Conversation No. 556‑1

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  9:42 am - 10:00 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
[The conversation was in progress when the recording began]

Vietnam negotiations
-Possible publicity
-Possible settlement
-Condition
-North Vietnam
-Acceptance of Nguyen Van Thieu
-Timing
-Vietnamese election
-Possible publicity
-Philip C. Habib
-Xuan Thuy
-David K.E. Bruce
-Channels
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters

Pakistan
-Frank F. Church statement
-Massacre
-Public opinion

Vietnam negotiations
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Possible release
-Timing
-Relationship to possible settlement

US-People's Republic of China [PRC] relations
-Unknown person
-Totalitarianism
-Adolf Hitler

-Benito Mussolini
-Communists
-Pragmatism
-Francisco Franco
-Greece
-Philosophical opposition compared to diplomatic relations
-PRC
-Barry M. Goldwater

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Summit
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Letter
-Possible publication
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Channel
-Aleksei N. Kosygin

PRC
-Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward R.F. Cox
-Possible trip to Peking
-Possible commerce with US
-Boeing Corporation

USSR
-Kissinger's call to Gerard C. Smith
-[Kama River truck plant contract with Mack Trucks, Inc]
-Summit

[Pause]

Busing
-President's position
-Liberal’s
-Mood of country
-Increasing conservatism

President's popularity
-Visit to New York
-Reception
-Forthcoming presidential election
-Nelson A. Rockefeller's assessment

US foreign relations
-Kissinger’s forthcoming briefing
-Five power concept
-Hugh S. Sidey
-Asia
-Reassessment of policy
-Combat [French journal]
-Foreign commentary
-US-Soviet relations
-Peking

National defense
-Budget
-Anti-ballistic Missile [ABM] limitations
-Smith's proposal
-USSR reaction
-Domestic political reaction
-Conservatives
-Possible impact on Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  59s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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The President talked with an unknown person [H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman?] at an unknown time between 9:42 am and 10:00 am.

[Conversation No. 556-1A]

President's schedule
-Girls Nation meeting
-Press coverage
-News focus
-New Hampshire

[End of telephone conversation]

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration:  28s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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[Pause]

Vietnam negotiations
-Habib
-Leaks
-Bureaucracy
-William P. Rogers
-Habib
-Possible publicity
-Compared to PRC trip announcement
-Effect on PRC

President's schedule
-Trip to Maine

Kissinger left at 10:00 am.

Conversation No. 556-2

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  10:00 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man.

President's schedule

The unknown man left at 10:00 am.

Conversation No. 556-3

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  10:00 am - 10:03 am
Location:  Oval Office

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

President's schedule
-Forthcoming meeting with John B. Connally
-Rudolph A. Peterson meeting
-Congressional leadership meeting

The President and Haldeman left at 10:03 am.

Conversation No. 556-20

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 10:03 am and 10:54 am
Location:  Oval Office

Unknown people [Secret Service agents] met.

President’s location
-Oval Office
-Residence

Conversation No. 556-4

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  10:34 am - 11:38 am
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman. 
[The conversation was in progress when the recording began]

President's appearance before Girls Nation
-Photograph session
-President’s comments
-President’s comments
-Editing
-Role of women
-Thelma C. (“Pat’) Nixon
-Women's liberation

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:34 am.

Signature

Maurice H. Stans

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:37 am.

President's schedule
-Meetings

John B. Connally entered at 10:37 am.

Connally’s schedule
-Johnnie M. Walters
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-Forthcoming meeting with Rudolph A. Peterson

