Date: March 12, 1973

Time: Unknown between 4:24 pm and 6:34 pm

Location: Oval Office

The President met with Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. Stephen B. Bull and the White House

photographer were present at the beginning of the meeting.

Photo session

-Flags

-Seating

Legislation

-President’s signature

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:24 pm.

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Sanchez

-Return to Cuba

-Visit to North Vietnam

Refreshments

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 6:34 pm.

Oval Office

-Previous visits

-White House tour

Denton

-Public statement

-Effect on nation

-Letter to President

-Publication

-Respect for privacy

-Experience as Prisoner of war [POW]

-Plans for White House dinner for POWs

-Wives

-Discussions

-Reaction

-Repatriation

-Captivity

-Length

President’s conversation with Col. Robinson Risner

-Honorable conclusion to war

-Reasons

-POWs

-Fate of South Vietnam’s people

-War casualties

-US credibility

-People’s Republic of China [PRC], Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics [USSR]

President’s trip to PRC

-Peking

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-Meeting with Chou En-lai

-“Handshake around the world”

-State dinner

-Reputation as anti-Communist

Vietnam

-Honorable conclusion to war

-South Vietnam’s integrity

-US credibility

-President’s advisors

-Withdrawal

-1969

-John F. Kennedy’s, Lyndon B. Johnson’s responsibility

-President’s November 3, 1969 speech

-US defeat

-Loss of power, pride

-US as great power

-Compared to France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, USSR, PRC

-US self-image

Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:24 pm.

Schedule

-Buzzer

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:34 pm.

Denton’s letter to President

-Effect on nation

-American spirit

POWs

-Ordeal in prison

-Mohandus K. [Mahatma] Gandhi, Dr. Achmed Sukarno, Radha Krishna [?]

-Significance

-Personal strength

-Adversity

-Meaning for US

-Sense of pride

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-Sense of shame

-Retreat

-Denton’s captivity

-Survival

-Reasons

-Solitary confinement

-Length

-Means of survival

-Curiosity

-Mental, physical activity

-Awareness of time

-Prayer

-Solidarity [?]

-Reception at White House

-Scheduling

-Plans

-President’s meeting with Risner

-Briefing on national security

-State Department

-Wives

-Henry A. Kissinger, President, William P. Rogers

-Changes in world

-Dinner on White House lawn

-Tent

-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon

-Greeting

-Blue Room

-Dress

-Long dresses

-Uniforms

-Arrangements

-Entertainment

-Television [TV]

-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope

-Other celebrities

-Les Brown Orchestra

-Dancing

-Captivity

-Treatment

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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log

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-Torture

-Risner

-Exercise

-Notoriety

-Isolation

-Denton’s leadership [?]

-Communication

-Isolation [?]

-Communications

-System

-Tapping on walls

-Code

-Dangers

-Coughing

-Code

President’s foreign policy

-Denton’s support

-US history

-Benefits for nation, world

-Opening to PRC

-US aid to North Vietnam

-POWs’ support

-Reasons

-Opposition to PRC, USSR

-Influence in Hanoi

-Communist revolution

-US restraint

-Situation in Laos

-Condition for withdrawal

-Cease-fire violations

-Condition for adherence

-World War II precedent

-Differences

-Japan, Germany

-Regime change

-Economic pursuits

-Peaceful pursuits

-Questionable effectiveness

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-Alternatives

-Bombing

-North Vietnam’s impressions of President

-December 1972 bombing

-Difficulty

-Compared to Denton’s captivity

-Survival

-Impression of irrationality

-Liberal critics

-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid, Washington Post

-Questions about President’s sanity

-“Mad bomber”

The conversation was cut off at an unknown time before 6:34 pm. The conversation continues on

a subsequent tape [Oval Office Tape 877-1].