Date: May 25, 1973
Time: 12:09 pm – 12:31 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Elliot L. Richardson. The recording began at an unknown time while the
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conversation was in progress.
Justice Department
United States Customs Service
-George P. Shultz’s opinion
-Treasury Department
United States Attorney General
-Role
-President’s relationships
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-John N. Mitchell
-Richardson’s role as counsel
-Leonard Garment
-Clearances
-Legal problems
-Law enforcement
-Leadership
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Shultz
-Richardson’s previous positions
-State Department
-Defense Department
-Jonathan Moore
-Relationship to Henry A. Kissinger’s staff
-Mitchell’s role
-Papers
-Judgment
-Foreign policy issues
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Soviet Union
-Cambodia
-Richardson’s judgment
-Judicial aspects
-Compared with Shultz’s judgment
-Defense Department
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-Learning
-Indoctrination
-Institution
Presidential appointments
-James R. Schlesinger
-Professionalism
-Defense Department
-William E. Colby
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] directorship
-Discussion with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Overhaul of agency
-J. Edgar Hoover’s legacy
-Internal candidate
-Cartha D. (“Deke”) DeLoach
-Possibilities
-Law school dean
-Judge
-Requirements
-Military member
-Bugging
-Discipline
-Pride
Haig’s recommendation as a General
-Richardson’s discussions with Haig
-Importance
-William D. Ruckelshaus
-Requirements
-Urgency
-Police chiefs
-Compared to military members
Justice Department
-Joseph T. Sneed
-Need for appointments list
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United States Supreme Court
-Chief Justice
-Future relationship with Richardson
-Role as politician
Richardson’s duties
-Penal reform
-Cost
-Reduction in crime rate
-Drugs
-Public relations [PR]
-Credit to the President
Watergate
-Special Prosecutor
-Archibald Cox
-Location
-Whitney North Seymour, Jr.
-Robert L. Vesco
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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Watergate
-Robert L. Vesco
-F. Donald A. Nixon
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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Watergate
-Executive privilege
-Oral testimony
-President’s papers
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National security]
[Duration: 17 s ]
DIPLOMACY
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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Watergate
-Executive privilege
-President’s papers
-Memoranda of conversation [Memcons]
-Richardson’s meeting with Egil (“Bud”) Krogh concerning plumbers
-National security
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National security]
[Duration: 34 s ]
DIPLOMACY
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END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
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Watergate
-Richardson’s meeting with Egil (“Bud”) Krogh concerning plumbers
-Richardson’s subsequent interrogation
-Richardson’s notes
-Excisions
-Executive privilege
-Memcons
-Possible testimony by H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and
Charles W. Colson
-Cabinet officers
President’s attendance at dinner for Richardson in 1965
-[Bobby Tucker?]
-Lieutenant governorship
-Edward W. Brooke
-State attorney general
-Henry Cabot Lodge
-President’s speech
Watergate
-Attacks on the President
-National security
-Newsmen’s leaks
-President’s investigation
-Henry E. Petersen’s investigation
-John W. Dean, III’s role
-Daniel Ellsberg break-in information for judge
-Krogh
-Plumbers
-Role and function
Leaks
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-Effect on foreign policy negotiations
-POW release
-SALT
-Effect on personnel management by the President and Kissinger
-William P. Rogers
-Richardson
-People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Melvin R. Laird
-Soviet Union
-Bureaucracy
-Heroic act
-Chester Bowles and Bay of Pigs
-Obeying of the law
-Cabinet officers’ responsibility
-Secretary of Defense
-Secretary of State
-Negotiating positions
-SALT summit with Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Intelligence sources
-Bugging
-Dissemination of classified information
-Tracing leaks
-Defense Department
-Richardson’s role
-Negotiating positions
-Compared to real estate sales
Richardson’s swearing-in ceremony
-President’s remarks
Richardson left at 12:31 pm.
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