Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 17 › Conversation 017-127
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Eisaku Sato and Vietnam War
Saturday, January 1, 1972 · 11:54 AM–2:42 PM ET · White House Telephone · 12 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman coordinated the logistics for an upcoming luncheon with Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in California, including scheduling, guest lists, and the protocol for presidential statements. They also discussed internal scheduling matters, such as the location for a meeting with Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr. and the review of a list of major political contributors provided by Herbert Kalmbach. Additionally, the pair touched upon the President’s upcoming Vietnam policy announcement and noted the fading media coverage regarding recent bombing campaigns.
- Eisaku Sato
- Vietnam War
- Political fundraising
- Presidential scheduling
- Public relations
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello?
Hello.
I wondered if you had any dope on those announcement things that we were talking about.
Yep.
The only other thing is the Japanese were ecstatic about the luncheon in spite of their press conference and put out that they were going to the luncheon, so I think we've got to leave it on now.
Just have it earlier.
We'll do it early enough so that his press conference is at the New Porter.
Oh.
And his plan is to leave San Clemente in helicopter up to the New Porter and do his press conference.
He kind of likes the drama of coming right from the thing, apparently.
Well, then why don't we do the...
Have the lunch at 12 o'clock.
Yeah.
And then he can go right from there.
That's good.
And I'll have him make it a simple lunch so that there's not a lot of courses to serve.
That's right.
Just have them out there.
And then have, that way then you can re-invite Annenberg.
I didn't un-invite him yet.
Yeah.
I was waiting to get all this worked out.
And have Reagan come, which is good.
Right.
Yeah, because he's up there to see Sato.
That's good.
I'm glad it's on.
Just make it at 12 o'clock.
It's not a bad way to finish it anyway.
Yeah.
He'll be out of there by 1.30, and his press conference is at 2.
Mm-hmm.
Make it easily.
Yep.
And he's apparently not at all concerned about, you know, I thought he might be worried about the time ahead of time or something.
No, he doesn't.
He'd probably have it worked out.
He's going to go read it to him anyway.
And we've got the Dreyfus lunch set for Monday.
The question is where you want to have that.
I assume the downstairs dining room, family dining room, don't you?
Or do you want to eat in the office?
Well, we might just put him upstairs in the other dining room.
Okay.
That'll be gone.
It'll be a nice thing.
Upstairs family dining room.
Yeah.
Tell them to leave the Christmas tree up till then.
Just tell Rex.
That's good.
That'll be a nicer place.
Okay.
Did you get that Kambach list?
Yeah, I did.
Fine.
I'll use it from now on.
They're grouped by a dollar amount.
But the third group, the big group in the middle, are the 100,000.
Right, I know.
The ones above are over 100, and the ones below are under, but over 50.
Right.
So that's...
Oh, on the Japanese thing, do you want toast at the dinner or at the lunch?
No.
No toast.
At neither one?
No.
Okay.
You can't have one outside and inside, but big people, you don't have a toast.
Right.
Okay.
What the hell is that?
Just have a statement to read out.
If you check that with Mitchell, then that will determine.
I'm working on terms of my Vietnam announcement.
Okay.
Put that out of the way.
I can maybe be able to move in another direction on that.
All right.
It's rather interesting how the bombing story sort of dropped out of the news.
Yep.
Isn't it?
One day.
Well, it's over.
You know, it's a funny thing, isn't it?
They just haven't got a damn thing to write about.
There's nothing more to say about it except that it was done.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
That'll be in the magazines on Monday.
Oh, sure.
The story on the bombing.
But it'll be over.
Rogers is going out with us.
California.
Oh, he's going out on... Yeah.
He has a house out there, so he... Oh.
I told him I was going.
He asked me when I was going.
He said, Monday.
He said, I'd like to go.
So I said, okay.
Okay.
So he'll be on the plane.
It's no problem.
But I won't need to see him.
He understands that.
Okay.
Very good.
He's apparently there planning to be out there tonight at the airport also.
Yeah, I guess they are, yeah.
I think that's good.
I think they should be.
Yeah, well, he wanted to do it.
It's fine.
Well, they're going to be ambassadors of the countries.
They'll be there, and it's a good touch for Bill and Joe to be there.
It builds it up a bit.
Mm-hmm.
We certainly took care of Edgar Hoover, didn't we?
Yeah.
That was nice.
That'll confuse people.
He, I'm sure, appreciated that very much.
All right.
Little gestures.
Well, okay.
See you later.
All right.
NARA Description
On January 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 017-127 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 17-127
Date: January 1, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
[See Conversation No. 311-17]
Scheduling President's upcoming announcements
**********************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 12/22/2017.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[017-127-w001]
[Duration: 6m]
Scheduling President's upcoming announcements
-Presidential candidacy announcements
-New Hampshire
-Hubert H. Humphrey announcing on January 10
-Edmund Muskie announcing on January 4
-New Hampshire
-January 12
-Lane Dwinell filing on January 3
-Secretary of State writing to the President
-January 13
-January 12
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-January 10
-Lane Dwinell
-January 3
-Secretary of State’s letter
-President will receive on January 4
-Respond immediately
-Moving forward
-Lane Dwinell
-Edmund S. Muskie
-January 4
-Announcement possibilities
-Eisaku Sato meeting
-The President’s upcoming interview with Dan Rather
-Presidential candidacy announcements
-Date of Secretary of State’s Letter to the President
-January 4 or January 5
-Edmund S. Muskie’s announcement
-Announcement possibilities
-The President’s meeting with Eisaku Sato
-Schedule
-Presidential candidacy announcements
-Hubert H. Humphrey’s announcement
-The President’s announcement scheduled for Saturday
-Ronald Ziegler
-Haldeman’s opinion
-John Mitchell
-Publicity
-H. R. Haldeman to call John Mitchell
-Deciding on Saturday, January 8
**********************************************************************
Upcoming visit of Eisaku Sato
-Luncheon
-Timing
-Press conference
-Location
-Mode of travel
-Luncheon schedule
-Type of lunch
-Walter H. Annenberg
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Time
Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr. luncheon
-Location
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Haldeman to talk to Rex W. Scouten
Herbert W. Kalmbach's list
-Contributors by dollar amount
-$100,000
Sato luncheon
-Toasts
-President’s decision
-Statement by President
President's Vietnam announcement
-John N. Mitchell
Vietnam
-Bombing stories in the papers and magazines
President's meeting with Sato in California
-William P. Rogers attendance
-Rogers's house in California
-Ambassadors
J. Edgar Hoover meeting with the PresidentAlso recorded on January 1, 1972
- 017-126 11:54 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 017-128 11:54 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 017-129 11:54 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 311-015 11:54 AM · 3 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 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 311-016 11:54 AM · 1 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 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 311-017 11:54 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 311-018 11:54 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
- 311-019 11:54 AM · 2 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 11:54 am and 2:42 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 017-127, January 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-127 (accessed October 11, 2026).