Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 35 › Conversation 035-123
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Vietnam peace negotiations
Wednesday, January 10, 1973 · 3:41 PM–3:46 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min
AI Summary
H. R. Haldeman and President Nixon discussed an incoming report and procedural proposal from Henry Kissinger regarding ongoing Vietnam peace negotiations in Paris. Nixon expressed significant concern that if Kissinger traveled to Hanoi to initial the settlement agreement, the President’s subsequent television announcement would appear anticlimactic and diminish his control over the narrative. Consequently, Nixon requested a meeting with Haldeman and Alexander Haig to strategize on timing and procedure, while also briefly touching upon personnel appointments for his second-term administration.
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hello mr haldeman sir yeah hello uh we uh will probably get that report in about a half hour so or you know from uh paris i talked to henry he called you he called in yeah and uh there wasn't any he said we're on the same track as as yesterday right and uh what about the schedule did he say was a report coming in he said he was coming in with a new proposal on the schedule
and that he thought he wanted approval to pursue it.
He wasn't sure that it would work, but he thought you would be interested or would find it interesting.
And he obviously was being a little cryptic again, but he wanted to on the phone.
But he said he would like an answer from you or an approval from you
He put it as a couple new interesting wrinkles.
And he said it's on procedure rather than substance, really a new schedule, an alternative approach, and he'll need authority to proceed, and he's not sure he can get it.
But after you get his cable, if he could get approval back from you, he'd appreciate it.
The meeting didn't go as long today on their meeting, but there was an eight-hour technical session, and the technical people met with them for a while during it, and they're meeting tomorrow at 10 again.
And he said still he's planning to be back Saturday evening.
And I have a feeling maybe he's got something that changes his trip to Hanoi or something maybe.
I doubt that, but we'll see.
He sort of implied it.
He said he thought you would like it.
Like it, yeah.
Either that or it may accelerate the whole process.
Or accelerate, that's right.
Which, of course, is the other thing.
uh well let me say then that uh in view of that fact perhaps we could anticipate uh well no i uh you keep i told kennedy to get the damn report over as soon as it came in because it's 3 30 here now and it's in the meeting ended at one so i don't know what's holding it up it was about half an hour ago that i talked to henry and and he said then the cable was on its way and we should have it within the hour so maybe coming through now all right you check with uh
And as soon as the cable is in, you know, so that it's here, you get a hold of Haig, and you and Haig come to my office here.
All right.
Because I want to discuss that procedure with you.
All right.
I'm somewhat concerned about how we work it out.
The more I think about it, and I went over this with Henry before, that
I do not see, Bob, how, and I told him this, and he sort of didn't see it, but I do not see how if he goes to Hanoi and there initials the agreement, then coming back here and having me announce it on television is anything but simply an anticlimactic nothing.
You get my point?
Yep.
What the hell am I announcing?
I mean, the word will be out from there.
Agreement is reached.
Sure.
So the president goes on for what purpose?
It's nice to see Henry Backers.
And to explain the agreement here to the American people.
You can't go on to explain Henry's agreement.
You see, after the enemies.
My own point is that I think we have to be in a position to speak first.
I mean, I think this is very important.
Or do you share my concern?
I sure do.
I went over this.
Did you ever go over this with him, that this may not be a workable thesis?
I mean, it's...
I really think you can go on television, frankly.
Yeah.
In the end, if it's all done.
If it's done.
Then you meet with the leaders, which is, of course, not the way it ought to be handled, because we ought to be able to go on and say that we've reached agreement, we now have a ceasefire, we get the prisoners in 60 days, and we'll have a political settlement and thank the American people who have stood by us during all this period.
You know, that'll give you the chance to say something good.
to be done at some point, but I'll be damned if I think you can do it after Henry goes.
So he is initialing the agreement.
It's basically the end of the whole thing.
Don't you agree?
Yep.
It is.
And I think, and frankly, my own feeling is that he doesn't want her, but I think that's what he intends.
You know what I mean?
That's the whole purpose of the trip.
And by God, they intend it because they want him to go there and sign.
Yeah, and which just isn't right.
I mean, we don't go to their capital and play, you know.
Well, we shall see.
As soon as you can get it out.
Okay.
It occurred to me on this Engman thing, another ploy with the Pottinger problem, that if Ehrlichman has total confidence in him, and I don't know that he can control him and the rest,
a lawyer and he might consider him for that civil rights spot although i still think he's too young for that you know a 34 year old guy as the assistant attorney general he'll have lawyers working for him virtually all of them be older than he will yep that's that's a real problem with lawyers i mean i say that's a real problem for older lawyers to work for a younger man and it's they don't do it in law firms and they don't do it you know their age does matter a bit
younger guys.
I mean, a young guy can come in and bring in guys younger than him.
It's very hard to put a whole group of older men under a younger guy, which is another quality.
I wish you would have a little...
Between now and the time we meet with Amy, you can work on the Webster thing, too.
Right.
Good luck.
Okay.
NARA Description
On January 10, 1973, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 3:41 pm to 3:46 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 035-123 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 35-123
Date: January 10, 1973
Time: 3:41 pm - 3 :46 pm
Location: White House Telephone
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with the President.
[See Conversation No. 395-8]
Vietnam negotiations
-Report
-Timing
-Paris
-Haldeman's recent conversation with Henry A. Kissinger
-Progress of talks
-Schedule changes
-Presidential approval
-Procedures
-Compared to substance
-January 10, 1973 meeting
-108-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 35-123 (cont’d)
-Duration
-Technical meeting
-Technical meeting, January 11, 1973
-Kissinger’s schedule, January 13, 1973
-Return from Paris
-Trip to Hanoi
-Pace of talks
-Report
-The President’s recent conversation with Col. Richard T. Kennedy
-Meeting
-Haldeman’s recent conversation with Kissinger
-Instruction for Haldeman
-Kennedy
-Meeting with Haldeman and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-The President’s conversation with Kissinger
-Kissinger’s trip to Hanoi
-Signing of settlement agreement
-The President’s television [TV] announcement
-Purpose
-Explanation
-Timing
-Kissinger’s trip to Hanoi
-Signing of settlement agreement
-The President’s TV announcement
-Timing
-Meeting with Congressional leaders
-Cease-fire
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Kissinger’s and North Vietnamese intentions
Second term reorganization
-Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division
-Lewis A. Engman
-J. Stanley Pottinger
-Ehrlichman
-Age
-Problem
-Older and younger lawyers
Donald A. Webster
-109-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUMAlso recorded on January 10, 1973
- 035-122 3:34 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy talked on the telephone from 3:34 pm to 3:35 pm.
- 395-006 3:34 PM · 55 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:34 pm to 3:35 pm.
- 395-007 3:35 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Melvin R. Laird met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:35 pm and 3:41 pm.
- 395-008 3:41 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:41 pm to 3:46 pm.
- 395-009 3:46 PM · 26 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 3:46 pm and 3:49 pm.
- 395-010 3:46 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:46 pm and 3:49 pm.
- 035-124 3:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Dan Rowan, and Dick Martin talked on the telephone from 3:49 pm to 3:50 pm.
- 395-011 3:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Dan Rowan, and Dick Martin met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:49 pm to 3:50 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 035-123, January 10, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/035-123 (accessed October 11, 2026).