President's schedule
-Peterson’s meeting

US economy
-Proposed actions
-Strategy
-Possilbe involvement of Arthur F. Burns, Paul W. McCracken, Peter G. Peterson
-Secrecy
-President’s recent conversation with Burns
-Burns’ salary
-President’s instructions
-Burns as administration spokesman
-Forthcoming Time magazine story
-Timing
-Congressional recess
-People’s Republic of China [PRC] announcement
-Letter
-Task force
-Timing
-Announcement
-Connally’s recent statement
-Wage and price board
-Polls
-Recommendation
-Timing
-Need to show action
-State Department appointees briefing
-Comments by Connally and George P. Shultz
-Inflation
-Connally’s discussion with Time reporter [Larry Malkin]
-Policy change
-Objectives
-Inflation
-Employment
-Policy change
-Malkin
-Time story
-Possible problem
-Anticipation of Administration action
-Tax measures
-Budget
-Shultz
-Recommendations
-Connally’s possible comments
-Timing
-San Clemente
-New York Times article
-Compared to PRC announcement
-Pentagon Papers
-Lt. William L. Calley
-Vietnam
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Criticism
-Effect of crisis
-Public concern
-New York Times article
-Quoted
-Timing
-Effect of international monetary situation
-Wage and price freeze
-Wage Price Board
-Name
-Burns
-Forthcoming meeting
-Prices
-Credit
-Timing of action
-Import tax
-Possibility of Congressional approval
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Burns’s conversation with the President
-Burns's conversation with the Japanese ambassador
-Yen
-Flexibility
-Possible removal
-Scope
-Compared to Payne-Aldrich Tariff
-Psychological impact
-Pierre Rinfret's recommendation
-Speech
-Need for action
-President's position as leader
-Wage and price freeze
-Message to people
-Work and competitiveness
-Responsibility of labor and management
-Studies
-Timing
-Congressional recess
-Public move
-Economic indicators
-Unemployment rate
-Retail sales
-International situation
-Effect on timing
-Connally and Shultz meeting
-Connally's schedule
-Texas
-Contact with the President
-President's schedule
-California
-Shultz
-Risk-taking
-Possible international reaction
-Package
-Import tax
-Jobs
-Investment tax credit
-Budget constraints
-Wage and price freeze
-Effect on US public
-Republican goals
-Fiscal responsibility
-Determination to take action
-Protection of US economy
-Inflation
-Unemployment
-International economic relations
-President’s recent message to business

State Department
-Possible administrative change
-US embassies
-Economic ministers
-President's conversation with William P. Rogers
-Connally's talk with Rogers
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Peter Peterson
-Economic minister
-Treasury Department
-Commerce Department
-State Department
-Foreign service officials
-Economic views
-Economic minister
-Presidential appointment
-Rank
-Connally’s talk with Rogers
-Foreign service
-Compared to British
-Compared to Japanese
-Training

US economy
-Proposed action
-Automobile tax
-Effect of timing
-Fall new model season
-Television advertisement
-New model season
-Tax credit
-Railroad industry
-Need to help business
-Tax bill
-Veto
-Poor
-Football metaphor

President’s schedule
-Rudolph Peterson

Haldeman left at 11:06 am.

Rudolph Peterson, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and George H.W. Bush entered at 11:06 am; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

Photograph session

United Nations [UN] Development Program
-Peterson's appointment
-Timing
-Paul Hoffman
-Acquaintance with post
-International organizations
-Bush
-Connally
-Discussions with the President
-Multilateral compared to bilateral aid programs
-Political effect of multilateral action
-Congress
-Representation
-Foreign governments
-Hoffman's orientation
-Compared to Peterson
-The President, Connally, Bush
-Congress
-US public's view
-US interests
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Connally
-Views
-The President, Connally, Robert S. McNamara
-US diplomacy
-Compared to Japanese, Western Europe
-Economics
-Coordination in US government
-Department of the Treasury
-Connally
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Multilateral aid programs
-Treasury Department
-Funding
-World Bank
-Inter-American Development Bank
-Lack of US leverage
-US contribution
-President of Peru
-Position
-Possible change in US policy
-Treasury Department
-Bilateral relationships
-Inter-American Development Bank
-Brazil and unknown country
-Treasury Department
-Export-Import [Ex-IM] Bank
-Peterson
-Hoffman
-Coordination with Connally
-Inter-American Development Bank
-Coordination of international aid efforts
-Informal meetings
-McNamara, development banks
-State Department
-Board of Directors
-Ex-Im Bank
-Burns
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Exchange of views
-Agency for International Development [AID]
-John A. Hannah
-Dinner
-Timing
-State Department
-Kissinger
-McNamara
-Pierre-Paul Schweitzer
-International Monetary Fund [IMF]
-Meeting
-Timing
-IMF meeting
-McNamara
-Dinner
-US policy
-Representation in international bodies
-Congress
-Possible Congressional action
-Wright Patman's comments
-J. William Fulbright
-UN Development Program
-Hoffman
-Reorganization
-Administration support
-Agencies
-Contracts
-State Department
-Need for coordination
-Country program basis
-Compared to individual projects
-UN
-Public support
-Coordination of US officials
-Meeting

[General conversation]

The President's schedule
-Nashua, New Hampshire

Peterson, et al. left at 11:38 am.

