Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-153

Nixon phone call with Haig on Vietnam War and Da Nang Air Base

Monday, July 5, 1971 · 9:08 PM–9:13 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation006-153 on Tape 6 (tape position 03:09:51–03:14:10)StartMonday, July 5, 1971 at 9:08 PMEndMonday, July 5, 1971 at 9:13 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 006-153 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss the recent deadly rocket attack on the Da Nang Air Base and review Henry Kissinger’s ongoing diplomatic trip to Southeast Asia. They focus on Kissinger's efforts to bolster South Vietnamese morale regarding troop withdrawal timelines, while affirming continued commitments to air power and economic aid. Additionally, they coordinate potential final communications with Soviet Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin regarding upcoming administration travel plans.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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General Haig, sir.
Hello?
Yes, Mr. President.
Any late developments?
No, sir.
I think we had that attack on Da Nang was a little something.
It turned out that there were three more, a total of five Americans killed in that damn thing.
And 37 wounded is the latest report.
That was yesterday or today?
It was yesterday.
Well...
Actually, it's today, our time.
Today, our time.
So just what was it?
Just one of those shellings?
Yes, a rocket attack that hit a barracks in Da Nang Air Base.
Mm-hmm.
What do you think?
Could it have been avoided or what?
Well, no, sir, this is one of those long-range rocket attacks, 122 millimeters, the same as hitting the city itself.
This is the air base that's right in the populated area.
Mm-hmm.
It wasn't anything that could be avoided beyond the... Yeah, yeah.
It's one of those lucky shots, isn't it?
Yes, sir.
For them, at least.
But, well, we've got to expect that, Al, don't you think?
Yes, I do.
As long as there's anybody there.
That's right.
They're going to keep pecking at it.
Yep.
This will happen.
Yeah, right.
Well, we'll...
Henry's over in Thailand now, huh?
Yes, sir.
He's leaving at 1 o'clock our time.
He'll be taking off for Delhi.
Mm-hmm.
And Thailand should be calm.
I don't know if there's much that can happen there.
No, I talked to...
one of Henry's assistants at six o'clock their time in the morning just before Henry went to a breakfast, and he said that the Saigon leg was really very, very fruitful.
Yeah, good.
And that Henry's visit with Kew was important and did a great deal to shore them up.
They were apparently beginning to sag a little bit.
Well, the question is whether we shore them up, of course, in one sense, and then the other sense is...
how much we're able to produce on it.
I mean, the real question is whether we've got to be sure we don't promise what we can't do with them.
Well, this is right, sir.
I don't think he did any of that.
I think mostly was the fact that they expected there was going to be all these stories about a step-up withdrawal between now and December had him quite... Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, he can reassure them on that, at least.
Yes, he did.
We're going to see that came true.
And naturally, he's got to realize that after that, the game's over.
Well, I think he does.
I would say from their discussion that that's quite evident.
His point was that after you get down to a certain point, it makes no difference.
Sure.
But he does want the air, and he wants to keep economic assistance coming.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We can do that.
I think we can handle that all right.
We can handle a lot of other things, but they're... See it through to the end of the year, and then we can do the move on to some other things.
Okay.
Well, let me know if anything happens on the other fronts.
Either the Pakistani or the... or, of course, the Russian front.
Well, I...
I doubt it's probably you won't hear anything from DeBrennan before you leave now.
No, I think we will, sir.
I think we will.
Before you go to California?
Yes.
You think you will?
Let's see.
We leave tomorrow at noon, you know.
Yes, sir.
Well, you might hear tomorrow morning.
Right.
And if you don't, it'll be done.
Because he's been told we have to know, and that's that.
Yes, sir.
That's right.
He knows.
And either way, it's fine.
Well, when I saw him yesterday morning, he went over the routine of...
if we had gone to california he would come in and use your phone sure sure good well we just need to know one way or another we're not going to appear anxious about it because we're not we can we can take it one way or the other as it turns out okay right sir bye

NARA Description

On July 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 9:08 pm to 9:13 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-153 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 6-153

Date: July 5, 1971
Time: 9:08 pm - 9:13 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Vietnam developments
          -Rocket attack on Da Nang
          -American casualties
          -Type of attack

     Henry A. Kissinger's location
          -Thailand

          -New Delhi

     Thailand

     Haig’s conversation with Kissinger’s assistant
          -Saigon
          -Visit with Nguyen Van Thieu

     Vietnam
          -Kissinger’s activities
          -South Vietnamese morale
          -American troop withdrawal
          -American air power, economic assistance

     Pakistan

     Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
         -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
               -Possible conversation with Haig

Also recorded on July 6, 1971

  • 006-150 8:41 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:41 pm and 8:45 pm.
  • 260-031 8:41 PM · 4 min — 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 8:41 pm and 8:45 pm.
  • 006-151 8:45 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and James Harvey talked on the telephone from 8:45 pm to 8:48 pm.
  • 260-032 8:45 PM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon and James Harvey met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:45 pm to 8:48 pm.
  • 006-152 8:48 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:48 pm and 9:08 pm.
  • 260-033 8:48 PM · 1 min — 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 8:48 pm and 9:08 pm.
  • 260-034 9:08 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:08 pm to 9:13 pm.
  • 006-154 9:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:13 pm and 10:39 pm.

All 32 conversations from July 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 006-153, July 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-153 (accessed October 5, 2026).