142. Editorial Note
President’s Assistant H.R. Haldeman and Secretary of State Rogers met for lunch in the 8th floor dining room of the Department of State on February 22, 1971, from 1:05 to 4:24 p.m. They were joined during the lunch by U. Alexis Johnson. (Personal Papers of William P. Rogers, Appointment Books)
In his diary entry for that day, Haldeman wrote the following: “I had a three hour lunch with Rogers, ostensibly for the purpose of discussing State Department personnel, which we did go into in considerable detail. It was clear, however, that Rogers’ principal concern was to try to work out the Henry K problem, and he specifically asked for ways that he could direct communications to the P[resident] directly, rather than via Henry. Also wanted some help on trying to undo some of the operation of the NSSMs which have him concerned, as well as Mel Laird. Basically he is sincerely trying to do what he thinks is best for the P and, of course, so is Henry; but the two of them just stay on a collision course, and somehow we’ve got to figure out how to work it out. Henry caught me later and made it clear that his dissatisfaction is again reaching a peak also, so we have a lot to do.” (The Haldeman Diaries: Multimedia Edition)