Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 32 › Conversation 032-085
Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam War and Peace Negotiations
Sunday, October 29, 1972 · 10:03 AM–10:07 AM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed strategies for managing public and political perceptions of the ongoing Vietnam peace negotiations. Nixon emphasized the need to preemptively dismiss media claims that the proposed settlement amounted to a coalition government, coordinating efforts to have Vice President Agnew and conservative allies like the Buckleys publicly defend the administration's position. They also assessed the probability of a North Vietnamese walk-out and agreed that the administration should maintain a firm stance to ensure a favorable peace settlement.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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Dr. Kissinger, Mr. President.
Hello.
Hello.
Mr. President.
Hi, Henry.
How are you?
Okay.
Hope you got a good night's sleep.
You deserved it.
Yeah, I really feel a lot better.
Yesterday was beginning to catch up on me.
Ah, well.
It didn't show.
It didn't show.
Where are you?
I'm at home.
Good, good.
Stay there.
Coming in in a little.
We've worked it out, you know.
I'm going to do a little briefing, and I've just talked to Hague, and
the line to take, and we got it all worked out, and it's best that you not do it.
We don't want to use the big gun until it's time.
Well, I think the advantage is if the other side breaks off this week, there is a 20% chance that they may.
I'd say 10, but go ahead.
Yeah, 10.
I agree with you.
I probably should step out again and start slamming them, and then it's better that it's a non-political.
Absolutely.
Good, good.
He likes the settlement, doesn't he?
Oh, yeah.
You know, these little bastards in the press are not trying to show that this thing is a coalition government.
Well, are we getting that knocked down enough?
I don't know.
I'm going to hit it hard today myself.
Agnew is hitting it.
I've just got through talking to him.
And if you can get Buckley to hit it and some of the right wing, like Jim Buckley, Bill Buckley, Joe...
Joe Alsop, if he could hit it, it'd be helpful.
And Dick Wilson.
Those are the ones that basically...
So the right says that it's not a coalition, that's all we need.
The assholes that are saying it's a coalition are our enemies.
And they're our enemies, and they're dying.
I mean, here is a committee voting by unanimity, having as its functions to preserve, to cease fire, and to supervise elections.
And...
no police, no courts, no army.
And if you compare when they proposed the coalition government, it was supposed to have full powers.
I'm going to get Hague to make that clear.
I'm going to go with that.
As far as the assholes in the press, I don't think that's seeping in too much yet.
No.
It's more the writing kind of jackasses like Crash and those guys.
I saw the television last night and they are basically wiped out.
I'm niggling away at the
periphery.
Nobody really gives a damn about it.
We haven't heard from Hanoi yet, so they might be getting tougher this week.
All right, let them get tougher, and then we'll be tougher, too.
But I think we want the right kind of a settlement.
It isn't just ending a war.
We've ended wars before.
We want to win the peace.
i would actually i think we are better off if they don't meet this week because then they won't have the cameras at andrews asking did you get an agreement but i've already put it out to the press that even if there is a meeting this week it will only that after that it will assuming it succeeds it will still take two or three weeks right good okay
NARA Description
On October 29, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:03 am to 10:07 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 032-085 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 032-085
Date: October 29, 1972
Time: 10:03 am - 10:07 am
Location: White House Telephone
Henry A. Kissinger talked with the President.
[See Conversation No. 377-13]
Greetings
Kissinger’s health
Kissinger's location
Vietnam
-The President's forthcoming briefing of surrogates
-The President's conversation with Alexander M. Haig,Jr.
-Arrangements
-Kissinger's absence
-Negotiations
-Chance of North Vietnamese walk-out
-Kissinger’s view
-The President‘s view
-Kissinger’s role
******************************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 01/23/2018.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[032-085-w003]
[Duration: 54s]
1972 election
-Polls
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-Daily News
-Rockefeller report to Kissinger
-New York State
-Point spread
-Accuracy
-Brooklyn
-Significance
-Comparison to Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Point spread
******************************************************************************
Vietnam
-Peace settlement
-Nelson A. Rockefeller's reaction
-Press interpretation
-Coalition government
-The President’s intention
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-James L. Buckley
-Criticism from right wing
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Richard (“Dick”) Wilson
-The President’s view
-Conditions
-Cease-fire
-Supervision of elections
-Police, courts, army
-North Vietnamese proposals
-Haig’s forthcoming clarification
-Press reports
-Public impact
-The President’s view
-Joseph C. Kraft
-North Vietnamese response
-US reaction
-Paris talks
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-Meetings
-Press coverage
-Andrews Air Force Base
-Implementation
******************************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 01/23/2018.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[032-085-w005]
[Duration: 31s]
1972 election
-The President's trip to Ohio and Michigan
-Television reports
-Crowds
-Size
-Television reports
-Estimates
-Happy crowds
******************************************************************************Also recorded on October 29, 1972
- 377-013 10:03 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:03 am to 10:07 am.
- 377-014 10:07 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:07 am and 10:20 am.
- 032-086 10:20 AM · 10 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
- 032-087 10:20 AM · 18 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
- 032-088 10:20 AM · 34 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
- 032-089 10:20 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 12:24 pm.
- 032-090 10:20 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 12:24 pm.
- 377-015 10:20 AM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:20 am to 10:55 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 032-085, October 29, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/032-085 (accessed October 12, 2026).