880–24

Conversation No. 880-24

Date: March 15, 1973
Time: 5:36 pm-6:24 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John W. Dean, III and Richard A. Moore.

President's press conference
-Previous discussion with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, Ronald L.
Ziegler


-Announcement of Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-People's Republic of China [PRC] liaison
-Significance
-Importance of PRC ambassador
-Democrat
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)



President's press conference
-Watergate
-Policy topics
-Lack of press interest
-Dean
-Questions on Watergate
-Press interest
-Donald H. Segretti
-Dean
-Other questions
-Cease-fire
-Stockpiles
-Past conferences
-Dwight D. Eisenhower era
-Previous consultation
-President's handling of conference
-Headlines
-Dean
-Washington Star
-Foreign policy
-Associated press [AP]
-Court test
-Press
-Future stories
-Hostility to administration
-Strategy in the future

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 5:36 pm.

Refreshment

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 6:24 pm.

President's press conference
-Ronald L. Ziegler's role
-Future comments
-Transcripts
-Senate responses
-Ervin committee
-Court test over executive privilege
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


-President's response
[PROCESSING NOTE: WITHDRAWAL NO. 2 HAS BEEN DECLASSIFIED IN FULL]

-Vietnam
-North Vietnamese infiltration
-President’s response
-Watergate
-Dwight L. Chapin and Herbert W. Kalmbach
-President's handling of questions
-Defensiveness
-Ziegler's statements
-Administration's cooperativeness
-Alger Hiss case
-Difference from Watergate
-News story
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Harry S Truman's order
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Dean report
-Question
-Peter Lisagor and Mary McGrory
-Questions for Moore
-Hiss and Watergate case
-National security issues
-Dan Rather's questions
-Raw files
-Disclosure to Congress in Hiss case
-J. Edgar Hoover's policy
-Lisagor
-Dean report
-Questions
-President's answers
-Information for public
-Court test
-President's answer
-Effectiveness
-Press
-Proper response
-Answers to questions
-Courtesy
Watergate
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


-L. Patrick Gray, III
-Conversation with Dean
-Meeting with Samuel J. Ervin, Jr., and Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-FBI reports
-Disclosure
-Hoover's policy
-Raw files
-Privacy
-White House staff reports
-Contents
-Validity
-Dangers of disclosure
-President's policy on disclosure
-FBI raw files
-Hoover's policy
-Gray
-Hoover's policy
-Instance of disclosure of raw data to congressional committee in
1948
-Internal security investigation
-Vote fraud case
-Kansas City

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:36 pm.

Delivery of letter to Robert C/ (“Bob”) Wilson

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:24 pm.

Watergate
-FBI raw files
-Disclosure
-American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]
-Truman's order
-Newspaper support with exception of Chicago Tribune and New
York Daily News
-Hiss case
-Opposition to President's committee
-Press
-President's cracking of case
-Administration's cooperation with committee
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


-Press reaction
-New York Times, Washington Post
-Separation of powers
-President's responsibility
-Executive privilege
-Separation of powers
-Statement
-Constitutional responsibility
-Truman's firing of Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur
-Bombing of China
-President's support
-Justification of position
-Ziegler's statement
-Gray
-Position on raw files disclosure
-Executive privilege
-Ervin Committee
-White House staff testimony
-Court test on staff testimony
-Chapin, Charles W. Colson
-Chapin
-Weak points
-Kalmbach
-Colson
-Segretti
-Chapin
-White House statement
-Letter to President
-Apology
-Explanation
-Activities in campaign
-Richard (“Dick”) Tuck
-Segretti
-Pranksterism
-Culpability
-Hiring of Segretti
-Testimony
-Pranks
-Other duties
-Administration's position
-Haldeman
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


-Duties
-Statement for Senate
-Possibilities
-Ervin Committee
-White House staff testimony
-Television
-Chapin
-Haldeman
-Colson
-Edward M. (‘Ted”) Kennedy
-Colson
-Testimony to Senate
-Administration's position
-Ties to E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Chapin
-Court tests on testimony
-Delays
-Advantages to administration
-Duration
-Supreme Court
-President's statement
-Separation of powers issue
-Advantages
-Dean testimony
-Court rulings
-Dean's privilege as counsel to President
-Congressional reluctance
-Robert C. Byrd
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.'s position
-Congressional position
-Decisions and options
-Advantages to administration
-Ervin
-Knowledge of Constitution
-Daniel K. Inouye
-White House statement
-Press
-Treatment of Ziegler
-Ziegler's handling
-President's statements to Ervin
-Ervin committee
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


-White House statements
-Compared to Hiss case
-Hearsay
-Guilt by association
-Senators' questions
-Use of rules of court
-Hearsay
-Ervin's conduct of committee
-President's handling of Hiss case
-Cooperation with FBI
-L. B. Nichols
-Hoover
-Leaks
-FBI
-Hollywood Ten
-Breaking of case
-Robert Stripling
-Editorials
-Herblock cartoons
-Whittaker Chambers
-Potential for dramatization in television series
-Stripling
-Dislike of Drew Pearson and the Left
-White House staff
-Stripling comparison with Chapin, Colson
-Aggressiveness
-Hiss case
-Cooperation with Stripling
-President's age
-Attacks on establishment, Congress, State Department
-New York Times, Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Louisville
Courier
-Impact
-Alger Hiss
-Background
-Dean G. Acheson
-Harvard
-Defense fund
-McGeorge Bundy
-Contribution
-Moore's view
 60-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


-July confrontation of Hiss and Chambers
-Testimony
-Chambers' dentist [Dr. Hitchcock]
-Perjury
-Automobile purchase transaction
-Intellectuals
-Hunger for power
-Trial
-Pumpkin papers
-Moore
-Work in President’s campaign in 1950
-Hiss' background
-Moore's visits to Georgetown in 1945
-Stories of Hiss's communist leanings
-Halperin [sp?] [first name unknown]
-President's committee in 1948
-Staff
-Stripling
-Amount of work
-Work with FBI
-Cooperation
-National security concerns
-Information
-Disclosure
-Espionage
-Hoover
-Raw files
-FBI report
-Leak to President's committee
-Press
-Lisagor
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Hatred for President
-Ervin committee
-Possible subpoenas
-Chapin
-Republicans
-Statements
-Administration's cooperation
-Extent
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-10)
Conversation No. 880-24 (cont’d)


Dean and Moore left at 6:24 pm.