{"conversationCode":"024-165","tapeNumber":24,"conversationNumber":165,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-024-165","startDateTime":"1972-05-20T12:27:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-05-20T12:33:00.000Z","startDate":"20-May-1972","startTime":"8:27 AM","endDate":"20-May-1972","endTime":"8:33 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.;","description":"On May 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:27 am to 8:33 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 024-165 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 24-165\n\nDate: May 20, 1972\nTime: 8:27 am - 8:33 am\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Charles W. Colson.\n\n     Vietnam\n          -Colson's activities\n               -Meetings with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n                     -Public release of reports\n                            -Morale of South Vietnamese\n                            -Morale of North Vietnamese\n\n*****************************************************************\n\nBEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n[Personal returnable]\n[Duration: 4m 19s ]\n\nEND WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n     Haig\n             -Colson's forthcoming contacts\n\n     Soviet trip\n          -Publicity\n\n     Press\n             -Colson's activities\n\n     Wallace\n          -The President's visit\n               -Harry S. Dent\n               -Publicity\n\n     The President's schedule","filename":["024-165.mp3"],"tapeStart":"04:14:21","tapeEnd":"04:20:30","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Colson, Charles W."],"prevCode":"024-164","nextCode":"024-166","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":8.54,"text":"Well, I had a couple of things that you might have in mind over Don."},{"start":8.64,"end":13.63,"text":"Keep in close touch with Haig every day as to things you can do on the military front."},{"start":13.67,"end":19.14,"text":"You know what I mean, on the news and the morale of the South and so forth and so on."},{"start":19.16,"end":24.08,"text":"There are confidential reports that come in from time to time about morale problems in the North."},{"start":24.1,"end":28.05,"text":"Get those out without having them attributed to the understands."},{"start":28.07,"end":28.15,"text":"Bye."},{"start":34.24,"end":35.86,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":292.17,"end":309.83,"text":"Right."},{"start":309.86,"end":310.38,"text":"Right."},{"start":310.4,"end":310.5,"text":"Good."},{"start":310.52,"end":310.72,"text":"Very good."},{"start":310.74,"end":310.84,"text":"Good."},{"start":310.86,"end":311.06,"text":"Very good."},{"start":311.08,"end":311.28,"text":"Very good."},{"start":311.58,"end":335.2,"text":"you're going to get harder on the weekend about what they said i think this situation"},{"start":335.56,"end":358.75,"text":"Well, we'll be off in a few minutes, so keep the old fire burning."},{"start":358.77,"end":361.95,"text":"We'll see you in about 10 days."},{"start":361.97,"end":362.25,"text":"Maybe 11 days."},{"start":362.27,"end":362.48,"text":"We'll see."},{"start":362.89,"end":367.56,"text":"Right, right."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon directed Charles Colson to maintain daily coordination with Alexander Haig to manage the public relations strategy surrounding the Vietnam War. The President emphasized the need to leak confidential reports regarding North Vietnamese morale to the press without revealing their origin to bolster support for South Vietnamese efforts. Additionally, the pair discussed upcoming publicity for the President's Soviet trip and plans for his visit with George Wallace.","topics":["Vietnam War","Public Relations","Information warfare","Alexander Haig","Soviet Union diplomacy","George Wallace"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T03:02:07.996Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","public-relations","information-warfare","alexander-haig","soviet-union-diplomacy","george-wallace"],"audioDurationSec":368,"audioFiles":[{"file":"024-165.mp3","bytes":8838581,"durationSec":368.2,"bitrate":192036,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:27.841Z","transcriptGapSeconds":64,"transcriptGapShare":0.18,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/024-165.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-165","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/24/conversation-024-165","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}