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. Topics include: 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 - Opinion Research Corporation [ORC] poll - George H. Gallup poll - Joseph W. and Stewart J. O. Alsop - Possible distribution - Staff - News summary - Linwood Holton - Governors - 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 President's schedule Bull left at an unknown time before 5:38 pm Conservatives - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] - Vietnam 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 - Possible recognition of PRC - State Department's views - Effects on United States' Asian allies - United States' commitments to Taiwan - Arms - Trade - Textiles - UN - 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 [Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN- T- MDR-2014-016. Segment declassified on 01/12/2018. Archivist: MAS] [National Security] [249-026- W001] [Duration: 59s] Robert D. Murphy's trip to Taiwan - People's Republic of China [PRC] opinion on Vietnam - Report regarding Chou En- Lai - Provenance of report - Conversation with unknown person in Pakistan - Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan - Mao Tse- Tung - People's Republic of China [PRC] plans - Elections Robert D. Murphy's trip to Taiwan - PRC opinion on Vietnam - Mao - Laos - USSR - Mao's statement - Vietnam - Taiwan - PRC - Mood [Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN- T- MDR-2014-016. Segment declassified on 04/29/2019. Archivist : MAS] [National Security] [249-026- W002] [Duration: 1m 13s] Robert D. Murphy's trip to Taiwan - People's Republic of China [PRC] intelligence - Concerning Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] - Headquarters of Army - Deep divisions elsewhere - Mood worse than intelligence suggests - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] - Long- Term thinking - Mao Tse- Tung Robert D. Murphy's trip to Taiwan - 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 - President's message for Chiang Kai- Shek - Democrats - Senate - Reaction to President's PRC initiative - Public -"Hawks" - Congress - Glassboro summit - 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 PRC/Taiwan policy - Possible consequences of President's initiative Lyndon B. Johnson - Problems with Vietnam War - Polls - Figures - 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. Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Bull, Stephen B.; Murphy, Robert D.; Kissinger, Henry A.; White House photographer.
- Part of White House Tapes: Sound Recordings of Meetings and Telephone Conversations of the Nixon Administration, Executive Office Building Sound Recordings