Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-112

Nixon, Haldeman & Eisenhower on Vietnam Negotiations

Sunday, December 17, 1972 · 10:03 AM–10:09 AM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Eisenhower, Julie NixonConversation034-112 on Tape 34StartSunday, December 17, 1972 at 10:03 AMEndSunday, December 17, 1972 at 10:09 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 034-112 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed scheduling for upcoming meetings with Maurice Stans and reviewed plans to meet with John Ehrlichman to finalize personnel appointments. They also evaluated the public perception of Henry Kissinger’s recent press briefing regarding the Vietnam peace negotiations, noting that the status of talks with Hanoi appeared stalled. Additionally, the conversation touched on the success of the recent Cabinet dinner, specifically praising the musical performance by Fred Waring and the positive reception of the event by guests.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Mr. Hartman.
I was going to ask again what the situation was tomorrow in case I wanted to be gone this evening.
I'm not sure.
Just the Stans meeting at 10, which we can shift.
Oh, Stans.
Stans is tomorrow.
And when is the Diplomatic Children's Reception?
Diplomatic Children is at 4 tomorrow afternoon.
It's at 4 tomorrow afternoon.
Yeah.
And then they're at Stans.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's fine.
That gives me the guidance I need.
I don't know that I will.
I'm going to talk to Julie.
Okay.
There's no problem.
We can shift.
So we could easily shift stands to the following day.
Right.
And you have... And I'm all free.
You have nothing particularly the following day either.
Yeah.
Don't I do the...
Except the surrogate's reception at 5 or 6.
Yeah.
Something like that.
Now, about the situation with regard to these appointments and things...
When should we start winging away at those?
Are we fully ready now to start going through?
Well, not fully ready, but I mean, ready to go through some or what?
Yeah.
Go through some, I guess, and get them ready.
We're at a point where we can clean up everything of where we are and review on an overall basis where the next round.
Yeah.
You and who?
You and Ehrlichman?
I think so.
You want Millick or not?
Not necessary.
He wouldn't do any harm.
It's maybe he's grinding away on him.
Well, whatever, either way, there's no need for him to be there.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, probably easier not to.
It is, basically.
talk a little more frankly about the politics of some of the things and the personalities, which you shouldn't really hear me say.
But you and Ehrlichman could be free then at any time to go over these things.
Yep.
Come in.
Come in, Joe.
All right.
We'll figure to do that.
I'll check with Julie to see what her plans are.
All right.
How did you...
I thought the—how did you think that Henry's thing played?
Did you see it in the paper?
Fine.
I think it's— Did it come all right?
Yeah.
I think it's set the stage for what has to happen tomorrow.
Yep.
Yeah.
And it's, you know, the— I haven't read it terribly carefully, but I just read it— I haven't read all the detail on it either, but the basic position is— We've gone the extra mile.
We've done everything we can.
Hanoi's backed off and— Yeah.
Backed off.
Right.
I don't think there's any feeling of despair.
Good.
We're at a bog down point.
I see one of them says stalled, one of them says at an impasse, and one of them says they haven't reached a just and fair agreement.
Right.
Right.
Good.
The, uh, the, uh, I think the, the, uh, okay.
what worked out with regard to Armstrong was a good way to end that thing last night.
Sure was.
I mean, it was a little hard on Bill.
He'd expect you to do the other one.
I talked to him afterwards, though, wasn't I?
Because I called him over.
I said, well, there's just a sudden shift.
But it was nicer for him to do the ladies anyway.
It was great.
Because, you see, he had done the one in Miami.
Right.
Tied right in.
And he was delighted.
And your tie-in to the 12 years ago, the 1960 dinner and all this.
Yeah.
And by golly, I thought that Waring outfit was great, didn't you?
I think so, too.
You know, what everybody—I remember when Waring did—I didn't want to mention this to anybody before we had him—but in 1955—57, he did it for the Queen.
Yeah.
And the Washington social writers just tore him apart, you know, as being—because, I mean, he had him at least three times and said, Why can't we have something other than this?
That was just when the crappy kind of music was beginning to come out.
And I said, well, by golly, you know, Fred, when I heard him last night, first of all, it isn't square at all.
That one number they did with those kids out there dancing, that was pure mod, wasn't it?
But he did that religious stuff with great verve.
And I thought it was just great.
It's a 70-year-old man to get up there and wang away like that.
It worked out, I think, extremely well.
And the thing with Ann was... Yeah.
The kids, how did the people generally feel about it?
The kids stayed and danced well, didn't they?
Yep.
They must have had a...
They just thought it was marvelous.
It was great because they could walk around with the direct decorations.
Right, right, right.
How about the cat and the people?
Well, the house never looked better.
Well, the cabinet people, I think they felt that they got their due.
Oh, yeah, very much so.
And it was— Having them all there was good, wasn't it?
It really was.
Seriously.
And the undersecretaries, it was, you know, obviously pretty awe-inspiring for the new folks.
Oh, it was, yeah.
And very nice having Mrs. Brennan with you and all that.
And Ann was awfully good on that.
Who?
Ann Armstrong bringing Mrs. Brennan in her remarks.
Oh, did she?
Right.
Okay, fine, fine.
Julie, how are you?

NARA Description

On December 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 10:03 am to 10:09 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-112 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 34-112

Date: December 17, 1972
Time: 10:03 am - 10:09 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

       The President’s schedule
            December 18, 1972 meeting
                  -Maurice H. Stans
                                                 -89-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                            Conversation No. 34-112 (cont’d)

                 -Diplomatic reception
                 -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                 -Stans
            -December 19, 1972 meeting
                 -Surrogates reception
            -Appointments
                 -Haldeman
                 -John D. Ehrlichman
                 -Frederic V. Malek
                        -Politics, personality

Julie Nixon Eisenhower entered at an unknown time after 10:03 am.

       Henry A. Kissinger briefing, December 16, 1972
            -Press coverage
            -[US bombing]
            -Press coverage
                  -Vietnam negotiations
                        -Hanoi
                        -Status

       Cabinet Dinner, December 16, 1972
            -Anne L. Armstrong announcement
                  -William P. Rogers
                        -Recent conversation with Haldeman
                        -Toast [to Mamie G. D. Eisenhower and Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon]
                              -Miami
            -1960 dinner
            -Musical entertainment
                  -Fred Waring
                        -1957
                              -[Elizabeth, Queen of England] Elizabeth II
                                    -Press coverage
                                          -Washington, DC
                                          -Mrs. Eisenhower
                        -Dancing
                        -Religious music
            -Armstrong announcement
            -Youth guests
                  -Dancing
                                                -90-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                           Conversation No. 34-112 (cont’d)

                   -White House decorations
             -White House decorations
             -Under secretaries
             -Josephine (Brickley) Brennan
                   -Armstrong

Also recorded on December 17, 1972

  • 034-109 9:52 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 9:52 am to 9:55 am.
  • 034-153 9:55 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:55 am and 9:56 am.
  • 034-110 9:56 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:56 am to 10:02 am.
  • 034-111 10:02 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:02 am and 10:03 am.
  • 034-113 10:09 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:09 am and 10:49 am.
  • 034-114 10:49 AM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:49 am to 11:11 am.
  • 382-014 1:19 PM · 41 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 1:19 pm and 2:24 pm.
  • 382-015 1:19 PM · 26 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 1:19 pm and 2:24 pm.

All 29 conversations from December 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 034-112, December 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/034-112 (accessed October 5, 2026).