Ask the Scholar

On March 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, John Ford, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:16 pm to 5:46 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 410-014 of the White House Tapes. Topics include: The President met with H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman. Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. - New position as Army Vice Chief of Staff Personnel - Administrative abilities - Charles W. Colson Stephen B. Bull entered at 4:16 pm. Raising the flag for prisoners of war [POWs] The President [?] and Bull left at an unknown time after 4:17 pm. [Pause] The President entered at an unknown time after 4:17 pm. President's schedule - Meeting Labor relations - George P. Shultz - Meeting with George Meany - Peter J. Brennan - Briefing - AFL- CIO - Departure for Florida - Colson's conversation with Brennan Brennan - Appointments -[First name unknown] Hill [?] - Colson - Qualifications - Shultz - Assessment of Brennan at Labor Department - Appointments - Relationship with John D. Ehrlichman - Domestic Council - Contacts - Colson - Shultz - Shultz - Differences on policy - Ehrlichman - Rapport - Colson - Shultz - Appointments - Donald F. Rodgers - Undersecretary of Labor - Shultz - Solicitor - Brennan's selection - Appointments - Shultz's opinion - Anti- Union sentiment - Colson - Clash with Frederic C. Malek - Ehrlichman - Shultz Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 4:16 pm and 4:55 pm. [Conversation No. 410-14A] Call to Shultz's office - Departure with Brennan [End of telephone conversation] Brennan - Shultz Henry A. Kissinger - Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft - Egyptians Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:16 pm. Dictabelts for Rose Mary Woods Coffee [?] Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:55 pm. US- Egypt relations - Hafiz Ismail - Meeting with Edward R. G. Heath - Visit to US - State Department - Meeting with Kissinger - Meeting with President - Anwar el- Sadat - Message - President's schedule - AFL- CIO - Kissinger's cable - Arrangement for meeting Personnel - Brennan - Liaison with White House - Colson - Political matters - Shultz - John A. Scali - Civil Aeronautics Board [CAB] - John B. Connally's wishes - Republican vacancy - Recommendation - Lee B. Nunn - Committee to Re- Elect the President [CRP] - Watergate - Qualifications - Secretary of the Army - Candidate - Qualifications - Political deficiencies - Howard H. ("Bo") Calloway - Elliot L. Richardson's opposition - Offer - Malek - Secretary of the Air Force - John W. Warner - Robert C. Seamans, Jr. - John A. Love - Political advantages - Compared to John H. Chafee - Benno C. Schmidt - Abilities - Black candidate - Blacks - News summary - Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. - Support for President - Ehrlichman - Jordan - Criticism by young blacks - Visit to White House - Dealings with administration - Services secretaries - Businessmen - President of TRW - President of Collins Radio - Schmidt - Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW] - Calloway - Offer of Secretary of the Army - Second choice - Federal Highway Administration - Recommendation - Norbert Tiemann [?] - Roman L. Hruska, Carl T. Curtis - Political support - Colson - Alternate - William Cellini - New Majority - Richard B. Ogilvie - Qualifications - Illinois Secretary of Transportation - Lobbying, contracting ties - Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] - Tiemann - Highway Trust Fund [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during chronological review 2007-2013] 1972 election - Curtis - Possible meeting with Haldeman - News summary - Republican candidates - Losses in Middle America - Compared to President - Gordon L. Allott - President's Lincoln Day speech - Curtis - Possible meeting with George H. W. Bush - Nebraska - Iowa - Support for President - Jack R. Miller Press relations - Patrick J. Buchanan - President's note - Arthur D. Sulzberger - William L. Safire Medal of Freedom - John Ford - Imminent death - Support for President - Location - Nguyen Van Thieu's visit - Dinner - Hollywood - United State Information Agency [USIA] films on Vietnam - S. Bruce Herschensohn - Awards - Foreign - Josip Broz Tito - Telephone call President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:16 pm and 4:55 pm. [See Conversation No. 43-69] [Conversation No. 410-14B] [End of telephone conversation] Medal of Freedom - Presentation to John Ford - Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, Grapes of Wrath - John Wayne [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during chronological review 2007-2013] Cary Grant - Attendance at White House dinner - Political activities - Sophia Loren 1972 election - Curtis's statement - Bush -1972 campaign strategy - Middle America - President's approval Personnel - FBI director - L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III - Qualities - William C. Sullivan - J. Edgar Hoover - Ehrlichman - Recommendations - John W. [?] Larsen - Internal Revenue Service [IRS] - Colson's conversation with President - Interior Department - System analyst - Tax background - Conversation with Ehrlichman - Colson - Support for President - IRS - IRS chief - Colson - Donald Alexander - Cincinnati - Qualifications - George D. Webster - Colson's view - Roger Barth - Background - State Department - David K. E. Bruce - William P. Rogers - African desk - Robert C. Hill - Latin America - Henry J. Tasca - Rogers's opposition [?] - Kissinger's opposition - Middle East - Joseph J. Sisco - David D. Newsome The President talked with John Ford between 4:55 pm and 4:57 pm. [See Conversation No. 43-70] [Conversation No. 410-14C] [End of telephone conversation] Ford's health - Stroke Ford's support for President - Amnesty and Vietnam issues - Thelma C. ("Pat") Nixon Prisoners of war [POWs] return - Press coverage - President's handling - Flying of flag - Claudia A. ("Lady Bird") Johnson - POW sign in support of President - Release - December 1972 bombing of North Vietnam - Hanoi - B-52s - Quality of POWs - Collaborators - Number - Handling - Amnesty - Alexander M. Haig, Jr., - Scowcroft Amnesty - Draft evaders - Opposition among public - Ford - Support, opposition - Polls - Limited or conditional amnesty - Support - Restitution - Opposition - President's constituency - Impact of POWs - Divisiveness of issue - Supporters - Opposition to the President - President's compassion White House military aid - POWs - Career men - Leaders - John V. ("Jack") Brennan - Promotion Bush - Talk with William E. Brock, III and Clarence J. ("Bud") Brown, Jr. - POWs - Candidate against antiwar representative - Vietnam veterans POWs - Bush -1946 Congress - Number of World War II veterans - Astronauts - Heroes - Heroism - Symbol of the end of Vietnam War - John A. Scali's statement - Issue for President's opposition - George C. Wallace - POW bracelet - Col. Robinson Risner - Bracelets - Names Amnesty - President's position - Supporters - Low profile of amnesty supporters - Edward M. ("Ted") Kennedy - Poll - Congress - Authority to grant - Bella S. Abzug - Bill for amnesty - Kennedy - Low profile Bicentennial - Leonard Garment - Organization - Bicentennial Commission - Reorganization - Chief - Volunteers - Full- Time position - Festivities - Garment California - Foundation for future Nixon Library - Nguyen Van Thieu's meeting with the President - Dinner - Action on presidential library - John C. Stennis - Public Works Committee - Armed Services Committee - General Services Administration [GSA] - Support for President - Republicans - Southern Democrats - Library site - Architects - Funding Watergate - Talk with Colson - Executive privilege - Testimony - Dwight L. Chapin, Gordon C. Strachan - Executive privilege - Guidelines - Colson's suggestion - Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Kissinger, Timmons, Colson, Clark MacGregor, Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler - Written interrogatories - Ehrlichman, Colson - Ground rules - Impact of refusal to answer - Compared with television [TV] - Negotiations over questions - Executive sessions Middle East - Sisco - Rogers - Assignment - Africa - Ambassador Personnel - William J. Casey [?] - Leonard Mullin [?] - Navy appointment - Maurice Stans - Confirmation Watergate - Executive privilege - Consumption of time - John W. Dean, III - Colson - Witnesses - Partner - John J. Sirica - Sentencing - Colson - Concern over E. Howard Hunt, Jr.'s emotional state - Dorothy Hunt's death - Life insurance - Children - Sense of guilt - Donald Segretti - Colson - Dirty tricks - Unanswered questions - Testimony - John N. Mitchell - Responsibility - Assumption of blame - Authorization of intelligence activities - Counterintelligence - Demonstrations - Jeb Stuart Magruder - Mitchell - Responsibility - Wiretapping - James W. McCord, Jr. - Mitchell's knowledge of involvement - Involvement - Bernard Barker and the Cuban defendants - Sentencing of defendants - Time - Appeals - Colson - Strategy of delay - Advantages - Hearing - Mitchell - Attacks - Dean - Colson - Mitchell - Liability - Dangers - G. Gordon Liddy - Magruder - Dean, Richard A. Moore President's schedule - White House events - Problems - Entertainment - Location - Type - State dinners - Army Chorus - Planning - Entertainment - Francis A. ("Frank") Sinatra's show - President's remark - Dinners - State dinners - Guests The President talked with the White House operator at 5:40 pm. [. Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Bull, Stephen B.; [Unknown person(s)]; Sanchez, Manolo; White House operator; Ford, John; Ziegler, Ronald L.