Conversation No. 556-5

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  11:39 am - 12:02 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Leslie C. Arends, Gerald R. Ford, Robert P. Griffin, Hugh Scott, and William E. Timmons; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

[Rudolph A. Peterson]
-United Nations [UN]

Press

Congressional session
-President’s appreciation

John B. Connally
-Recent press conference
-Comments
-President’s opening to People’s Republic of China [PRC]
Instructions for griffin
-Automobile industry
-Prices
-Taxes
-Need for Congressional cooperation
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Discussion with the President and Connally
-Foreign competition
-Budget
-Charles E. Chamberlain

[Photograph session]
-Unknown person’s trip to New Orleans

Economy
-Possible actions

-Political effect
-Republican National Committee [RNC]
-Meeting with Senators
-President’s press conference
-Possible action
-Effect
-Business and labor
-Enforcement
-Analogy to Office of Price Administration [OPA]
-Arthur F. Burns
-Retail sales figures
-Home sales
-Unemployment rate
-Full-time workers
-Part-time workers
-Michigan, California, Illinois, Ohio
-Gordon L. Allott
-Draft
-Time limitation
-Bill
-Cloture
-Timing

Congressional action
-Michael J. Mansfield
-Appropriation bill
-Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW]
-Employment
-House Resolution [H R] 1
-Family assistance
-Campaign spending bill
-Jurisdictional dispute
-Interstate Commerce, House Administration, Ways and Means Committees
-Carl B. Albert, Harley O. Staggers, Mills, Wayne L. Hays
-Bill
-Interstate

US concerns
-President's trip throughout country
-Ohio and New York
-Generation of peace theme
-Public reception
-Vietnam
-Casualties
-Current figure compared to previous one
-President’s recent press conference
-Unemployment
-Relationship to Vietnam War
-Economy
-Foreign policy
-Pentagon Papers
-Effect on PRC trip
-Henry A. Kissinger's role
-Need to maintain secrecy	
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Great Britain
-France
-Japan
-Okinawa
-Negotiations
-Confidentiality
-Foreign visitors
-Senate
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Berlin
-Vietnam
-PRC
-Press
-PRC
-Lawyer-client privilege

Scott’s forthcoming trip to USSR
-Possible meeting with Aleksei N. Kosygin
-President’s recommendations
-PRC
-Confidentiality of channels
-State Department
-SALT
-Berlin
-Mutual and balanced force reductions
-President’s possible visit to USSR
-PRC

Foreign policy
-The President’s record compared to previous administrations
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Goals
-Timing
-Griffin’s campaign
-Vietnam
-Economy
-Employment

Economy
-Employment
-Survey
-Public opinion
-Foreign policy compared to domestic policy

Foreign policy
-Vietnam war policy
-Public support
-PRC
-Public support
-Recommendations for Congressional speeches
-Vietnam
-PRC
-Taiwan
-United Nations [UN]
-US goal
-Averting threat to peace
-Long-term benefit
Economy
-Inflation
-Unemmployment
-Administration’s intention to act
-President’s recent press conference
-Connally
-Contact with Congressmen
-Automobile sales
-Trade
-Most Favored Nation [MFN] status
-Romania and Bulgaria
-Vietnam War
-Romania
-Nicolae Ceausescu
-Bulgaria
-East-West trade
-Vietnam War
Kama River truck plan contract with Mack Trucks, Inc.
-Kissinger
-President’s approval
-Peters G. Peterson
-USSR
-Middle East
-Kissinger's briefing
-Griffin, Ford, and Arends

Gift
-Golf balls

Arends and Timmons left at 11:59 am.

HEW appropriation bill

Busing
-Administration's position
-Blacks

Lockheed vote
-William V. Roth, Jr. and J. Caleb Boggs
-Connally
-President's call to Boggs
-Clark MacGregor
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Dow chemical

Ford, Griffin, and Scott left at 12:02 pm.

Conversation No. 556-6

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

President’s schedule
-Forthcoming meeting
-[Signing ceremony of the report of the Council on Environment Quality]
-Attendees
-Number
-John C. Whitaker
-Press

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:06 pm.

Conversation No. 556-7

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

The President's schedule
-Briefcase
-Materials for signing

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:06 pm.

