Conversation No. 543‑1

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 3:49 pm and 5:05 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with William P. Rogers; this recording begins at an unknown time while the meeting is in progress.

Foreign relations
-Negotiations
‑Rogers= conversation with Clark MacGregor
‑Foreign policy briefing for members of Congress
‑George H.W. Bush, Rogers
‑Henry A. Kissinger's briefings 
-Samuel L. Devine's group 
-Barry M. Goldwater's group
‑National Review hoax on secret Vietnam War documents
‑Walter Cronkite's reaction to hoax revelation
‑William F. Buckley, Jr.

Pentagon Papers
‑Effect of case on the Democrats
‑Edward M. (ATed@) Kennedy, John F. Kennedy
‑Edmund S. Muskie

The US initiative towards the People's Republic of China [PRC]
‑Poll taken in Japan
‑Effect on Asian and world peace
‑The PRC
‑Japan's policy towards the PRC
‑Japan vis‑a‑vis the US
‑United Nations [UN] membership
‑The PRC, Taiwan, Republic of China [ROC]
‑Two‑China policy
‑UN membership for PRC, Taiwan

Michael J. (AMike@) Mansfield's Congressional resolution
‑Rogers= conversation with Kissinger and MacGregor
‑Mansfield's possible concurrent resolution on PRC
-Kissinger

Diplomatic credentials ceremony, July 22, 1971
‑Haiti, Laos, Fiji, Sierra Leone

Mansfield's resolution

Kissinger entered at 4:05 pm.

Mansfield's resolution
‑Support for the President's foreign policy
‑Mansfield amendment
‑Forthcoming foreign policy endeavors
‑Rogers= conversation with Mansfield
‑Memorandum
‑Wording
‑Vietnam ceasefire
‑Coordination with John C. Stennis
‑Vietnam ceasefire, withdrawal of military forces, prisoners of war [POWs]
‑Date
‑The President's October 7, 1970 speech
-Hanoi
‑Effect of resolution on relations between the President and Congress
-MacGregor

PRC initiative
‑White House efforts
‑Briefings of Congressmen on the PRC
‑MacGregor
‑Attendees
‑Forthcoming US‑PRC summit
‑Comparison with previous summits
‑Kissinger's 1968 article
‑Changes after meeting the President
‑Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy's meetings with Soviet leaders
‑The President's speech
‑Japanese poll

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration:  12s  ]

SUDAN

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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The PRC initiative
‑Public response
‑Letters
‑Young people's reaction

UN
-China representation issue

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National Security]
[Duration:  13m 7s  ]

CHINA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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‑Japanese poll
‑Two‑China policy
-Microcosm of global opinion

Vietnam War
‑Status of negotiations
-Speculations on the effect of the PRC initiative
-Chou En-lai
‑Recent statements
‑Seven Points
-Chou=s statements to student group
‑Rogers= recent conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin

The PRC
-Dobrynin=s comments
‑People
‑The Long March
‑Chou En‑lai
-Background

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[National Security]
[Duration:  5m  41s  ]

JAPAN

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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Japan
‑Forthcoming Joint Cabinet Ministers meeting
-Date
-Eisaku Sato
‑Takeo Fukuda
‑Dinner

Rogers= schedule
‑Forthcoming meeting with Indian Ambassador

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security]
[Duration:  1m 38s  ]

TAIWAN, REPUBLIC OF CHINA [ROC]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
‑Middle East
-Europe

Dalai Lama
‑Schedule
-Postponement
‑Film on Tibet produced by the US Information Agency [USIA]

Voice of America [VOA]
‑Broadcasts
-USSR

Handling of memoranda

The PRC trip results
‑Frozen financial assets in Western banks
-Belgium bank
‑Cultural, student exchanges
‑Table Tennis team
-Peking opera
‑Cultural events

Japan
‑Cancellation of visit by five US senators
-J. William Fulbright
‑Kissinger=s conversation with Robert A. Taft, Jr. (?)
‑The PRC

-Edward M. (ATed@) Kennedy
‑Forthcoming US trip by Fukuda and other Ministers
‑Dinner
‑Nobuku Kishi
‑Fukuda's political situation
‑Nobuhiko Ushiba
‑Rogers and U. Alexis Johnson

The President=s schedule
‑Forthcoming meeting with Melvin R. Laird

Rogers left at 4:51 pm.

