Conversation No. 474-1

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  9:40 am - 9:55 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

Seating

Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] figures
-Kissinger
-Kissinger=s previous briefing
-Congressional leaders
-Memorandum for the President

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:40 am

President=s schedule
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Cabinet meeting

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:55 am

Vietnam
-Washington Post story, March 26, 1971
-President=s response
-Peter Osnos
-Quotes by an American major

Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:40 am

Washington Post delivery

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:55 am

Vietnam
-Washington Post story
-A major=s quotes
-Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.

-President=s view
-Ranks
-Osnos
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Content of press account
-Abrams
-Washington Post story
-A major=s quotes
-President=s concern

Abrams
-Work
-Kissinger=s view
-Possible appointment as Chief of Staff
-Army=s needs
-Kissinger=s view
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-General Richard G. Stilwell

Vietnam
-Washington Post story
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Account
-Congressmen
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-End of operation
-Kissinger=s view
-President=s March 14, 1971 press conference
-US and South Vietnam command
-General Nguyen Van Thieu=s decision
-Weather
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] losses
-Enemy losses
-Number
-Abrams
-South Vietnamese morale
-Ellsworth F. Bunker memorandum
-Success of operation
-Publicity
-Thieu
-Bunker
-Cable

-President=s assessment
-Washington Post story
-A major=s quotes
-Haig
-Army and Air Force morale
-Press
-Public opinion
-President=s view
-Kissinger=s previous meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-North Vietnam
-President=s forthcoming announcement
-President=s forthcoming speech
-William P. Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Negotiations
-Dobrynin
-Timing
-Kissinger=s response
-President=s forthcoming speech, April 7, 1971
-Negotiations
-Troop withdrawals
-Number
-Effect of Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Length
-Writer
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-William L. Safire
-Winston Lord
-October 10, 1970 Speech
-Draft
-President=s delivery
-Compared with Howard K. Smith interview
-Delivery of draft
-Press
-Kissinger=s role
-Stewart J. O. and Joseph W. Alsop
-S. J. O. Alsop=s position
-Withdrawal
-President=s response
-Democrats= caucus
-A vote on March 31, 1971

-President=s statements
-President=s policies
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs

Southerners

Boggs
-Previous dinner with Kissinger
-Support for the President
-Compared with Republicans

Republicans
-Support for President
-Congressional leaders
-Draft

Vietnam
-Television coverage
-Effect
-Abraham Lincoln=s presidency
-Shenandoah Valley
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Evaluation
-President=s view
-Press
-Public relations efforts
-President=s view
-New York Times, March 25, 1971
-Television
-Coverage
-Previous footage
-Public opinion
-Effect
-Casualties
-Decreases
-Future military action
-Kissinger=s view
-Possible North Vietnamese attacks
-Possible ARVN attacks
-Effect on public opinion
-Kissinger=s view
-I, III, IV Corps

-US role
-President=s view
-South Vietnamese role
-US role
-Air power
-A meeting with Laird and Moorer
-Future
-Military equipment and material
-Air strikes
-Number
-Attacks on Kissinger

Kissinger left at 9:55 am

Conversation No. 474-2

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  9:55 am - 10:00 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman

Domestic Intelligence Advisory Board
-Executive Order
-Staff

Cabinet meeting
-Arthur F. Burns
-A speech by Herbert Stein
-Federal Reserve Board
-Burns= previous meeting with the President
-President=s influence with Stein, Paul W. McCracken
-A report on Cabinet meeting by friends
-Agenda [Stabilization of wages and prices]
-McCracken
-Ehrlichman=s view
-James D. Hodgson
-President=s schedule
-Meeting with Justinian Society

-Ehrlichman=s role
-Length
-Agenda
-Hodgson=s proposal
-Discussion
-President=s remarks
-President=s decision
-Announcement at meeting
-New York Times story
-Signing of Executive Order on March 29, 1971 in San Clemente
-Attendees
-Hodgson=s previous meeting with George Meany
-Meany=s response
-Support
-Call to a building trade union president

Ronald W. Reagan
-Position on California Rural Legal Assistance [CRLA]
-Possible meeting of Ehrlichman and President on Air Force One
-Possible call from President
-Forthcoming meeting with President
-H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman and Ehrlichman=s previous meeting with the President
-Possible responses

The President and Ehrlichman left at 10:00 am

Conversation No. 474-3

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:00 am and 11:12 am
Location:  Oval Office

Nellie L. Yates [?] met with unknown men [maintenance]

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Non-historical]
[Duration:  38s  ]

[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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Yates [?] and the unknown men [maintenance] left at an unknown time before 11:12 am

Conversation No. 474-4

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  11:15 am - 11:17 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

President=s schedule
-Justinian Society
-Number attending
-John A. Volpe
-President=s role
-Roosevelt Room
-Anthony J. Celebrezze and [Name unintelligible]
-White House Conference on Drugs
-Religious leaders
-President=s role
-Time of meeting

Bull left at 11:17 am

Conversation No. 474-5
Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 11:17 am and 11:22 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

President=s schedule
-White House Conference on Drugs
-Religious leaders
-White House theater
-Oval Office
-President=s remarks
-Length of President=s meeting
-Oval Office
-Scheduler
-Length of meeting
-Number attending
-Time involved
-President=s role

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 11:17 am

-H. R. (ABob@) Haldeman
-President=s role

Haldeman=s location
-Meeting with Henry A. Kissinger

President=s schedule
-Justinian Society
-Drug conference
-Time
-Justinian Society
-An afternoon event
-Tour
-Volpe
-President=s role
-Tour of Oval Office
-Volpe, President

