Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 9 › Conversation 009-025

Nixon phone call with Haig on Vietnam War and Military casualties

Wednesday, September 15, 1971 · 2:37 PM–2:38 PM ET · White House Telephone · 43 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation009-025 on Tape 9 (tape position 00:37:09–00:37:52)StartWednesday, September 15, 1971 at 2:37 PMEndWednesday, September 15, 1971 at 2:38 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 009-025 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417189669 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed Alexander M. Haig, Jr. to prepare statistical comparisons of recent Vietnam War casualties against historical lows from the past five years. The President sought to identify the most compelling timeframe—ranging from four weeks to three months—to frame casualty figures for potential public use. Haig was tasked with providing this data efficiently without overextending administrative resources.

Audio

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NARA Description

On September 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:37 pm to 2:38 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 009-025 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 9-25

Date: September 15, 1971
Time: 2:37 pm - 2:38 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 277-18]

     Vietnam
          -Casualties
               -Time period
               -Comparison
               -Time period
          -Effort by Haig

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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yeah general haig al yes sir i'd like to get a good uh casualty comparison uh i don't want to just take this week which of course is a little bit but i wonder if you could say take the last maybe four weeks or the last eight weeks or the last three months and compare it say the lowest in five years you see what i'm trying to get at yes sir so figure figure out maybe it's the last 30 days or the last 60 days or i mean the last
Four weeks, eight weeks, or three months, or anything that makes a sort of a way to state it in case I want to use it.
Most impressive way.
Sure, sure.
And don't go to too much work on it.
Fine.
Fine.

Also recorded on September 15, 1971

  • 277-011 2:10 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:10 pm and 2:30 pm.
  • 277-014 2:30 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:30 pm to 2:32 pm.
  • 009-023 2:32 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:32 pm to 2:33 pm.
  • 277-015 2:32 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:32 pm to 2:33 pm.
  • 009-024 2:33 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:33 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 277-016 2:33 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:33 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 277-017 2:33 PM · 18 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 2:33 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 277-018 2:37 PM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:37 pm to 3:15 pm.

All 51 conversations from September 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 009-025, September 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417189669). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/009-025 (accessed November 2, 2026).