswell nomination
-Hospitalization

-Welfare reform
-Social Security
-Revenue sharing
-Trends

Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:35 pm

Schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 2:20 pm

State of the World message
-Media
-Kissinger
-New York Times
-Television
-Length
-New York Times
-Length
-William L. Safire
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Radio

Media
-Radio compared to television
-Press conferences
-Benefits of radio
-Use by Administration
-Health message
-Revenue sharing
-Environment
-Health care
-Minorities
-Youth
-Methods

Media techniques
-Television
-Oliver F. (AOllie@) Atkins
-Still photography
-Goode

-Bull
-Length of television film
-Speeches
-Brevity
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars speech
-Ziegler
-Safire
-Rogers
-Kissinger
-Television
-State of the World speech
-Radio
-Television appearances
-Rogers= view
-The President=s position
-Radio speech
-Safire

George H. Gallup poll
-Results
-Timing of release

[Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 1:35 pm and 2:20 pm]

[Conversation No. 460-17A]

Request for Chapin to join them

[End of telephone conversation]

Chapin entered at an unknown time after 1:35 pm

Gallup poll
-Results
-Timing of release

Chapin left at an unknown time before 2:20 pm

-Interpretation
-Massachusetts
-Cambodia
-Harris poll
-Field poll

-Charles W. Colson
-Washington Post
-Edmund S. Muskie compared with the President
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Vietnam
-Economy

Haig
-Kissinger

Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Colson
-Harlow=s view
-Intergovernmental relations
-The Vice President
-Interests

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National Security]
[Duration:  1m 53s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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

Haldeman left at 2:20 pm

Conversation No. 460-18

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:20 pm and 2:44 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

Henry A. Kissinger

Bull left at an unknown time before 2:44 pm

Conversation No. 460-19

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  2:44 pm - 2:55 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger and General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  16m 47s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 2:44 pm

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

The President, et al. left at 2:55 pm

Conversation No. 460-20

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 2:55 pm and 3:52 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown men [Secret Service] met

The President=s location
-The President=s schedule

Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 3:52 pm

Conversation No. 460-21

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 3:52 pm and 3:54 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man [Stephen B. Bull?]
[Recording begins while the meeting is in progress]

The President=s schedule

The unknown man [Bull?] left at an unknown time before 3:54 pm

Conversation No. 460-22

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  3:54 pm - 4:01 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

Middle East
-The President=s previous meeting with Henry A. Kissinger and General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Questions for President to ask William P. Rogers
-Forthcoming meeting with Rogers
-Kissinger=s view
-Joseph J. Sisco
-Rogers
-Yitzhak Rabin

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  2m 36s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

-Kissinger=s attitude
-Questions for Rogers
-Possible meeting between Haig, Kissinger, and Sisco

Portraits of John Quincy and Louisa C. (Johnson) Adams
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (APat@) Nixon
-Biography of Carl Sandburg
-John K. Andrews, Jr.

Haldeman left at 4:01 pm

Conversation No. 460-23

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  4:01 pm - 5:08 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Henry Brandon

Greetings

Refreshments
-Tea
-Navy coffee

Previous meeting with Brandon
-1960 Presidential campaign
-James B. (AScotty@) Reston

Brandon=s plans
-Book on Presidency

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 4:07 pm

Photograph
-Oliver F. (AOllie@) Atkins

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 5:08 pm

Brandon=s reporting from the United States
-Duration
-Brandon=s  view of events
-Internal events
-Foreign policy

Harry S Truman
-Foreign policy

Atkins entered at an unknown time after 4:07 pm

Photographs

Atkins left at an unknown time 5:07 pm

Truman
-Korean War
-Truman doctrine
-Marshall Plan

Requirements of Presidency

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:01 pm

Refreshment

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:08 pm

Requirements of Presidency
-Ability to solve complex problems
-Winston S. Churchill
-Leadership
-Vietnam
-Middle East
-East/West relations
-Pacific
-People=s Republic of China
-Japan
-Principles
-Basic freedoms
-Guarantees
-Limits of power
-British understanding
-British history
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Presidency
-Intellect
-Vocabulary
-Compared to Thomas Jefferson
-Leadership
-Compared to Theodore (ATeddy@) Roosevelt
-Accomplishments
-Leadership
-Policies
-Popular views