The PRC initiative
‑Letters from abroad
‑Forthcoming trip by the President
‑Advance work
‑John D. Ehrlichman
‑Position
‑PRC perceptions
-US delegation
‑Dwight L. Chapin
‑Coordination
‑Kissinger
‑H.R. (ABob@) Haldeman
‑Ronald H. Walker
‑Kissinger's forthcoming trip to the PRC
‑Walker
‑Level of staff
-Ehrlichman
‑Vernon A. Walters= contacts with the PRC
‑Treatment

UN membership
‑Taiwan
‑US stance on issue
‑Chiang Kai‑shek
-Public support

PRC initiative
-Kissinger's briefing of Congressional leaders
‑MacGregor
‑Mansfield=s resolution

-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Wording
-Mansfield
‑Forthcoming US-PRC Summit
‑Perceptions, expectations
‑USSR, Vietnam

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[National Security]
[Duration:  3s  ]

PRC

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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-Kissinger=s briefing of Congressional leaders
-The President
‑Vietnam

Schedule
‑Meeting on Vietnam
‑Kissinger's prior commitment to meet with Nelson A. Rockefeller
‑The President's schedule
‑Laird meeting
‑Kissinger's schedule
-Haldeman=s schedule
‑Rockefeller
‑Anne Whitman's call

Vietnam
‑Status of negotiations
‑Le Duc Tho
‑Projected November 1971 announcement

-POWs
-Senate
‑Situation of the Army of South Vietnam [ARVN]
‑Laird
‑Stockpiling of supplies

Rockefeller's schedule
‑Whitman
-Dinner

Kissinger left at 5:05 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑2

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:05 pm and 5:16 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

Schedule
‑H.R. (ABob@) Haldeman
‑Forthcoming Presidential briefing in the Cabinet Room

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:16 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑3

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  5:16 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 6‑186]

Conversation No. 543‑4

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  5:16 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man [Stephen B. Bull?].

Schedule

The President and the unknown man [Bull?] left at 5:16 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑5

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:17 pm and 5:35 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown people (Secret Service?) met.

[Telephone rings]

An unknown person talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 5:35 pm.

The President=s location
-Cabinet Room

[An unknown person (Secret Service?) talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 5:35 pm]

[Conversation No. 543-5A]

The President=s location
-Cabinet Room

[End of conversation]

This recording was cut off at an unknown time before 5:35 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑6

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 5:35 pm and 6:20 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with an unknown man.

[Conversation No. 543-6A]

H.R. (ABob@) Haldeman

[End of conversation]

Haldeman entered at 5:36 pm.

The President's schedule
‑The President's meeting with Melvin R. Laird
‑Forthcoming visit to the People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Public reaction
‑Motorcade and communications considerations
‑Radio communication

Laird and Henry A. Kissinger entered at 5:36 pm.

[The President talked with the White House operator at 5:36 pm]

[Conversation No. 543-6B]

[Telephone call not completed]

[End of telephone conversation]

Gloria Steinem
‑Contact with Kissinger, the President
‑Dinner with Laird
‑Merv Griffin
‑New Yorker
‑Contacts during campaign in 1968
‑Raymond K. Price, Jr.

Foreign relations
‑US-Japan
‑Laird's trip to Japan
‑Changes in Cabinet
‑Former Defense Agency Chief
‑Yasuhiro Nakasone
‑New Defense Agency Chief
‑Eisaku Sato
‑Review of Japanese defense forces
-Seventh and Eleventh Divisions
-Troops
-Equipment
-Compared to Germany and the US

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration:  9s  ]

JAPAN

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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-Military equipment
-US sales to Japan
-Budget
-Size of Japanese Defense Forces
-Modernization
-Japanese Air Force
-F-4 Phantoms
-US policy towards Japan
-National Security Decision Memorandum [NSDM]
-Economic Assistance Fund
-Vietnam
-Cambodia
-Japan=s role in Asia

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

CHINA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

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-Laird=s trip to Japan
-Laird=s conversations with Japanese officials
-The Nixon Doctrine
-PRC
-Announcement of the PRC initiative
-Taiwan
-Spiro T. Agnew, John B. Connally, Donald H. Rumsfeld

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[National Security]
[Duration:  3m 44s  ]

MILITARY

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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-Laird=s conversation with Sato
-The President=s July 6, 1971 Kansas City speech
-PRC

-Rochester, New York, Alabama
-Laird=s meeting with Japanese Ambassador (Nobuhiko Ushiba)
-William P. Rogers
-Sato
-Diet
-First visit by a Secretary of Defense
-Okinawa

An unknown man (Manolo Sanchez?) entered at an unknown time after 5:36 pm.

Refreshments

The unknown man (Sanchez?) left at an unknown time before 6:20 pm.

-US Embassy in Japan
-Staff
-Armin H. Meyer
-Compared to US Embassy in the Republic of Korea [ROK]
-Staff
-William J. Porter
-Military attaché
-Porter
-US-ROK relations
-Laird=s trip to ROK
-Modernization

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security]
[Duration:  4m 47s  ]

KOREA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7

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-Visits with ROK troops
-Visits with US troops
-Drug abuse
-Japan
-Sexual activity
-@Trial marriages@
-Kissinger=s opinion
-Contraception, abortion
-Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-People=s Democratic Republic of Korea [PDRK]
-Proximity of PDRK Air Force to Seoul
-Laird=s 1955 visit to ROK

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[National Security]
[Duration:  1m 40s  ]

KOREA, UNITED NATIONS [UN]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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US military
-Morale
-ROK
-Japan
-Drug abuse
-Laird=s conversation with Jerome H. Jaffe
-Hawaii
-Perceptions from news reports
-Walter Cronkite
-Troops in South Vietnam
-Heroin
-Marijuana
-Public perception