Conversation No. 556-8

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  12:06 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 7-64]

Conversation No. 556-9

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  12:06 pm - 12:13 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with John C. Whitaker, Russell E. Train, Robert Cahn, Gordon J. F. MacDonald, and Alexander P. Butterfield; press photographers were present at the beginning of the meeting.

Washington Post

President's visit to New York
-"No, No, Nanette"
-Ruby Keeler
-Bobby Van

[Photograph session]
-General conversation
-Environmentalism
-Clean air and water
-San Clemente

Rose Mary Woods [?] entered at an unknown time after 12:06 pm.

-Texas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts

Woods [?] left at an unknown time before 12:13 pm.

Report

Anecdote
-Bert Andrews
-New York Herald-Tribune
-State Department coverage
-John Foster Dulles
-Illustration of environmentalism

Dinner
-Unknown person's wife

Unknown person

President’s schedule
-California

Council on Environmental Quality staff
-President's appreciation for work

Presentation of gifts by President
-Paperweights

Whitaker, et al. left at 12:13 pm.

Conversation No. 556-10

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

Signing documents
-Pens
-Michael J. Mansfield

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:15 pm.

Conversation No. 556-11

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 7-65]

Conversation No. 556-12

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  12:15 pm - 12:16 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.

The President's schedule
-Memorandum
-Unknown secretary

Woods left at 12:16 pm.

Conversation No. 556-13

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  12:16 pm - 12:17 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with Wright Patman.

[See Conversation No. 7-66]

Conversation No. 556-14

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:17 pm and 12:20 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

The President's schedule
-Sequoia
-Menu selection

Instructions to Charles W. Colson

Henry A. Kissinger

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:20 pm.

Conversation No.556-15

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:17 pm and 12:20 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 7-67]

Conversation No. 556-16

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:17 pm and 12:20 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 7-68]

Conversation No. 556-17

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  Unknown between 12:17 pm and 12:20 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The White House operator talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 7-69]

Conversation No. 556-18

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  12:20 pm - 12:21 pm
Location:  Oval Office

The President talked with Linda Davis.

[See Conversation No. 7-70]

Conversation No. 556-19

Date:  August 6, 1971
Time:  12:21 pm - 12:37 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

George H.W. Bush

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 12:21 pm and 12:23 pm.

[Conversation No. 556-19A]

[See Conversation No. 7-71]

[End of telephone conversation]

Bush
-Schedule
-Trip to New Hampshire
-Barbara Bush

President's schedule

-Trip to New Hampshire
-Nursing home
-Governor of New Hampshire
-Louis C. Wyman
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Other guests

The President talked with Louise H. Dagney between 12:23 pm and 12:24 pm.

[Conversation No. 556-19B]

[See Conversation No. 7-72]

[End of telephone conversation]

President's schedule

Henry A. Kissinger entered at 12:24 pm.

Vietnam negotiations
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston's article
-North Vietnam objections
-George P. Shultz
-Background briefing
-Geneva Accords
-Paris
-US withdrawal
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Shultz
-Xuan Thuy
-US withdrawal
-Timing

People's Republic of China [PRC]
-New York Times article
-Xuan’s comment
-Red China compared to PRC

Orval H. Hansen

Marvin L. Esch

PRC
-Comments about Kissinger
-Admiration for intelligence
-Comments about the President
Vietnam negotiations
-Reston article
-Economic assistance
-Xuan’s comments
-Seven points
-US withdrawal
-Economic assistance
-Kissinger’s meeting
-North Vietnam line to USSR
-US advisors
-Aid
-Xuan
-US withdrawal
-Timing
-Le Duc Tho
-Return
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Election
-Possible action by North Vietnam
-Xuan
-Statement of principles
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Thieu
-USSR
-Chances for settlement
-Thieu
-Lt. Gen. Duong Van Minh

President's schedule
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Arthur F. Burns meeting
-NSC meeting
-Cabinet
-Paris negotiations
-Service secretaries
-Editors

State Department

President’s recent press conference
-Question

India-Pakistan crisis
-Kissinger’s conversation with Haldeman
-NSC
-Joseph J. Sisco
-State Department
-Arms embargo
-President’s position
-Rose May Woods
-Possible effect
-New York Times

USSR
-Dealings with US journalists

Vietnam negotiations
-Xuan’s comments
-Term PRC
-Nicolae Ceausescu
-State Department

The President, Kissinger, and Haldeman left at 12:37 pm.