The President=s mentors
-Foreign policy
-President=s view of world
-President=s previous conversation with Admiral Sir Nigel Henderson
-Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles
-Policies of 1950s
-Brinkmanship
-Massive Retaliation
-Rationale

Cuban Missile Crisis
-John F. Kennedy
-Communists
-Soviet Union
-United States= policy
-Nuclear parity
-Differences in forces
-Effect
-People=s Republic of China and Soviet Union

North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Need for strength
-Conventional forces
-Rationale
-Changes over time
-President=s view
-Sino/Soviet split
-Eastern Europe
-Examples
-Partnership with Europe
-Changes over time

Complexity of today=s world
-Churchill
-Geopolitical sophistication
-The President=s view
-The Presidency
-Need for flexible and idealistic leadership
-Americans
-Idealistic nature
-People=s Republic of China
-US policy
-Idealistic nature

-United Nations
-International organizations
-Leaders= needs
-Sense of history
-Knowledge of real world
-Good organization
-Good overview
-Sense of priorities
-Wilson
-President=s view
-Roosevelt
-Pragmatism
-Present era
-President=s efforts
-Laos (Lam Son)
-Need for perspective
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting

Vietnam
-President=s position
-Effect on world situation
-Laos (Lam Son)
-Effect on future
-Troop strength
-Need for perspective
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Need for perspective
-Outcome of Vietnam conflict

US foreign policy
-President=s previous conversation with Brandon
-Kennedy policy
-Changes in US foreign policy
-Vietnam
-Korea
-Popular views
-Support for policies
-United States= world view
-Asia
-Europe
-Latin America
-Africa

-New Isolationism
-Marshall Plan
-Joseph McCarthy
-Proponents
-Disillusionment
-Democratic movements
-Concern over domestic problems
-Compared 1940s and 1950s
-Race
-Students
-Korea
-Eisenhower

Isolationism in Europe
-France and Germany
-Great Britain
-Edward R. G. Heath
-Nixon Doctrine
-State of the World message
-Nuclear War
-Changes

US foreign policy
-Demand for independence in developing nations
-Domestic concern
-Military forces
-Effect on foreign policy
-Isolationism
-Blacks
-Indians
-Old Isolationism
-Europe
-New Isolationism
-President=s view
-Communist powers
-Soviet Union
-People=s Republic of China
-Communist expansionist ambitions
-East/West relations
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Europe=s colonial experience
-United States
-Soviet Union

-People=s Republic of China
-Mao Tse-tung
-Communism
-View of world
-US response
-Need for West to maintain strength worldwide

Cambodia
-The President=s decision
-November 3 speech
-Role of advisors
-Compared to Laos (Lam Son)
-Failure
-Ground forces
-Bombing
-Rationale
-Public opinion
-Rationale
-Casualties
-North Vietnamese sanctuaries
-Possible overthrow of Cambodian government
-Effect on US troop withdrawal

The President=s use of Camp David
-Decisionmaking
-Foreign policy
-Domestic policy
-Davis-Bacon Act
-Law school training

The President=s decisionmaking techniques
-Role of advisors
-John Quincy and Louisa C. (Johnson) Adams portraits ceremony
-Biography of Abraham Lincoln
-Lincoln=s Administration
-Lyndon B. Johnson=s technique
-Compared to the President=s technique
-Unemotional decisionmaking
-The President=s view
-Wilson
-Effect of television

Historical view of present administration
-Vietnam
-Environment
-Welfare
-Health
-Revenue sharing
-Government reorganization
-Reasonable approach to problems
-Media
-President=s previous press conference
-Leslie T. (ABob@) Hope
-US need for mature leadership
-The Presidency
-Effect of war
-Role in the world

The President=s view of world
-Present problems

Impact of television
-The President
-News summaries
-Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.
-Thomas E. Jarriel
-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Effect on populace
-Compared to previous generations
-Effect on future
-The Presidency
-Press conference
-The President=s image
-Timing
-Questions and answers
-Brandon
-Future press conferences
-The President=s methods and preparations
-Briefings

