Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-134

Nixon, Ehrlichman & Albert on Vietnam War and Tonkin Gulf Incident

Wednesday, June 23, 1971 · 9:31 AM–11:03 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsEhrlichman, John D.; Albert, Carl B.; Nixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation005-134 on Tape 5 (tape position 04:09:02–04:11:23)StartWednesday, June 23, 1971 at 9:31 AMEndWednesday, June 23, 1971 at 11:03 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 005-134 ↗

AI Summary

John Ehrlichman, speaking on behalf of President Nixon, contacted Speaker of the House Carl Albert to relay details from the President's recent breakfast meeting with Senator Mike Mansfield regarding the Vietnam War. The administration offered to provide Congress with 47 volumes of Vietnam reports and a 1965 Tonkin Gulf study, which remained classified while undergoing a declassification review by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird. The participants discussed the logistical challenges of secure document storage and the necessity for joint congressional leadership to determine the appropriate distribution and oversight of these sensitive materials.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Mr. Ehrlich?
Yes.
The Speaker.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, John Ehrlichman.
Yes, sir.
The President asked me to call you to give you a fill-in on his breakfast with Senator Mansfield this morning.
Yes, sir.
The President offered to make available to the Senate and the House the 47 volumes of the report on Vietnam and the 1965 study of the Tonkin Gulf incident.
These documents are, as you know, still classified, and they would come to the bodies under those classifications.
At the same time, there is a declassification review underway, which Secretary Laird mentioned yesterday.
So, Senator Mansfield will be calling you.
Uh, he... Well, I had a call from McGregor saying that they were signing him up here to be on the alert.
Right, well... Over the military committee.
Uh, Senator Mansfield, I think, wants to talk with you about the disposition of the documents.
He has in mind that the joint leadership of both bodies, uh, should get together and discuss how they, how they will be, uh, distributed.
And he, I think, has in mind some sort of a joint committee.
But the President said that this was entirely up to the leadership of the bodies.
So, Senator Mansfield indicated to the President this morning that he would be calling a meeting of you and Senator Scott and Jerry Ford and anyone else that you felt would be appropriate to discuss how to go from here.
I see.
That McGregor's call came to one of my secretaries earlier.
Today?
Yeah, later today.
I see.
925.
Right.
So this amounts to a bail vote.
They had it by immediately referring them through the parliamentarians.
or dope security storage by the armed services committee oh well that's a logistics i think that was because secretary laird was concerned about how they would be stored but that's a that's really a logistical problem that we can work out oh i see all right okay thank you yes sir

NARA Description

On June 23, 1971, John D. Ehrlichman, Carl B. Albert, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:31 am and 11:03 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-134 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 5-134

Date: June 23, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:31 am and 11:03 am
Location: White House Telephone

John D. Ehrlichman talked with Carl B. Albert; the President can be heard in the background.

[See Conversation No. 527-16E]

     President's previous meeting with Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield
          -"Report on Vietnam"
          -"Study of Tonkin Gulf Incident"
          -Delivery of documents to Congress
                 -Declassification
                       -Melvin R. Laird
                 -Clark MacGregor's call to Albert
                 -Mansfield's forthcoming call to Albert
                 -Distribution
                       -Hugh Scott, Gerald R. Ford
                 -Storage

Also recorded on June 23, 1971

  • 527-014 9:10 AM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:10 am and 9:14 am.
  • 527-015 9:10 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:10 am and 9:14 am.
  • 527-016 9:14 AM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, unknown person(s) [Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield's secretary], Henry A. Kissinger, Carl B. Albert, White House operator, unknown person(s), Clark MacGregor, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:14 am to 10:12 am.
  • 005-133 9:22 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mary Jane Delbazo talked on the telephone from 9:22 am to 9:25 am.
  • 005-135 9:31 AM · 3 min — John D. Ehrlichman, White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, and Clark MacGregor talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:31 am and 11:03 am.
  • 527-011 10:12 AM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, James D. Hodgson, Malcolm R. Lovell, Jr., Melvin R. Laird, Maurice H. Stans, Rufus H. Wilson, John D. Harper, William Woodward, James F. Oates, John F. Evans, Jr., Melvin Stephens, Howard Russell, Henry A. Kissinger, Ronald L. Ziegler, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:12 am and 11:40 am.
  • 005-136 11:03 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 11:03 am to 11:04 am.
  • 005-137 11:04 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:04 am and 2:39 pm.

All 52 conversations from June 23, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 005-134, June 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-134 (accessed October 10, 2026).