Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-021

Nixon phone call with Laird on Vietnam War and George McGovern

Friday, October 6, 1972 · 2:28 PM–2:32 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Laird, Melvin R.Conversation031-021 on Tape 31StartFriday, October 6, 1972 at 2:28 PMEndFriday, October 6, 1972 at 2:32 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-021 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird discuss political strategy for countering George McGovern's Vietnam policy and defense budget proposals during the 1972 election campaign. Nixon encourages Laird to aggressively challenge the Democratic platform by characterizing McGovern's peace plan as an endorsement of a communist takeover in South Vietnam. They agree that Laird should utilize upcoming media opportunities to emphasize the administration's foreign policy record and criticize McGovern's proposed military spending cuts as detrimental to national security.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 6, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird talked on the telephone from 2:28 pm to 2:32 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-021 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-21

Date: October 6, 1972
Time: 2:28 pm - 2:32 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Melvin R. Laird talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 354-29]

        Foreign policy issues
            -George S. McGovern's Vietnam peace plan statements
                -Possible Administration response
                     -Laird's schedule
                     -Administration record on Vietnam war
                -The President’s view
                     -Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu
                     -Possibility of Communist government in South
                      Vietnam
                          -US public opinion
                -Possible response
                     -Laird's schedule
                -Foreign policy and national defense issues
                     -Public opinion polls
                          -Advantages for the Administration
            -National defense
                -McGovern's budget proposals
                     -US role in world

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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I wanted to tell you that I would hope that you would—and I know you've already done some planning on it—prepare to sort of take the gloves off a little as the McGovern people take their
I don't know what—have you got any good engagements set up, or do you have anything in mind as to what you might do?
I'll be in Florida on Thursday and Friday, and I'm going to have some press conferences and things down there.
Yeah, that would be good.
I've got this Face the Nation Sunday, but that's too early for— Sunday?
Yeah.
That's too early.
Yeah.
But I can arrange something.
Yeah, you might want to—what you might do is to hit a press conference on Wednesday.
Sure, I could do that before I went down.
Yeah, and have it here.
And the main point that I think has to be done in whatever—there are people there, they're trying to gin up their senators and all the peaceniks and so forth that—we've been here four years and we're still dropping out and little babies and so forth.
really knock their bejesus out of them on the idea that—as you always do—how much we've accomplished and second.
The point is that what they are advocating, when you strip it all away, strip all the camouflage and the hierarchy away, they're advocating a communist takeover in South Vietnam.
The key word that really knocks them dead.
I mean, it isn't just getting rid of two.
They just want us to play over and play dead.
the imposition or agree to the imposition of a communist government.
That's the thing we find in polls that people are strongly against.
They might want to throw two out, but they want to do the latter.
Well, I'll hit that.
Maybe I can do something Wednesday if— Yeah, I'd wait until he'd hit, and then I'd— Right.
But if you could—and you'd listen.
You can see what the speech is, and maybe you want to chapter and verse him a little bit.
I think you could do it very effectively, maybe.
Whatever you decide is fine.
But if they want to make foreign policy and defense policy the issue, very much to our interest, in my view.
In other words, not all of our polls indicate that's where they're weak.
That's where you're the strongest.
Therefore, we ought to just talk, by gosh, right down the line on that.
If they want to make it the issue, fine, we accept it.
You think so?
Well, I agree.
I'll talk to your people over there too on Tuesday to see if we can—we don't have to decide to have a press conference until Tuesday if we could.
Sure.
Sure.
Sure.
Good.
I'll do the best I can Sunday without having advanced— Sure.
I think on Sunday the one point there is if you could continue to hammer the fact that
you know, on these defense cuts that he tries to gloss over to say, well, I'm ready for a first-rate defense and all that sort of stuff.
And you can simply say, we've got to look at the facts.
And then, you know, the lines that you've used, he has put out his budget, here's what it does, and keep repeating, you know, whatever it was, 16 career to six.
We're second in the Navy in there and second in the sea and so forth.
That's just very powerful the way you've been using it.
that we just can't be in that position in the world.
Well, we'll do that.
Right, right.
Okay, very good.
Good luck.

Also recorded on October 6, 1972

  • 031-019 2:26 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 2:26 pm to 2:27 pm.
  • 354-026 2:26 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:26 pm to 2:27 pm.
  • 031-020 2:27 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:27 pm and 2:28 pm.
  • 354-027 2:27 PM · 9 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 2:27 pm and 2:28 pm.
  • 354-028 2:27 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:27 pm and 2:28 pm.
  • 354-029 2:28 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:28 pm to 2:32 pm.
  • 354-030 2:32 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:32 pm and 2:35 pm.
  • 354-031 2:35 PM · 45 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:35 pm to 3:22 pm.

All 73 conversations from October 6, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-021, October 6, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-021 (accessed November 2, 2026).