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OCR Page 1 of 23THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN
April 27, 1972
MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT
FROM:
PATRICK J. BUCHANAN
Given the composition of RN's inquisitors, it is next to impossible
to project with accuracy what will be asked. First, they will be
surprised by the opportunity to question the President publicly;
secondly, unlike the national press, they have not followed the
development of issues in great detail, and thus their questions will
likely lack precise and specificity. Third, their concerns are surely
not identical to the parochial concerns of the national liberal press -
so their questions can come from different directions, and from
wholly unanticipated concerns. For example: One of these fellows
could conceivably get up and ask why doesn't the United States level
Haiphong?
For the above reasons; and because this will not be a tough adversary
exercise for the President, I am not preparing the traditional briefing
book. It would be a waste of time; it would be far less useful than
traditionally; it would likely require the President to devote hours
honing answers on questions which will be asked in a general fashion.
BUCHANAN'S RECOMMENDATION: The President should not prepare
answers to questions we cannot predict but specific points he feels
should be made on issues of national moment. This briefing paper is
prepared with that in mind.
We don't know whether the Vietnam question is coming from left, right
or center but we should know what points the President wants to
make to the nation. We don't know how the question on bussing is going
to come up but we do know the Southern concerns about RN's bussing
proposal, and the Congressional needs, and so we can focus on that.
In short, the questions asked should be answered, pro forma, with RN
then moving onto the ground where he wishes points to be made to
the nation. The Briefing Book is my own (along with Ehrlichman's,
Safire's and Colson's) thoughts as to what our particular problem is
on the issues; and how the President might move to redress existing
difficulty.
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