Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 024-033
Date: Monday, May 8, 1972 at 10:52 PM
Participants: Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Graham, William F. ("Billy")
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-033

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] There you are.
[0:01] Billy?
[0:03] Just a second.
[0:03] Thank you.
[0:05] Hello.
[0:05] Billy?
[0:06] Yes, sir.
[0:07] Bob Holliman.
[0:07] Yeah, Bob.
[0:08] You want him to get tough.
[0:11] Well, boy, he laid it on the line.
[0:12] My wife said, whoopee, amen, and all that.
[0:18] Really, I thought that should have been done really five or six years ago.
[0:25] And I think he laid it on the line, and I think that the American people are going to back him.
[0:31] You do feel so?
[0:32] They're going to be squeals and they're going to be demonstrations and all the rest of it.
[0:36] But if he'll ride it out and stick to his guns...
[0:42] He will.
[0:42] There's no question about that.
[0:43] I think that there'll be no problem.
[0:48] I think that's what the American people want.
[0:49] I think it's going to give the American people a sense of pride.
[0:54] And they're just sick and tired of being beaten around and knocked around out in Vietnam.
[1:01] I think that's absolutely right.
[1:03] You think the case came over all right?
[1:06] Oh, my.
[1:07] He was just tremendous.
[1:08] Good.
[1:09] And, of course, afterward, the reporters hardly knew how to handle it.
[1:15] Really?
[1:15] I didn't get to see that.
[1:16] Yeah, I watched CBS for a while and then I watched NBC.
[1:22] Yeah.
[1:23] And they weren't very critical.
[1:26] I see.
[1:26] That's interesting.
[1:27] They didn't rake them over the cold like they usually do.
[1:29] I see.
[1:30] Threw them off balance pretty much, I think.
[1:32] I think it threw them off balance.
[1:34] We're getting a fantastic response here.
[1:36] We can't do our usual checking because the phone thing is all jammed up here.
[1:41] I think we're going to get an enormous response because there seems to be a tremendous around-the-country kind of thing.
[1:52] We don't usually have... We always get a lot of
[1:55] A lot of our own supporters, but there seems to be much more than that.
[1:58] And I was very interested to hear the report from London that they figured that the British were going to back him.
[2:06] Oh, really?
[2:06] And they said the French might not take any attitude.
[2:11] They said they thought the Germans would back him.
[2:14] And they felt the Moscow trip might be in jeopardy, but it might not be.
[2:21] Hmm.
[2:23] All right.
[2:23] We just have to wait and see what they decide to do.
[2:25] That's right.
[2:26] But I think he's taken the only course that was open to him.
[2:32] And I think we've got to maintain the honor and the dignity of America.
[2:37] Well, our key thing now is for the American people to realize that and back him because, as you know, the...
[2:45] on the hill are going to all squeal, and we've just got to ride that out.
[2:49] The big thing, Bob, is to get it over with as quick as possible.
[2:53] Right.
[2:54] Right.
[2:54] I mean, he's got to hit quick and hit hard.
[2:56] Right.
[2:57] And get it over with.
[2:59] And if we can get this thing over with by July so that these North Vietnamese people are suing for peace, then there'll be no problem.
[3:11] Right.
[3:15] I think you hit it on the head tonight.
[3:17] Good.
[3:18] And it's the first time, really, that I sort of felt like I was an American.
[3:24] Great.
[3:24] Well, that's good.
[3:26] Since he made the speech on the economic crisis a year or two ago.
[3:31] Yeah.
[3:33] And I think there are going to be a lot of people feel that way.
[3:36] Good.
[3:36] Well, I hope so.
[3:38] There'll be demonstrations.
[3:39] There'll be all kinds of things.
[3:41] Well, we've just got to counter that with the evidence of support on the other side.
[3:44] That's right.
[3:45] And get that silent majority cranking again.
[3:49] If they'll speak up, they can drown the others out.
[3:53] Well, I'll hold a press conference, let's see, day after tomorrow in Memphis and one on Friday in Birmingham, Alabama.
[4:05] And I'll come out real strong.
[4:08] Great.
[4:09] Just my small part of it.
[4:11] No, that's not small.
[4:12] But I'll do my best.
[4:15] Very good, sir.
[4:16] Okay.
[4:16] Okay, Billy.
[4:17] Thanks for calling.
[4:18] Thank you, sir.
[4:19] Bye.
[4:19] Bye.