Conversation: 249-026
Prev: 249-025 Next: 249-027Start Date: Thursday, April 15, 1971 10:25 PM
End Date: Thursday, April 15, 1971 11:20 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Bull, Stephen B.; Murphy, Robert D.; Kissinger, Henry A.; White House photographerRecording Device: Old Executive Office Building
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 02:44:52
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 03:33:50
NARA Description:
On April 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Robert D. Murphy, Henry A. Kissinger, and White House photographer met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:25 pm to 6:20 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 249-026 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 249-26
Date: April 15, 1971
Time: 5:25 pm - 6:20 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
Look magazine story
-Feature story
-Presidency
-Herbert G. Klein
-Unknown columnist [Christopher S. Wren?]
-Anecdotes
-Haldeman’s sources
-Wedding story
-Timing
James J. Kilpatrick, Jr.’s column
-Haldeman’s possible call to Kilpatrick
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Opinion Research Corporation [ORC] poll
-George H. Gallup poll
-Joseph W. and Stewart J. O. Alsop
-Possible distribution
-Staff
-News summary
-Linwood Holton
-Governors Conv. No. 249-22 (cont.)
-Congress
-Klein
-John W. Rollins
People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
-Reaction of intellectuals
-Vietnam
-Media coverage
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Harvard University faculty
Opponents
-Maoists
-Ho Chi Minh and Mao Tse-tung
-Possible violence
-Media coverage
-November [1969?] demonstrations
-Psychology of demonstrators
-Cambodia
-May 1970 demonstrations
-Press conference
Polls
-Patrick J. Buchanan’s forthcoming call to Liv Kilborne [sp?]
-Gallup and ORC
-Figures
-Vietnam War
Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.
-Conservatives
-James L. Buckley
-Walter H. Judd
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:25 pm
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
President’s schedule
Bull left at an unknown time before 5:38 pm
Conservatives
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Vietnam Conv. No. 249-26 (cont.)
President’s meeting with editors
-Klein
-Charles W. Colson
-Klein
-Clark MacGregor
Haldeman left and Robert D. Murphy and Kissinger entered at 5:38 pm; the White House
photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting
Greetings
Official photograph
Murphy’s trip to Taiwan
-Timing
-Chow Shu-kai
-State Department
-American ambassador Walter P. McConaughy
-United Nations [UN] General Assembly vote
-Evaluation
-Taiwan
-Colonel William R. Usher
-Need for secrecy
-Message for Chiang Kai-shek
-Possible new policy
-”Two Chinas”
-USSR
-PRC/Taiwan
-Special circumstances
-President’s PRC initiative
-”Overseas Chinese”
-Concerns
-Ping-pong team
31
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-Possible recognition of PRC
-State Department’s views
-Effects on United States’ Asian allies
-United States’ commitments to Taiwan
-Arms
-Trade
-Textiles
-UN Conv. No. 249-26 (cont.)
-President’s attachment to Taiwan
-Murphy’s role
-Cabinet position
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-UN
-Senate and the military
-UN
-Security Council
-”Two China” possibility
-United States’ policy
-Delay
-Department of State position
-Need for leadership
-PRC/Taiwan
-State Department
-Marshall Green’s argument
-PRC entry into UN
-PRC opinion on Vietnam
-Chou En-lai
-Laos
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 59s ]
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
32
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
******************************************************************************
-Mao
-Laos
-USSR
-Mao’s statement
-Vietnam Conv. No. 249-26 (cont.)
-Taiwan
-PRC
-Mood
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security]
[Duration: 1m 13s ]
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
******************************************************************************
-Murphy’s experiences in 1945
-Berlin
-President’s meeting with Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1959
-Sino-Soviet border
-Importance of Murphy’s mission
-Message for Chiang Kai-shek
-Effects on United States’ Asian allies
-Taiwan
-Importance
-Exports
-Need for a flexible policy
-UN
-Possible reaction in Congress
-Military assistance
33
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
-President’s message for Chiang Kai-shek
-Democrats
-Senate
-Reaction to President’s PRC initiative
-Public
-”Hawks”
-Congress
-Glassboro summit Conv. No. 249-26 (cont.)
-Polls
-Peace movement
-State Department
-Green
-USSR
-President’s trip to Romania
-Unknown person’s opposition to PRC initiative
-Reasons for President’s PRC initiative
-Chiang Kai-shek
-Travel arrangements
-PRC
-Chou En-lai
-Instructions for talking to Green
-Murphy’s possible conversation with Green
-William P. Rogers
-Need for secrecy
-Report to President
-Rogers and Green
-State Department
-Memorandum on UN
-George H. W. Bush
-President’s policies
-PRC
-Chou En-lai
-President’s instructions for McConaughy
-Kissinger’s possible instructions to McConaughy
-Need for secrecy
-McConaughy
-Franklin D. Roosevelt’s conversation with Murphy regarding North African
operation
-Rogers’ views toward mission
-Importance of PRC/Taiwan
Murphy left at 6:10 pm
34
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)
PRC/Taiwan policy
-Possible consequences of President’s initiative
Lyndon B. Johnson
-Problems with Vietnam War
-Polls
-Figures Conv. No. 249-26 (cont.)
-Fluctuations in support
-Glassboro summit
United States’ policy
-Murphy
-Glassboro meeting
Summit meeting
-PRC
-Kissinger’s conversation with [Name unintelligible]
-Negotiations
-Timing
Vietnam
-Prisoner of War [POW] wives and POW issue
-Possible North Vietnamese moves
-Difficulties
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Instructions for Kissinger
-United States’ policy
-Troop withdrawals
-[Forename unknown] Fentris [sp?]
USSR
-Kissinger’s conversation with Peter G. Peterson
-United States-PRC relations
-United States’ position in the world
-Reaction
-Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin
-Peterson’s meeting on trade
-PRC initiative
Kissinger left at 6:20 pm
35
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)