Date: March 15, 1973

Time: 5:36 pm-6:24 pm

Location: Oval Office

The President met with John W. Dean, III and Richard A. Moore.

President’s press conference

-Previous discussion with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, Ronald L.

Ziegler

-Announcement of Dr. David K. E. Bruce

-People’s Republic of China [PRC] liaison

-Significance

-Importance of PRC ambassador

-Democrat

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President’s press conference

-Watergate

-Policy topics

-Lack of press interest

-Dean

-Questions on Watergate

-Press interest

-Donald H. Segretti

-Dean

-Other questions

-Cease-fire

-Stockpiles

-Past conferences

-Dwight D. Eisenhower era

-Previous consultation

-President’s handling of conference

-Headlines

-Dean

-Washington Star

-Foreign policy

-Associated press [AP]

-Court test

-Press

-Future stories

-Hostility to administration

-Strategy in the future

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 5:36 pm.

Refreshment

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 6:24 pm.

President’s press conference

-Ronald L. Ziegler’s role

-Future comments

-Transcripts

-Senate responses

-Ervin committee

-Court test over executive privilege

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-President’s response

[PROCESSING NOTE: WITHDRAWAL NO. 2 HAS BEEN DECLASSIFIED IN FULL]

-Vietnam

-North Vietnamese infiltration

-President’s response

-Watergate

-Dwight L. Chapin and Herbert W. Kalmbach

-President’s handling of questions

-Defensiveness

-Ziegler’s statements

-Administration’s cooperativeness

-Alger Hiss case

-Difference from Watergate

-News story

-Henry A. Kissinger

-Harry S Truman’s order

-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]

-Dean report

-Question

-Peter Lisagor and Mary McGrory

-Questions for Moore

-Hiss and Watergate case

-National security issues

-Dan Rather’s questions

-Raw files

-Disclosure to Congress in Hiss case

-J. Edgar Hoover’s policy

-Lisagor

-Dean report

-Questions

-President’s answers

-Information for public

-Court test

-President’s answer

-Effectiveness

-Press

-Proper response

-Answers to questions

-Courtesy

Watergate

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-L. Patrick Gray, III

-Conversation with Dean

-Meeting with Samuel J. Ervin, Jr., and Howard H. Baker, Jr.

-FBI reports

-Disclosure

-Hoover’s policy

-Raw files

-Privacy

-White House staff reports

-Contents

-Validity

-Dangers of disclosure

-President’s policy on disclosure

-FBI raw files

-Hoover’s policy

-Gray

-Hoover’s policy

-Instance of disclosure of raw data to congressional committee in

1948

-Internal security investigation

-Vote fraud case

-Kansas City

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:36 pm.

Delivery of letter to Robert C/ (“Bob”) Wilson

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:24 pm.

Watergate

-FBI raw files

-Disclosure

-American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]

-Truman’s order

-Newspaper support with exception of Chicago Tribune and New

York Daily News

-Hiss case

-Opposition to President’s committee

-Press

-President’s cracking of case

-Administration’s cooperation with committee

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-Press reaction

-New York Times, Washington Post

-Separation of powers

-President’s responsibility

-Executive privilege

-Separation of powers

-Statement

-Constitutional responsibility

-Truman’s firing of Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur

-Bombing of China

-President’s support

-Justification of position

-Ziegler’s statement

-Gray

-Position on raw files disclosure

-Executive privilege

-Ervin Committee

-White House staff testimony

-Court test on staff testimony

-Chapin, Charles W. Colson

-Chapin

-Weak points

-Kalmbach

-Colson

-Segretti

-Chapin

-White House statement

-Letter to President

-Apology

-Explanation

-Activities in campaign

-Richard (“Dick”) Tuck

-Segretti

-Pranksterism

-Culpability

-Hiring of Segretti

-Testimony

-Pranks

-Other duties

-Administration’s position

-Haldeman

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-Duties

-Statement for Senate

-Possibilities

-Ervin Committee

-White House staff testimony

-Television

-Chapin

-Haldeman

-Colson

-Edward M. (`Ted”) Kennedy

-Colson

-Testimony to Senate

-Administration’s position

-Ties to E. Howard Hunt, Jr.

-Chapin

-Court tests on testimony

-Delays

-Advantages to administration

-Duration

-Supreme Court

-President’s statement

-Separation of powers issue

-Advantages

-Dean testimony

-Court rulings

-Dean’s privilege as counsel to President

-Congressional reluctance

-Robert C. Byrd

-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.’s position

-Congressional position

-Decisions and options

-Advantages to administration

-Ervin

-Knowledge of Constitution

-Daniel K. Inouye

-White House statement

-Press

-Treatment of Ziegler

-Ziegler’s handling

-President’s statements to Ervin

-Ervin committee

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-White House statements

-Compared to Hiss case

-Hearsay

-Guilt by association

-Senators’ questions

-Use of rules of court

-Hearsay

-Ervin’s conduct of committee

-President’s handling of Hiss case

-Cooperation with FBI

-L. B. Nichols

-Hoover

-Leaks

-FBI

-Hollywood Ten

-Breaking of case

-Robert Stripling

-Editorials

-Herblock cartoons

-Whittaker Chambers

-Potential for dramatization in television series

-Stripling

-Dislike of Drew Pearson and the Left

-White House staff

-Stripling comparison with Chapin, Colson

-Aggressiveness

-Hiss case

-Cooperation with Stripling

-President’s age

-Attacks on establishment, Congress, State Department

-New York Times, Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Louisville

Courier

-Impact

-Alger Hiss

-Background

-Dean G. Acheson

-Harvard

-Defense fund

-McGeorge Bundy

-Contribution

-Moore’s view

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-July confrontation of Hiss and Chambers

-Testimony

-Chambers’ dentist [Dr. Hitchcock]

-Perjury

-Automobile purchase transaction

-Intellectuals

-Hunger for power

-Trial

-Pumpkin papers

-Moore

-Work in President’s campaign in 1950

-Hiss’ background

-Moore’s visits to Georgetown in 1945

-Stories of Hiss’s communist leanings

-Halperin [sp?] [first name unknown]

-President’s committee in 1948

-Staff

-Stripling

-Amount of work

-Work with FBI

-Cooperation

-National security concerns

-Information

-Disclosure

-Espionage

-Hoover

-Raw files

-FBI report

-Leak to President’s committee

-Press

-Lisagor

-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston

-Hatred for President

-Ervin committee

-Possible subpoenas

-Chapin

-Republicans

-Statements

-Administration’s cooperation

-Extent

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Dean and Moore left at 6:24 pm.