Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 335 › Conversation 335-007

Nixon & Colson on Vietnam War and Moscow Summit

Wednesday, May 3, 1972 · 12:41 PM–12:59 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation335-007 on Tape 335 (tape position 00:28:25–00:37:23)StartWednesday, May 3, 1972 at 12:41 PMEndWednesday, May 3, 1972 at 12:59 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 335-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss the political fallout and public perception of ongoing military engagements, specifically addressing the risk of potential battlefield losses impacting the President's scheduled trip to Moscow. Nixon emphasizes the necessity of maintaining resolve despite negative projections, drawing a parallel to his steadfast support for J. Edgar Hoover. The conversation highlights the administration's efforts to manage both foreign policy objectives and domestic law-and-order optics during a period of strategic uncertainty.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:28:25 – 00:37:23

part A, 28:23

335a.mp3

335b.mp3

NARA Description

On May 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:41 pm and 12:59 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 335-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 335-7

Date: May 3, 1972
Time: Between 12:41 and 12:59 pm.
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 23-133; two items have been withdrawn from this conversation]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

You know, it isn't going very well.

They were justified.

I mean, it isn't as bad as I say, but, you know, and it is, and incidentally, it's exactly what I predicted when we were out.

I said, over and over, I said, we're going to have some losses, and they're having a massive investment.

Hopefully, we're going to have some more.

We're going to go for three or four more weeks.

We're going to lose some.

Frankly, there's no one who would be damn sure I'm not going to go to Moscow.

I think you would agree, but if I went to Moscow, I'm going to slowly attend to rumbling around in the way.

I'll never go.

And I think on that point, well, most people would say it's been terrible.

It'll hurt us because they'll say, what happened to the Generation T?

Come back again.

We simply can't take this anymore.

What the hell?

We tried.

We were doing a damn thing again.

We'll keep, we'll keep them, keep them going.

You know, one thing I, well, we're all sad about it.

I think that we had one good break this weekend, and on the law and order issue, there's no better way for me to identify, to identify with my friend Hoover.

You know, and I, I stood by him, and I didn't snap on the fire, and I called, and I never did, and I stood by him to pick him down, and I defended him, and, and,

... ... ... ... ... ...

Yeah.

Also recorded on May 3, 1972

718-014 12:35 PM · 43 sec — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:35 pm and 12:59 pm.
023-130 12:36 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:36 pm and 12:40 pm.
335-004 12:36 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:36 pm and 12:40 pm.
023-131 12:40 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone from 12:40 pm to 12:41 pm.
335-005 12:40 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:41 pm.
023-132 12:41 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:41 pm.
023-133 12:41 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 12:41 pm to 12:59 pm.
335-006 12:41 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 12:41 pm.

All 59 conversations from May 3, 1972 →

Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on Law and Order May 26, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Civil Unrest and Law and Order May 4, 1971 · 3 min
Nixon phone call with Byrd on Vietnam War and Anti-war protests May 5, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Kiernan on Law enforcement May 26, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on May Day demonstrations and Press relations June 1, 1971 · 12 min
Nixon phone call with Woods on Press Relations and May Day Demonstrations June 1, 1971 · 3 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 335-007, May 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/335-007 (accessed October 30, 2026).