Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 001-014
Date: Wednesday, April 7, 1971 at 9:52 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Graham, William F. ("Billy")
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-014

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] President Billy Graham off the line, sir.
[0:02] Who?
[0:02] Reverend Billy Graham.
[0:03] Hello.
[0:04] Here you are.
[0:06] Hello.
[0:07] Hello.
[0:07] Mr. President?
[0:08] Who's this, Billy?
[0:09] This is Billy Graham.
[0:11] How are you?
[0:11] I want to tell you that that's by far the best anybody has done on Vietnam.
[0:16] And you had me in tears.
[0:18] I really feel that... Well, I was in tears myself, you know.
[0:22] Every time I think of that little Kevin he saluted, it just broke me up.
[0:25] Well, I think you even threw old Dan right at the old fella.
[0:29] Yeah.
[0:29] I thought it was just tremendous, and I just wanted to tell you that... Are you in Knoxville?
[0:35] No, I'm still in Vero Beach, Florida.
[0:37] Oh, yeah, yeah.
[0:38] I've been down here about five weeks.
[0:40] When are you going?
[0:40] You're crusading Kentucky.
[0:42] Yes.
[0:45] Oh, yeah, I see.
[0:48] But you felt it was the right thing.
[0:50] Of course, we're fighting a very tough battle here.
[0:53] Everybody wants to pull out, but I have to fight against the tide.
[0:56] I've got to do the right thing.
[0:57] I think you've defused a lot of it tonight, though.
[1:00] I don't see what in the world they can say after tonight.
[1:03] I think that you've given some of people like me, you've given me something to hold on to and to really say,
[1:13] And I've got an editorial in the New York Times on Friday, which I wrote this morning.
[1:18] They had it for you yesterday.
[1:20] And I'm putting all the blame of this whole thing on Kennedy.
[1:23] That's right.
[1:24] He started the damn thing.
[1:25] He killed Diem, and he sent the first 16,000 combat people there himself.
[1:31] Well, I'm saying that the first time I ever heard of our involvement was four days before he was inaugurated, playing golf with him.
[1:38] He said, I quote, we cannot allow layoffs in South Vietnam to fall to the communists.
[1:44] And then I said, when President Johnson took over, we had 16,000 troops there.
[1:50] That's right.
[1:51] And I said, the political climate in the United States... Well, and Diem had been murdered.
[1:55] You see, Billy, the key thing here was Kennedy's, and I must say our friend Lodge's, agreement to the murder of Diem.
[2:04] Diem, that's what killed the whole, that's what opened the whole thing.
[2:07] The whole thing.
[2:09] And I said this sentence, I said, many of the President's doves in the Senate were not then so dovish, even Senator Fulbright, who introduced the now famous Tonkin Resolution.
[2:21] And I got all that in there.
[2:23] They've taken it.
[2:24] They're going to print it Friday morning.
[2:25] Good.
[2:27] Well, anyway, I appreciate that.
[2:29] I thought it was your sincerity and your manner of presentation was just excellent.
[2:35] It was just wonderful.
[2:38] One thing, incidentally, you know, I threw away the text at the last and talked about this little boy that came there.
[2:44] That little Kevin, you know, when he saluted me, I damn near broke up.
[2:48] I'm sure you did.
[2:49] Well, you know how it is.
[2:51] It's awful tough, isn't it?
[2:52] Well, God bless you.
[2:53] You've got a lot of people praying for you.
[2:55] Well, believe me, Billy, it means an awful lot.
[2:58] And you keep the faith, huh?
[3:00] You betcha.
[3:01] Keep the faith.
[3:01] Sir.
[3:03] Our folks, we're going to win.