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:01 pm

The President=s schedule
-William P. Rogers

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:08 pm

Press conferences
-Answers to questions
-Brevity

Vietnam
-US policy for Southeast Asia
-US troop withdrawals
-US policy
-Southeast Asia
-US assistance
-Independence
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-US troop withdrawals
-Compared to South Korea
-Mutual withdrawal of forces
-South Vietnam
-Laos and Cambodia
-Prospects for future
-Difficulties
-Casualties
-Region
-Press reports
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-South Vietnamese
-Roy H. Thomson
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Follow-up meeting with Brandon

The President=s schedule
-Follow-up meeting with Brandon
-Kissinger

[The President talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 4:01 pm and 5:08 pm]

[Conversation No. 460-23A]

Follow-up meeting with Brandon
-Schedule

[End of telephone conversation]

Vietnam
-Laos (Lam Son)
-President=s view
-Compared to Cambodian operation
-Bombing
-Hanoi

Farewells

Brandon left at 5:08 pm

Conversation No. 460-24

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:08 pm and 5:15 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule
-Henry A. Kissinger
-William P. Rogers

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:15 pm

Conversation No. 460-25

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  5:15 pm - 5:45 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with William P. Rogers

Greetings

Vietnam
-Charles W. Yost
-Yost=s conversation with U Thant
-South Vietnamese Ambassador to United Nations
-Meeting with Thant
-Laos
-Military situation
-Thant=s comments
-US response
-Rogers
-George H. W. Bush
-Possible publicity
-Thant
-Instructions for Yost

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  16m 59s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

People=s Republic of China
-Rogers= speech
-Kissinger
-US position
-Bush
-Timing
-Korean elections
-Vietnam references
-Soviet Union

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Possible speech by the President
-Negotiations
-President=s view
-Soviet Union
-Future negotiations on other issues
-Antiballistic missiles
-Timing
-Negotiations
-Rogers= view
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Need for progress
-Public relations
-Administration efforts
-Public relations
-Defense Department
-The President
-Woody Hayes
-Vincent T. (AVince@) Lombardi
-Theodore S. (ATed@) Williams
-Press
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Conversation with the President
-Department of State policy
-Need to develop United States= strategy

The President=s schedule
-Camp David
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (APat@) Nixon
-New York

Appointments
-Paul W. Thompson
-Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD]
-George W. Romney
-Housing integration
-Blacks
-Jews
-Public housing
-John D. Ehrlichman

-Public housing
-Suburbs
-Washington state problems
-Economics

Rogers C. B. Morton

John B. Connally
-Camp David

Rogers left at 5:45 pm

Conversation No. 460-26

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:45 pm and 5:47 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

The President=s schedule
-Henry A. Kissinger

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:47 pm

Conversation No. 460-27

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  5:47 pm - 6:08 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger

United States= foreign policy
-Berlin negotiations
-Kissinger=s forthcoming meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Cable from [David] Kenneth Rush

-Chile
-Port visit by USS Enterprise
-Salvador Allende Gossens
-Statement
-William P. Rogers= view
-Possible cancellation
-Melvin R. Laird
-President=s view
-Delay

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  1m 34s  ]

PEOPLE=S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

Vietnam
-Bombing authorization
-Laird
-Possible delay
-President=s reasoning
-Telegraphnoye Agentstvo Sovyetskovo Soyuza [TASS] statement
-Kissinger
-Aleksei N. Kosygin
-Cambodia
-President=s view
-Role of domestic situation
-W[illiam] Stuart Symington and George D. Aiken

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration:  5m 56s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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

Kissinger=s meeting with Henry M. (AScoop@) Jackson
-Berlin negotiations

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Meeting with Rogers
-Possible public statement
-The President
-Arms control
-Gerard C. Smith
-Possible public statement

Media
-State of the World message
-Media coverage
-Time
-John F. Kennedy
-Robert S. McNamara
-Kissinger=s meeting with European press
-Henry Brandon
-Washington Post
-Max Frankel
-Coverage
-Amount of coverage
-H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer=s press conference
-Press
-General John W. Vogt, Jr.
-Harry Reasoner

-Laos (Lam Son)
-Kissinger=s previous conversation with James B. (AScotty@) Reston
-Marvin L. Kalb show
-Kissinger=s appearance
-Laos (Lam Son)
-Haldeman
-Herbert G. Klein
-Responses
-Kissinger=s previous conversation with Reston
-Laos (Lam Son)
-Reston=s views
-Administration=s public relations efforts
-American public
-Kissinger=s response
-Souvanna Phouma
-North Vietnam
-Occupation
-View of press
-End of war
-President=s position
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-Problems
-Ability
-Leadership

