Conversation No. 657-1

Date:  January 26, 1972
Time:  5:05 pm - 6:17 pm
Location:  Oval Office

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

Vietnam
-Press response to the President’s peace plan proposal speech, January 25, 1972
-Benjamin C. Bradlee
-Donald Oberdorfer, Jr.
-North Vietnam’s reaction to publication of terms
-US negotiating
-Strategy
-Seven points
-Liberals
-Kissinger’s press conference, January 26, 1972
	-Public and private positions
-North Vietnam’s reaction to publication of terms
-William J. Porter
	-Hardline
-Ceasefire
-1970
-North Vietnamese goals
-US surrender
-Communist government in South Vietnam
	-Self-determination
-Public relations
-Kissinger’s forthcoming message to Porter
		-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Message
-Message from the President
-Support for the President’s Vietnam speech
		-Media response to the President’s peace proposal speech
-North Vietnam’s reaction to publication of terms

-US public relations plans
-US surrender
		-US negotiating strategy
-William Moyers
-Washington Post
-New York Times
-Editorial
	-Tone
-Forthcoming briefing by Kissinger
	-Timing
	-Content

Page Belcher and the White House photographer entered and Kissinger left at 5:12 pm.

	Photograph session

Visit from Dutch Prime Minister [Berand W. Biesheuvel]

[Photograph session]

The White House photographer left at 5:12 pm.

Tulsa Hospital
-Clark MacGregor
-Cost
-Meaning

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:12 pm and 5:14 pm.]

[Conversation No. 657-1A]

[See Conversation No. 19-122]

[End of telephone conversation]

Tulsa Hospital
-Belcher’s talk with MacGregor
-Signing
-History

[The President talked with MacGregor between 5:14 pm and 5:15 pm.]

[Conversation No. 657-1B]

[See Conversation No. 19-123]

[End of telephone conversation]

Mary C. Higgins
-Call from the President
-Support for the President
	-1962 California gubernatorial campaign
		-The President’s comments to the press
		-Belcher’s comment to Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Religion
-Beliefs regarding the President’s future in politics
-Death
-Cancer
-Call from the President
-Performance as Belcher’s assistant
-Rose Mary Woods’s view
-Marital status

Political friendship
-Belcher’s support for the President

Agriculture Department
-Earl L. Butz
-Clifford M. Hardin
-Butz
-Ezra Taft Benson
	-Belcher’s support
-Butz
-Clarence D. Palmby

The President’s 1952 fund
-Belcher’s telegrams
	-Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican National Committee, Robert A. Taft, Sr.
-Belcher’s speech
-The President’s Checkers speech
	-Congressional dealings
		-Scandal

Agriculture
-Butz
	-Farm spending
-Congressional relations
-George D. Aiken
-Jack R. Miller
-Barry M. Goldwater
		-Reserve bill
			-Defeat
	-Vote
		-Milton R. Young
		-Carl T. Curtis
		-Hubert H. Humphrey
		-George S. McGovern
-Veto
-Costs
	-Purchase, storage
-House of Representatives
	-Committee
	-Floor
		-Republican votes
	-Belcher’s schedule
		-New York
-Butz
-Talk with Belcher, January 25, 1972
-Hyde H. Murray
-Hardin
-Butz
	-Call to Belcher
-Farm bill
-Costs
	-Belcher’s efforts
		-Farm losses
		-Welfare
-Agricultural support
-Congressional voting
-Miller
-Belcher’s voting record
	-Miller
		-Vietnam
		-Belcher
-Congressional support for administration
-Senate
-Henry L. Bellmon
-House of Representatives
-House leadership
-Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends and Barber B. Conable, Jr.
-Support for Belcher
-Butz
-Leadership meetings
-The President’s Vietnam peace proposal speech
-Goldwater
-Belcher’s attendance
-Belcher’s past contacts with Presidents
-Present administration
	-Compared to Eisenhower Administration
		-Golf

	Golf

Belcher’s health
-Blood pressure
-Doctors’ advice
-Golf
		-Golf
			-Partners
-Arends
-Ford
-Lobbyists
-Age
-Golf
	-Doctor’s advice
	-Courses
		-Florida, Air Force Academy

Congressional relations
-Past contacts with White House
-Voting record
-Farm bills
	-Political effect on Belcher
		-Ford
		-Miller
		-Young
-Butz
-Criticism
-Hardin
-Benson
-William J. Scherle
	-Request for resignation
	-Orville L. Freeman
		-Democrats
-Farmers
-Belcher’s career
	-Belcher’s father
		-Position
	-Ross Rizley
-Farm bill
	-Hardin
-Benson
-Joseph W. Martin, Jr.
-Hardin
-Support
-Democrats
-Carl B. Albert
-Republicans
-Belcher’s actions
	-Effect on the President, Hardin
	-Introduction
		-Bipartisanship
-Amendments
-White House desires
-Sugar bill
-Pesticide bill
-Committee vote
-Floor vote
-Hardin
	-Reason for leaving

