Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 4 › Conversation 004-066

Nixon, Kissinger & Ehrlichman on Laos military operations

Tuesday, June 8, 1971 · 7:59 AM–8:02 AM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation004-066 on Tape 4 (tape position 02:42:28–02:46:56)StartTuesday, June 8, 1971 at 7:59 AMEndTuesday, June 8, 1971 at 8:02 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 004-066 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and John Ehrlichman discussed administrative coordination, including the editing of a housing statement and managing Amtrak-related scheduling concerns. Kissinger briefed the President on the administration's defensive strategy regarding Senator W. Stuart Symington’s presentation on Laos, focusing on efforts to counter negative press coverage. The conversation concluded with instructions to use record-low Vietnam casualty figures for public relations purposes and the decision to reschedule Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird’s upcoming Asia trip to avoid complicating sensitive diplomatic initiatives.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Oh, well then.
Hello?
Yeah, I'd cut it some more then.
Uh, Mr. President?
Just a second.
Do you want to do some cutting or want me to take another look at it?
Maybe I'll take a look.
I'll get it back to you.
Oh, uh, maybe I'll read it more carefully the second time because I just thought of it last night.
I just...
This Amtrak thing, let me just make that goddamn brief, you know.
That's a bunch of assholes.
And they've got 30 minutes.
That means an hour with that son of a bitch.
Is it Spolti?
Yes.
You're not in on it, are you?
Well, I understand that I was supposed to be, but I can't be.
I have a conflict, so I'm probably there.
Would you tell me?
I mean, I think it's so weird.
I don't like the conflict at all.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
You can get that to me.
Hello.
What I was calling about on this Symington presentation on Laos, did we have anybody there that was trying to take up our side, or was there any preparation?
Well, of course, this was a secret meeting.
I understand.
We had people on the floor to take up our side, and we had State put out a statement at noon
It pointed out that this was an operation that had started, actually it started in March 64, but also dated back some of the other origins to a previous period.
Well, the point is, they ask about the disclosure on Laos and so forth and so on.
As a matter of fact, we disclosed the whole goddamn thing.
That's right.
We pointed that out, too.
And you're not saying it was saying, oh, it calls upon the administration to disclose what we're doing.
Oh, God damn it.
We've disclosed it.
I think to me that.
When we got somebody that can take the offensive on the thing for us, what's been done on that?
Who'd you talk to, Colson or who?
I talked to Colson, Gregor, Lehman on my staff, who's been working there.
I got together with Helms, Urban, and Laird.
And Laird's strong recommendation was that yesterday we just put out what we did, and that today we counterattack.
Well, there's a hell of a lot to do.
What are you going to counterattack about, Henry?
What are you going to say?
Well, actually, it hasn't played so loudly.
Except in the Post, I guess, and Times, yeah.
On TV, it's disappeared.
The airplane crash is a terrible thing, but they always dominate news, don't they?
That's right.
The other thing, did you get that final casualty figure, Henry?
It's 19.
It is 19.
Right, Mr. President.
And that's your... That is positive.
Now, I want you to pass that.
if you would, immediately to Scali.
Right.
And tell him to develop a plan as to how we can get maximum impact from that.
They should say the president again proves right, you know, the casualty is the lowest.
What did you say they were?
October 25th, 1965.
It really gets down, isn't it, for five and a half years.
Because we might as well crow on one, don't you?
This is the first time it's been in the below 20, isn't it?
That's right.
We had 116, but then they put in something in action that brought it up.
Fine, Henry, thank you a lot.
Mr. President, there's one problem I want to mention to you.
Yeah, yeah.
Layard is planning a trip to Asia.
Yeah, yeah, we heard about it yesterday.
And he's planning to be in Taiwan at the exact moment that I'm going to be in the other place.
Yeah, yeah.
And I began yesterday turning it off just in case he hits you.
Yeah, yeah.
Why don't we just say that I'd like for him to go a later time.
It'll fit into something we're doing with the Russians or some damn thing.
Well, and I put it also on the ground that you turned off Agnew.
Yeah.
And it would create very bad feelings.
Okay, good.
Right.
Good.

NARA Description

On June 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 7:59 am to 8:02 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 004-066 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 4-66

Date: June 8, 1971
Time: 7:59 am - 8:02 am
Location: White House Telephone

Henry A. Kissinger talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 514-4A]

     President's schedule

The President conferred with John D. Ehrlichman at an unknown time after 7:55 am.

     Editing of housing statement

     National Railroad Passenger Corporation [AMTRAK]
          -President's schedule
                -John A. Volpe
                -Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.

[End of conferral]

     W. Stuart Symington's Laos presentation
          -Laos military operations
                -Disclosure by administration
                      -State Department statement
                -Clifford P. Case
          -Kissinger conversations with Charles W. Colson and Clark MacGregor
          -John F. Lehman, Jr. of National Security Council [NSC] staff
          -Kissinger meeting with Richard M. Helms, John N. Irwin, II, Melvin R. Laird
          -Laird’s recommendation
          -Washington Post, New York Times
                -News coverage on television

     Vietnam casualty figure
          -Use by John A. Scali
          -Public relations effort concerning figures

     Laird's forthcoming trip to Asia
           -Taiwan
           -Kissinger's schedule
                 -People's Republic of China [PRC]
           -Spiro T. Agnew

Also recorded on June 8, 1971

  • 514-001 7:53 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:53 am and 8:03 am.
  • 514-002 7:53 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:53 am and 8:03 am.
  • 514-003 7:53 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:53 am to 7:55 am.
  • 514-004 7:55 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:55 am to 8:02 am.
  • 004-067 8:02 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:02 am and 9:44 am.
  • 060-001 8:03 AM · 1 hr 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, Cabinet officers, and staffers, including John B. Connally, Melvin R. Laird, John N. Mitchell, Winton M. ("Red"), Blount, Jr., Rogers C. B. Morton, Clifford M. Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, George P. Shultz, Robert H. Finch, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, John D. Ehrlichman, Clark MacGregor, Peter M. Flanigan, Peter G. Peterson, Herbert G. Klein, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., Raymond K. Price, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, Robert J. Brown, Edward L. Morgan, Edwin L. Harper, John C. Whitaker, Neal Ball, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., Raymond J. Waldman, Leonard Garment, John F. Evans, Jr., Lewis A. Engman, Roy D. Morey, Peter Michel, Geoffrey C. Shepard, Martin C. ("Marty") Anderson, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Paul W. McCracken, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, Arnold R. Weber, and Arthur J. Sohmer, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 10:31 am.
  • 514-020 8:03 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 8:03 am.
  • 514-021 8:03 AM · 18 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 9:40 am.

All 40 conversations from June 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 004-066, June 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/004-066 (accessed October 13, 2026).