Media
-Reston
-Kissinger=s efforts
-Laird
-Ehrlichman
-Congressional briefings
-Editorials
-Kissinger=s role in Middle East
-SALT
-State of the World

Kissinger left at 6:08 pm

Conversation No. 460-28

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  6:09 pm - 6:45 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

The President=s schedule
-Peter G. Peterson
-Congress
-Receiving diplomatic credentials

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 6:09 pm

-Frederic V. Malek

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm

-Diplomatic credentials
-Medals of Honor ceremonies
-The Vice President=s role
-Press coverage

Middle East
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Role
-President=s position
-Kissinger
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Judgement
-Haldeman=s conversation with Kissinger
-Haig
-William P. Rogers

The President=s schedule
-Previous meeting with youngster
-Color report
-Inaccuracies
-President=s recollection

-Staff efforts
-Malek
-Richard Ferry
-Role

Middle East
-Kissinger
-Haig

Bull, Malek, and Ferry entered at 6:15 pm

Greetings

Ferry
-Efforts
-President=s appreciation
-Rogers C. B. Morton

Gifts

Bull, et al. left at 6:17 pm

Personnel
-Malek
-[Forename unknown] Hoffman=s job
-Peter M. Flanigan
-J. Willard (ABill@) Marriott, Jr.
-Roy L. Ash=s conversation with Haldeman
-Charles D. (ATex@) Thornton

Bull entered at an unknown time after 6:17 pm

Call from Rogers

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:18 pm

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:18 pm]

[Conversation No. 460-28A]

Call to Rogers

[End of telephone conversation]

Personnel
-Ambassadors
-Thornton
-Australia
-Mexico
-Marriott
-Australia
-Mexico

[The President talked with Rogers between 6:18 pm and 6:19 pm]

[Conversation No. 460-28B]

Forthcoming meeting, 2/27
-Timing

[End of telephone conversation]

-Kissinger
-Melvin R. Laird
-Richard M. Helms
-Rogers
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Israel

Personnel
-Thornton
-Hoffman=s job
-Ambassadorship
-John N. Irwin, II=s job
-Sale of stock
-Hoffman job

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration:  3m 9s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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

Public relations efforts
-John B. Connally
-George P. Shultz
-John D. Ehrlichman
-White House staff
-Speeches
-Middle East
-Kissinger=s efforts
-Background briefings
-President=s role
-Connally=s views
-The President=s schedule
-George H. W. Bush
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Charles W. Colson=s role
-Strategy
-Articles
-Television

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 6:19 pm and 6:29 pm]

[Conversation No. 460-28C]

Call to Rogers

[End of telephone conversation]

Public relations efforts
-The President
-White House staff
-The President=s previous remarks
-Reference to Carl Sandburg

[The President talked with Rogers between 6:29 pm and 6:30 pm]

[Conversation No. 460-28D]

Preparation for meeting

[End of telephone conversation]

Middle East
-Kissinger

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration:  1m  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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

-Forthcoming meeting, February 27

Kissinger
-President=s conversation with James B. (AScotty@) Reston
-Kissinger
-Briefing to Congressmen
-Ehrlichman=s briefing about revenue sharing
-Ehrlichman=s call to Reston
-Michael J. (AMike@) Mansfield
-Carl B. Albert

-Kissinger=s television appearance
-Laos comment

J. William Fulbright
-Call to Haldeman
-Secret meeting

Kissinger
-State Department
-Role
-Television appearance
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Bernard Kalb
-Circumstances
-The President=s position

Television appearances
-Ehrlichman
-Kissinger
-Shultz
-White House staff
-The President=s position
-Flanigan
-Clark MacGregor
-Rose Mary Woods
-MacGregor
-Kissinger
-Foreign policy
-President=s position
-The President=s policy about television appearances

George H. Gallup polls
-Laos
-Effect
-Discussion of figures
-Forthcoming poll
-Compared to Cambodia
-Figures
-Changes

-Economy
-Forthcoming press conference
-Need for regular polls

The President and Haldeman left at 6:45 pm

Conversation No. 460-29

Date:  February 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 6:45 pm and 11:59 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown men [Secret Service] met

The President=s schedule

Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 11:59 pm