South Vietnam
‑Military supplies
‑Future conditions
-US troop withdrawal
-Congressional funding
-Effect on negotiations
‑Possible settlement
‑Effect

David Packard
‑The President's conversations during Laird's absence
‑Trip to California
‑Bohemian Grove
‑Conversation with Kissinger
‑Departure from office

The Vietnam War
‑US forces
‑Fire Base Mary Ann
-Kissinger=s knowledge
-Command problems
‑Casualties
-Investigation
‑The Geneva Convention violation
‑Burning of North Vietnamese bodies
‑Compared to Guadalcanal
-United State Marine Corps [USMC]
‑Japanese Casualties
‑Demilitarized zone [DMZ]
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Possible US action
-Troop strength
-Potential casualties
-South Vietnam
-Casualties
-Timing
-PRC trip
-B-52 bombing sorties
‑Laos
‑Military situation
-Press coverage
-Cambodia
‑Plain of Jars

-Meo tribesmen
-Souvanna Phouma
-North Vietnam
‑Cambodia
‑Situation
-Conroys
-Pnhom Penh
-Lon Nol
‑Compared with perception given by network television coverage
-North Vietnam
-Military situation
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Effect of US bombing sorties

Congress
‑Laird's testimony
‑John C. Stennis
‑Stance
-Laos
-Negotiations
‑Anti-ballistic missiles [ABM]
‑Weapons tests
‑Military manpower
-Troop strength in South Vietnam
‑Selective Service
-PRC initiative
-Congressional support for the President
‑Armed Services committees
‑Laird's testimonies
‑Effectiveness
-Department of the Army
-Budget
-Morale

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Privacy]
[Duration:  37s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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Spiro T. Agnew
-Laird=s Congressional testimony
‑Blacks
‑Effect of comments on voters
‑Perceptions

Laird left at an unknown time before 6:20 pm.

Nelson A. Rockefeller
‑Forthcoming meeting
-President=s schedule
‑Support for the administration's policies
-Compared to John V. Lindsay
-Kissinger=s advice

Vietnam War settlement
‑Forthcoming negotiations in Paris
-Possibility of cancellation
‑Record of secret negotiations
‑Options for US action

Rockefeller
‑Support for the President
‑The President's leadership
‑Rockefeller's New York contacts
‑Effectiveness of comments

The PRC initiative
‑Letters to Kissinger
‑Harvard professor

Kissinger left at 6:20 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑7

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 6:20 pm and 6:25 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man [Alexander P. Butterfield?].

President=s schedule
-Items to be signed

The unknown man [Butterfield?] left at an unknown time before 6:25 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑8

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  6:25 pm ‑ 6:46 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

David M. Kennedy
‑Possible Ambassadorial appointment
‑Haldeman=s conversation with John B. Connally
‑Loyalty to the President
‑Compared to businessmen
‑State Department influence
‑Support for appointment
‑Henry A. Kissinger

Eisenhower silver dollar
‑Value
‑Forms available
‑Presentation gifts
‑Treasury Department
‑Appropriateness

George H. Gallup poll
-Preliminary result

Kissinger entered at 6:28 pm.

The People=s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
‑Letter to Kissinger
‑Handling of initiative
‑Contrast with Cambodian action
‑Chairman of group from Harvard University
‑Letter from Franklin Murphy to Haldeman, Kissinger
‑Trip to Japan
‑George Franklyn's letter
‑Leader class
‑Reaction
‑Vatican statement
‑Letter
‑Richard E. Neustadt
‑Kennedy Center at Harvard
-Robert F. Kennedy, Edward M. (ATed@) Kennedy
‑Max Frankel's comment to Kissinger
‑Effect of initiative on the world
-PRC initiative announcement
-Word count

Kissinger=s forthcoming meeting with Nelson A. Rockefeller

Kissinger left at 6:35 pm.

The PRC initiative
‑Poll results
-Dwight L. Chapin
‑Approval of the President
‑Effect of initiative
‑Recent effect of Pentagon Papers case
‑Approval, disapproval

[Haldeman talked with an unknown member of his staff at an unknown time between 6:35 pm and 6:46 pm]

[Conversation No. 543‑7A]

Request for folder of poll results

[End of telephone conversation]

The PRC initiative
‑Poll results
-Upcoming Louis Harris poll
‑Approval, disapproval
‑Types of people in poll sample

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 6:35 pm.

Delivery of poll results

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 6:46 pm.

Charles E. Chamberlain return telephone call

The PRC initiative
‑Poll results
‑Harris, Gallup
‑Types of people polled
‑Blacks
‑Students
‑Youth support
-Awareness, approval
‑Education, age, gender, income level, region
‑Amount of very favorable rating
‑Effect
-Chapin

Schedule
‑July 23, 1971
‑Time of meetings
‑Kissinger

The President and Haldeman left at 6:46 pm.

Conversation No. 543‑9

Date:  July 22, 1971
Time:  6:46 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown men (Secret Service?) met.

The President's location

This recording was cut off at 6:46 pm.