Ask the Scholar

On May 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone at Camp David from 3:02 pm to 3:16 pm. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 131-013 of the White House Tapes. Topics include: The President talked with John N. Mitchell. [See also Conversation No. 189-25] [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 11/03/2017. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [131-013- W001] [Duration: 5m 31s] 1972 election - Democrats - Democratic National Chairman - Michigan primary vote - Busing issue - Domestic Council members - George C. Wallace vote - Hubert H. Humphrey vote - Labor support - Significance - Housing patterns - Ghetto - Blacks - George C. Wallace speeches - Effect on the President's campaign - George S. McGovern - California primary importance - New York - Uncommitted delegates - Edmund Muskie - Edward M. Kennedy challenge - Work in district, county, and precinct caucuses - Comparison to the President's 1968 campaign - Henry M. ("Scoop") Jackson - Washington Delegates - Texas Delegates - Left supporters - Hubert H. Humphrey - Effect of George C. Wallace shooting - Michigan showing - Labor support - Maryland - Democratic Support - Francis Boucher Burch - Marvin Mandel - Rank and file voter - Ray Bliss -[Unknown] committee - Future - Meeting with the President on May 16, 1972 - Ronald Ziegler - Leak to Ohio papers - Ohio support - Fundraising for the President's campaign - Effectiveness - Montgomery County American society - Age of violence - The President's view - Vietnam War - Theodore Roosevelt - William McKinley - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Anton Cermak - Harry S. Truman - House of Representatives - Price of free society -1972 compared to 1967 and 1968 - Mitchell's view - Wallace - Responsibility - Verbal attacks - Hubert H. Humphrey - Edmund S. Muskie - George S. McGovern - Shooting - Assailant [Arhtur H. Bremer] - Motive - The President's view - Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] investigation - Mitchell's view Soviet summit - Possible cancellation - Mitchell, John B. Connally predictions - President's position Vietnam - President's decision to bomb North Vietnam, mine harbors [blockade] - Importance - Compared with Soviet Union summit - President's talk with Mitchell - Mitchell's view - Effects - Options - Effects - Morale of US - Committee to Reelect the President [CRP] support - Efforts - Morale of South Vietnamese troops and people - Morale of North Vietnam - Democratic critics - The President's view - Military situation - Kontum - Henry A. Kissinger - South Vietnamese performance - Firebase bastogne - I Corps attacks - An loc - Kontum - Importance - Blockade - Effect - Comparison with 1968 situation - Sihanoukville - Cambodian supply lines - Sea lanes - Bombing - Time - North Vietnam oil reserves - Time - US military's position - Mitchell's view - Central Intelligence Agency's [CIA] position - The President's view - Previous experience - Differences - Mechanized compared with guerilla war - Cambodian supplies - Intensity - Comparison with previous experience - Effect - Editorial critics - The President's view Mitchell - President's trip to Soviet Union - Work at CRP - President's appreciation. Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.