881–4

Conversation No. 881-4

Date: March 16, 1973
Time: 11:10 am - 12:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

Julie Nixon Eisenhower's call
-Message with Rose Mary Woods

President's visit to dentist
-Presence of press
-Secret Service
-Departure
-Staff
-Military aid
-Usher
-Secret Service
-Press
-Head of Secret Service
-Ziegler
-Dr. William O. Chase

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered and Bull left at 11:10 am.

White House social events
-Inclusion of children
-William E. Timmons, Frank J. Horton
-Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.
-Woods
-Arrangements
-Policy
-Press story
-Congress members
-Cabinet officers
-Quantity
-Timmons
-Marjorie Lincoln
-G. Gould Lincoln
-Age
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

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(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Bob Dunham [?]
-Cabinet

Herbert G. Klein
-New job
-Departure from White House
President’s schedule
-President's meeting with Lt. Cdr. Robert J. Flynn
-Arrangements
-Bull
-President's meeting with Roger Shields
-[Unintelligible name]
-Prisoner of war [POWs] dinner
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Format
-Flynn
-Meeting with President

POWs
-Gifts
-Photograph
-Woods
-Eagle with inscription
-J. Willard (“Bill”) Marriott, Jr.
-Citation
-Bracelet
-Disadvantages
-Presidential gifts
-President's seal
-Cufflinks
-New design
-Children
-President's gifts
-Pins
-Gifts
-Ashtrays
-Display value
-Cost
-Vase, platter
-Smoking
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Unit citation
-Coordination with Defense Department
-Copies
-Work by Gen Brent G. Scowcroft
-Gifts
-Cufflinks, pins, ashtrays
-Unit citation
-Children
-Packet
-Dinner
-Date

Press relations
-Favorable editorials
-Distribution
-White House
-Klein’s office
-1972 campaign
-Charles W. Colson’s group
-American Enterprise Institute
-Committees
-George H. W. Bush
-Republicans
-Circulation of editorials
-Subtlety
-Congress
-Campaigns
-Bush's role
-Congress members
-Private citizens
-Walter H. Annenberg, Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis

Watergate
-John W. Dean, III
-Richard A. Moore
-Coordination
-John N. Mitchell
-Judgment
-G. Harrold Carswell
-Dean
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Quality of work
-Advice of others
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Meeting with President
-Publicity
-View of White House staff
-Possible testimony
-President's opinion
-Political aspiration
-Credibility
-Comparison with Ralph E. Flanders
-Joseph McCarthy
-Role on committee
-Rowland Evans, Robert D. Novak column
-News summary report
-Poll of Congress
-Congressional support for President
-Barry M. Goldwater, Jr.
-Supporters throughout country
-Gabriel Hauge
-Dean
-Discussion of options
-Cover-up
-Danger to President
-Haldeman's opinion
-Strategy
-Donald H. Segretti case
-Full disclosure
-Advantages
-Involvement
-Haldeman
-Dean's role
-Containment strategy
-Value
-Full disclosure
-Advantages
-Dangers
-Exposure of cover-up
-Dean's view
-Containment
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] files
-Colson's view
-Gray confirmation testimony
-Advantages to administration
-FBI leaks
-L. Patrick Gray, III
-FBI
-Mitchell
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Political acumen

President's television [TV] address on role of government
-David R. Gergen’s memorandum
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Radio
-1973 State of the Union Address
-Foreign policy discussion
-National Security Council [NSC]
-State of the World Address
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Reaction in Congress
-NSC
-Gergen
-Domestic policy

State of the World Address
-Kissinger
-Length of address
-Quality

Congressional relations
-Opposition to Vietnam settlement
-Democratic Senate
-Press coverage
-Lobbying by William P. Rogers
-Economic aid to Vietnam
-Military budget
-Partisans
-Republicans
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Sabotage of President's efforts in Vietnam

Press relations
-President's press conference
-Patrick J. Buchanan [?]
-TV coverage
-Need to get out of Oval Office
-Hostility of press
-TV coverage of press conference
-TV news
-Viewership
-Percentages
-President's appearance
-Viewership
-President's speech before Congress
-Prime time
-Press coverage
-President’s trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Vietnam settlement announcement
-Radio
-Press conference
-Effectiveness
-[Unintelligible name]
-Comments on reporter's questions to President
-Questions
-Submission
-Preparation by President
-Reaction by press
-President’s expectations
-Subjects
-Foreign policy
-Limitations on subjects
-Separate press conferences on foreign, domestic, economic issues
-Disadvantages
-Preparation
-Amount of work
-White House staff
-Buchanan, Kissinger, Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz
-Questions
-Wounded Knee
 -17-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Shield laws
-Vietnam
-David Lawrence
-Work of journalists
-President’s preparation
-People's Republic of China [PRC] liaison office
-Vietnam settlement status

Watergate
-Press conference
-As an issue
-President's statements on disclosures
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Court challenge
-Constitutional problems
-Benefits
-Dean
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Colson
-Role in White House
-Benefits
-Chapin
-Legal preparation
-Involvement with Segretti
-Knowledge
-Issue
-Cover-up compared with break-in
-Hauge's perception
-Danger to administration
-Burglars
-Conviction
-Possibility of widening the investigation
-Future arrests
-Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Mitchell
-Ties to White House
-Haldeman
-Haldeman
-Relationship with Magruder
-Statement
 -18-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 881-4 (cont’d)


-Colson
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Knowledge
-Mitchell
-Magruder
-Ties to Haldeman
-Contact with
-Circumstantial evidence
-Compared to Chapin
-Ties to Segretti
-Compared to Colson
-Ties to Hunt
-Mitchell
-Problems
-Refusal to talk with President
-Executive privilege
-Questions for President
-Chapin
-Separation of powers

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 11:10 am.

President's schedule
-Pete V. Domenici

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 12:06 pm.

Watergate
-Separation of powers
-President's handling of questions
-Word \"privilege\"
-Public understanding of issue
-News summary
-Ervin Committee
-Segretti case
-President's responsibility
-Statements by President
-Timing

Haldeman left at 12:06 pm.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)