Date: February 28, 1973

Time: 11:07 am-11:52 am

Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

Kissinger meeting with Yitzhak Rabin and Golda Meir

-Stonewalling, leaks

-Shootdown of Libyan passenger airline

-Negotiations for interim agreement

-Agreement on general principles

-Commitments

-US military aid

-Plans

-Leverage

-Congress

-Richard M. Helms

-Israel’s Air Force

-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]

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-Jordan, Egypt

-President’s viewpoint

International Conference on Vietnam

-Ronald L. Ziegler

-North Vietnam

-Joint Military Commission

-Viet Cong representation

Ziegler entered at an unknown time after 11:07 am.

President’s schedule

-Press conference

-Timing

-Golda Meir visit

International Conference on Vietnam

-Economic Commission

-North Vietnam’s position on Prisoners of War [POWs]

-William H. Sullivan

-Unofficial US position

-Commission, mines, US withdrawal

-Elliot L. Richardson

-Escalation

-Press coverage

-News summary

-William P. Rogers

-Silvan Fox

-North Vietnam

-South Vietnam

-US aid

-Nguyen Van Thieu

-Ellsworth F. Bunker

-POWs

-North Vietnam

-Demonstrations

-Military operations

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Cease-fire violations

-North and South Vietnam

-Number and magnitude

-Press coverage

-South Vietnam’s Air Force

-Training flights

President’s press conference

Kennedy’s 13 Mistakes by Malcolm Smith

-Suppression of Kennedy family

-Library of Congress

-Bay of Pigs

-Leaks by Chester Bowles

-State Department

President’s press conference

-Press relations

-Ziegler

-Headlines and stories

-Rogers, troop withdrawal, mining

-President’s press conference

-Delay

-Questions

-US aid

-POW impasse

-Richardson’s statement

-Jerry W. Friedheim’s statement

-Questions

-Withdrawal countdown

-POWs

-Mine removal

-Delay

-Rogers

-Proposed answers and statements

-Ziegler

-North Vietnam

-Compliance

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-POWs

-POWs

-North Vietnam’s list

-Release

-US retaliation

-American public opinion

-Bombing

-Mining

-Bombing

-Dikes

-International Conference on Vietnam

– -Agreement deadline

-USSR and People’s Republic of China [PRC]

-Thieu

-North Vietnam

-Security

-US commitment

Press relations

-Ziegler’s statement

-POWs

-North Vietnam’s compliance

-Civilian prisoners

-Cease-fire

-Mining

-Rogers

Ziegler left at 11:29 am.

Press relations

-Cease-fire

-Critics

-President’s orders to Rogers

-Withdrawal stoppage

-Ziegler’s statements

-Congress

Cease-fire negotiations

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-North and South Vietnam

-Thieu

-Intransigence

-US response

-Toughness

John F. Kennedy

-Mistake

-Rhetoric

-Berlin

-Meeting with Nikita S. Khrushchev in Vienna

-Preparation

-Compared to President

-Llewellyn E. (“Tommy”) Thompson, Jr.

-Letter delivery

-Indonesia

-Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy

-Achmed Sukarno

-Communist victory

-Lt. Gen. T. N. J. Suharto

-Brazil

-Joao Goulart

-Cuban Missile Crisis

-USSR

-Turkey, Italy, Cuba

-Robert Kennedy, Anatoliy F. Dobrynin

-Nerves

-Bay of Pigs

-Richard M. Bissell

-Air cover

-Landing site

-Joint Chief of Staff [JCS]

-Press reaction

-Popularity

-Henry Fairlie’s book

-Space program

-Moon landing

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President’s popularity

-Letters

-War critics

-Crisis

-Thomas W. Braden [?]

-McGeorge Bundy

-Opportunism

-Secretary of State

-Edward M (“Ted”) Kennedy

-Lyndon B. Johnson

-Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy

-Vice Presidency

-Lawrence F. O’Brien, Jr.

-New York Times

-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston

-Value of criticism

-Free society

John F. Kennedy

-Press coverage

-Bay of Pigs

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

-President’s advice

-Advisors

-Public relations

-Polls

-Johnson

-Indecisiveness

-Cuban Missile Crisis

-Settlement

-US bases

-Political effects

-Barry M. Goldwater

-1964 election

-Congressional elections

-Berlin crisis

-Compared with President’s May 8, 1972 Vietnam action

-Handling

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-US bases in Greece, Turkey, and Italy

-Compared with President’s Cambodia speech

-Rhetoric compared with President

-Fairlie’s book

-Popularity

-Press coverage

-Hugh S. Sidey, Rowland Evans, Joseph W. Alsop, Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.

Press relations

-Pandering

-Objectivity

-Vietnam

-Mistakes

-Critics

-Siding with the enemy

-Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

-Kissinger’s attendance at Rabin’s dinner for Gold Meir

-Rogers

-Liberals

-Congress

-Democrats

-Aid to Vietnam

-Draft issue

-Aid to Vietnam

Congress

-Hugh Scott

-Richard B. Russell

Youth attitudes toward President

-Students compared with faculty

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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Possible Presidential candidates

-Ted Kennedy

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-Poll

-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

-Edmund S. Muskie

-Hubert H. Humphrey

-Spiro T. Agnew

-Kissinger’s view

-Trip to Vietnam

-Selfishness

-Nelson A. Rockefeller

-John B. Connally

-Age

-Gen. Charles A. J. M. de Gaulle

-Golda Meir

-Qualifications

-Connally

-Business deals

-Armand Hammer

-Saudi Arabia

-President’s letter of introduction

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]

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Ziegler entered at 11:50 am.

International Conference on Vietnam

-North Vietnam

-Official statement on POWs

-Rogers

Kissinger and Ziegler left at 11:52 am.

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