Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 1 › Conversation 001-015

Nixon phone call with Agnew on Vietnam War and Media relations

Wednesday, April 7, 1971 · 9:56 PM–10:00 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Agnew, Spiro T. (Vice President)Conversation001-015 on Tape 1 (tape position 00:33:08–00:37:30)StartWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 9:56 PMEndWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 10:00 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 001-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew discuss the public and media reception of the President's recent television address regarding the Vietnam War. Agnew offers praise for the speech's effectiveness and highlights an uncharacteristically positive analysis from CBS regarding the administration's withdrawal commitments. Nixon expresses frustration with congressional critics and reaffirms his commitment to his Vietnam policy, while instructing Agnew to relay to Bob Hope that a specific segment of the speech was inspired by their previous conversation.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Mr. President, I have the Vice President for you.
There you are.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi, Mr. President.
Hi, how are you?
Fine, I'm good.
You're in California, huh?
Yeah, I'm in California.
That's great.
I had a good interview with the Copley people.
Good.
Oh, they're great people.
My God, if we had only more papers like them, we'd be in clover.
That's true.
Well, Mr. President, I think you pulled all the teeth again tonight, and I thought it was a...
Trying to be completely objective, I thought it was the most effective of all the Vietnam speeches by far, particularly the part where you put the papers down and just went off the cuff on that very personalized impression.
Well, actually, I was really speaking from the heart because, you know, that deal where little Kevin, a four-year-old, saluted me, my God.
What do you do?
You almost come apart.
Well, it came through extremely well.
Not just that part, but the whole speech.
I thought it was extremely well organized and effective.
It should do a great amount of good as far as defusing all of this incipient demonstration and whatnot.
Basically, the problem is that the country is sort of in a...
neurotic state no i know and so but we got to fight it because we got to do the right thing that's all because so so history history will look back and say did we promote or did we measure up that's why i said at the last that generations in the future will look back and say we had the courage to do the right thing i'm not sure we have but by god you and i are going to be damn sure we do everything we can right that came through strong and clear tonight
and uh i think you'll find even the uh analysis on cbs i hope you didn't look at it you did i bet you did don't do it don't look at those goddamn television programs they won't get any religion but anyway i appreciate the fact you've kicked those bastards in the butt but honestly i think this will be a tremendous assistance and uh
It wasn't too bad in CBS then, huh?
No, it was an excellent.
You know what they did?
They said, we're not going to give the president to us.
We'll take our own.
And they went all the way back to the first thing you said about 25,000 withdrawn.
Yeah.
And they said that you met or exceeded every one of your commitments.
That's true.
For CBS, well, it's true, but I mean, for them to emphasize.
That's right.
It was a new departure for CBS.
Yeah.
And it came across as a very positive analysis.
The first one I've ever seen.
So get your hopes up.
The next one will be negative.
I'm as cynical as you are about that.
That's right.
Maybe more so.
No, no, no, not more so.
I've been through it more than you have.
It came across extremely well.
And I think what you see this building tonight will prove itself in the coming weeks.
Well, you know, the real problem, Ted, is the fact that these goddamn senators and congressmen, they're all crawling and screaming and whining around.
Damn it, they ought to stand up and be men.
The real question is, they want us to get out on a certain date.
Why the hell won't they say so?
All right.
Then, by God, all right, we'll get out on a certain date and let them be responsible for Vietnam going communist.
All right.
But they won't do that.
Well, you see, they have a different perspective than you, Mr. President.
They're not looking at...
I know.
Well, we're gonna do the right thing and we're doing the right thing.
We're gonna stick to it.
But I
I want you to tell old Bob Ho, but I hope he noticed what I said about the Vietnam serviceman, because I did that for him.
After my call with him on the telephone, I wrote that whole section.
You remember I said, by God, somebody's got to stand up and speak up for the men that have served in Vietnam.
Wasn't that good?
Yes, it did.
Well, the whole speech was outstanding.
But tell Bob that that section was a result of my conversation with him.
Will you do that?
Yes, sir.
Okay.
Fine, Ted.
Thank you for calling.

NARA Description

On April 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew talked on the telephone from 9:56 pm to 10:00 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 1-15

Date: April 7, 1971
Time: 9:56 pm - 10:00 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

     Copley newspapers

     President's previous speech on Southeast Asia
           -Kevin Taylor's salute
           -Attitude of posterity
           -Network analysis
                 -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
           -Congress’ responsibility
                 -Perspective
           -Message to Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope

Also recorded on April 8, 1971

  • 001-011 9:39 PM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:39 pm and 9:42 pm.
  • 001-012 9:42 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Manolo Sanchez talked on the telephone from 9:42 pm to 9:49 pm.
  • 001-013 9:49 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, Manolo Sanchez, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:49 pm and 9:52 pm.
  • 001-014 9:52 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William F. ("Billy") Graham talked on the telephone from 9:52 pm to 9:55 pm.
  • 001-016 10:00 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:00 pm and 10:07 pm.
  • 001-017 10:07 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 10:07 pm to 10:16 pm.
  • 001-018 10:16 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:16 pm and 10:20 pm.
  • 001-019 10:20 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:20 pm.

All 67 conversations from April 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 001-015, April 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/001-015 (accessed October 12, 2026).