The President, Bull, and Butterfield left at 11:22 am

Conversation No. 474-6

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 11:22 am and 11:35 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

President=s schedule
-Meeting with Justinian Society lawyers
-President=s role
-Arrangements
-President=s role
-John A. Volpe=s understanding
-Cabinet meeting
-Number attending
-Tour of Oval Office

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:35 am

Conversation No. 474-7

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 11:22 am and 2:54 pm
Location:  Oval Office

A tour group [members of the Justinian Society] met with the President outside the Oval Office

Greetings

[General conversation]

Recording ends at an unknown time before 2:54 pm

Conversation No. 474-8

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown after 4:09 pm until 4:53 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Melvin R. Laird, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, David Packard, Henry A. Kissinger, General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and John B. Connally
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress; discontinuities occur during the recording]

Vietnam
-US casualties
-General Nguyen Van Thieu
-Laird=s previous conversation
-Air capabilities
-Helicopters
-Fixed-wing aircraft
-North Vietnamese losses
-South Vietnamese troops
-Supplies
-US role
-Thieu=s election
-Soviet Union
-South Vietnamese forces

Kissinger left at 4:25 pm

-Democrats in Congress
-Connally=s view
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Chubb plantation operation
-US withdrawal
-South Vietnamese supplies
-Carl B. Albert
-Caucus, March 30, 1971
-Recess schedule
-Albert
-President=s trip to California
-Laird=s conversations
-President=s previous conversation with Albert and [Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Support for the President

-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-President=s actions
-Vietnamization
-US troop withdrawal
-Date set by President
-Reasoning
-South Vietnamese stability
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Negotiating position
-Effect of possible democratic resolution
-POWs
-President=s view
-Thieu, Nguyen Cao Ky
-President=s Vietnam accomplishments
-Political situation
-US withdrawal
-Date set by Congress
-Effects
-South Vietnam=s future
-President=s view
-Date set by President
-Effects
-Date set by Congress
-Effects
-Possible cutoff of funds
-Possible Congressional action
-Effects
-President=s assessment
-President=s conversation with Boggs and Albert
-US troop withdrawals
-Air power
-Effect on South Vietnam
-Air power
-B-52 strikes
-Number
-Gunships
-Democrat Caucus
-Laird=s meeting, March 30, 1971
-Possible conversation
-President=s policy compared with Democrat actions
-Potential political considerations
-President=s forthcoming speech

-President=s policy
-Compared with Democrat action
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Moorer=s briefing
-Colors on chart
-Representations
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.=s view
-North Vietnamese forces
-Casualties
-Effectiveness
-Infiltration routes
-South Vietnamese forces
-Position
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-North Vietnamese tanks
-Number
-Attacks
-Number
-Helicopters
-Military situation
-Khe Sanh attack
-Assessment
-US action
-Withdrawal
-Supplies
-Helicopter
-North Vietnamese Army
-Reinforcements
-Supplies
-Artillery attacks
-DMZ
-North Vietnamese Army attacks
-Compared with Laos operation
-Supplies and artillery
-US air strikes
-Moorer=s assessment
-Weather
-Targets
-Timing
-President=s view
-Future strikes
-President=s view

-Weather
-Reconnaissance
-North Vietnam artillery presence
-US air strikes
-Considerations
-President=s view
-Press coverage
-An Associated Press [AP] dispatch concerning casualties
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-Number
-Tammy Arbuckle
-Department of Defense response
-Compared with reports on Cambodia
-President=s concern
-Television
-Effect
-Accuracy
-Department of Defense response
-ARVN
-Abrams
-Pentagon action
-Accuracy
-President=s view
-Current stories compared with 1968 Tet offensive
-Reasons
-Civil War, World War II
-President=s view
-Administration policy
-Laird=s call to AP
-Moorer=s March 25, 1971 press conference
-Democrats
-Laird=s forthcoming meeting on Capitol Hill
-Laird=s possible call to Russell B. Long
-Laird=s previous meetings
-Senators
-Briefing for Armed Services Committee
-Senators= response
-President=s view

Forthcoming Congressional testimony
-William P. Rogers
-Coordination with Laird

-Middle East
-House testimony

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration:  3m 39s  ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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President=s schedule
-California trip
-Weather
-Samuel Goldwyn
-Medal of Freedom award
-Health

Farewells

Laird, et al. left at 4:53 pm

Conversation No. 474-9

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:53 pm and 4:55 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator

Call to John N. Mitchell

Conversation No. 474-10

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:53 pm and 4:55 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man

President=s schedule
-Meeting with George P. Shultz
-California trip
-Departure time
-Meeting with Shultz

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

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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The President and the unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:55 pm

Conversation No. 474-11

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 4:53 pm and 4:55 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man

President=s call to John N. Mitchell

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:55 pm
Conversation No. 474-12

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  4:55 pm - 4:59 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with John N. Mitchell

President=s helicopter

Unknown issue
-Mitchell=s advice
-President=s view

Economy
-President=s policy
-Wage-price boards
-A response
-Davis-Bacon Act
-Public relations
-President=s previous dinner for businessmen
-John B. Connally=s role

Conversation No. 474-13

Date:  March 26, 1971
Time:  4:59 pm - 5:04 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with George P. Shultz

Economy
-A previous meeting
-Maurice H. Stans
-Administration spokesman
-Need for business support

-Paul W. McCracken
-Ezra Solomon
-Speaking ability
-Public relations efforts
-McCracken
-Solomon

The President and Shultz left at 5:04 pm