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

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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-Replacement
-Ralston-Purina job

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Privacy]
[Duration:  4s  ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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-Age
-Contact with Belcher
-Corn prices
-Butz
	-Ralston-Purina
-Confirmation
-Relations with Belcher
	-Meetings
		-Frequency
-William R. Poage
-Poage
-Relations with Belcher
	-House agriculture committee
-House agriculture committee
	-Scherle
-Wiley Mayne
-H[arold] R. Gross
-Miller
-John H. Kyl
-Scherle
-Mayne
-Harold E. Hughes
-Miller
-John Sherman Cooper
-Miller
-Belcher’s role
-John C. Whitaker

Stephen B. Bull [?]entered at an unknown time after 5:15 pm.

The President’s schedule

Bull [?] left at an unknown time before 5:48 pm.

Belcher’s support of administration
-Whitaker
-Opinion on politics
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Belcher’s wife and Harlow’s father
		-Belcher’s efforts to contact the President
-The President’s word
		-Whitaker
		-Butz
			-Farm bills

	Football
		-Belcher

Murray, Butz and MacGregor entered at 5:48 pm.

Whitaker’s schedule

The President’s relationship with Belcher
-Butz contact
-House agriculture committee
-Belcher’s support for the Administration
	-Political effect
-Hardin

Farm Bill
-Belcher’s opinion
-Budget increase
-Future relationships
-Poage
-Miller
-Reelections
-Curtis
-Scherle
	-Forthcoming breakfast meeting
	-1972
	-Miller
	-Announcement

Tulsa Hospital
	-Governor [David Hall]
		-Signing
-Public relations
	-The President’s meeting with Belcher
-Signing of mortgage guarantee
-St. John’s Hospital
	-Catholics

Whitaker entered at 5:55 pm.

Agriculture
-Whitaker
-Belcher
	-Contact with the President
	-1972
-Congressional leadership meeting
-Belcher’s attendance
-Political cheerleading
-Benefits
-Goldwater
-Football metaphor
-Cattle import from Italy
	-Quarantine
		-Duration
		-Location
			-New Jersey
-Belcher’s outlook
	-Politics
-Corn prices
-National Wheat Growers Association
-Denver
-American Farm Bureau Federation [AFBF]
-Butz’s talk with unknown person
-Administration program
	-Popularity
		-Oklahoma
			-Bellmon
	-Belcher’s talk with AFBF
	-Milk producers
	-Cattlemen
-Corn prices
-Prospects
-Acre reduction in feed grains
-Forthcoming farmers’ intentions report
	-Timing
-Changes
-Spending
-Butz’s talk with the President, November 1971
-Bill
-Political effect in Senate
-Long range plans
-Need for secrecy
-Soviet package
-Foreign policy
	-Farm vote
-Maurice H. Stans
		-Farmers’ vote
-Albert H. Quie
-John Zwach
-Quie
	-Meetings
		-Dairy farmers
		-National Farmers Organization [NFO]
		-National Farmers Union [NFU]

	Congressional relations
-Belcher
-Harlow
-The President’s contacts with Congressmen
-The President’s morale
		-Votes
-Belcher
-Clement F. Haynsworth
-G. Harrold Carswell
-[Unknown person]
		-Belcher
-Power behind the scenes
		-The President’s contact with Congressmen
		-Belcher
-Prior support
-Contacts in Congress
-Belcher’s philosophy
-Rural development legislation
	-Forthcoming message
-Humphrey
	-White House strategy
-Belcher’s support for administration
-Contact with the Administration
-Administration’s requests
-Gratitude
		-Benson
			-Belcher
			-H. Carl Andersen of Minnesota

Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:55 pm.

Belcher’s staff
-Gifts
	-Money clip
		-Presidential seal
		-Previous visit from Biesheuvel

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:16 pm.

Vietnam negotiations
-Hanoi’s reaction to US proposal

Letters to Democrat presidential candidates
-Ford
-Albert
-Budget plan
-F. Edward Hebert
-George H. Mahon
-Gillespie V. Montgomery
-Albert
-John W. McCormack
-Congressional majority
-Hugh Scott and Ford

Belcher, et al. left and Alexander P. Butterfield and Stephen B. Bull entered at 6:16 pm.

	Nomination for the President’s signature

The President’s schedule
-Forthcoming telephone call

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 6:16 pm.

Delivery of item

Coat

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 6:17 pm.

Item for the President’s signature

	Dr. W. Kenneth Riland

Belcher
-Air Force One
-Relationship with the President

Telephone call
-Kissinger

The President, et al. left at 6:17 pm.

Conversation No. 657-2

Date:  January 26, 1972
Time:  Unknown between 6:17 pm and 11:59 pm
Location:  Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield me with unknown people.

	[Unintelligible]

The President’s location

	[Unintelligible]

Butterfield and the unknown people left at an unknown time before 11:59 pm.