Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 36 › Conversation 036-099
Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam War and Paris Peace Accords
Tuesday, January 23, 1973 · 11:13 PM–11:17 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the overwhelmingly positive public and political reception of the Vietnam peace settlement, contrasting it with the visible frustration of the news media, specifically CBS reporters. Nixon expresses satisfaction at having outmaneuvered congressional critics like Mike Mansfield and Tip O'Neill, while affirming his intent to bypass the established intellectual elite. The two agree on the effectiveness of Nixon's recent address and coordinate Kissinger’s upcoming schedule for congressional briefings.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello, Mr. President.
I thought you'd be interested to know that my daughter Julie really put her finger on it when she said that she watched the CBS thing and she said she had never seen Eric Severide, Marvin Kalb, and Dan Rather so sick.
They turned, they were green, she said, absolutely turned.
She said they were, and that they were, that she said they were moaning about it and saying it wasn't going to last, and she said they were utterly...
taken aback and sick.
I mean, you'd think, you know, that even at this time, even those assholes would say, well, you know, maybe we were, not that they were wrong, but maybe it's good news.
But no.
They told me the whole, and Ziegler said he's never seen the press corps so discouraged.
Or to say, we've got to hand it to the president.
He did it.
Right.
Well, in fairness, Colson tells me the other two networks were better.
Yeah, NBC was better.
But still, it's... Don't get discouraged.
I just wanted you to know that... Oh, well, I talked about it.
All the calls I'm getting are overwhelmingly favorable.
In fact, I haven't got an unfavorable.
Well, Nelson called.
He was almost beside him.
He always is.
And Dick Kleindienst called.
Marvin Kalb left a message of warm congratulations.
He couldn't get himself to say it on television.
Well, the hell with it.
I would never call him back.
Never, never, never.
But
And it's just... Well, we certainly bamboozled the goddamn Congress.
Mansfield was speechless for once.
Didn't know what to do.
Didn't you feel that?
And O'Neill, who was an all-out dove and a vicious bastard, didn't know what the hell to say.
Well, he was very complimentary after you had left.
What did he say?
Oh, he said, what a magnificent achievement.
Oh, I'm so delighted, so proud.
Oh, yeah.
Isn't that good?
Well, you know...
On your doing the Friday thing, the more I think of it, the better I think of it, because when you've got a good case, you can demolish the bastard.
You can go down there, give a star performance, and I give one for the Senate and one for the House.
I do both.
I do them both.
I do it on Friday, and that's great.
Also, it will answer, you know, then they can't say I never meet with them.
Right.
you can say you will meet with them when it is a proper occasion on a briefing but you cannot meet on confidential matters right exactly and and you know you'll be all fine because you'll have plenty of workouts tomorrow that's right exactly right well i just wanted you not to get discouraged because of the cbs broadcast and so forth because because uh jilly uh i told you i told ziggler that i said that's what you're going to expect and
and all these other people, and they couldn't believe me.
And then now they're finally becoming Christians, so you understand.
I think there's every reason to be encouraged, because the overwhelming reaction is ecstasy.
Well, I think...
It's not very favorable.
Well, maybe...
It just kills the bloody liberals.
They killed them already in October.
Yeah.
And they started pissing on the agreement.
Right.
Now what kills them is after the bombing.
This is, after all, three weeks after the bombing ended, Mr. President.
Right.
And you've wrapped it all up.
Yeah, which none of them thought.
On terms that every one of them thought were impossible.
Yeah, when we said, I laid down four conditions and all of them had been met.
You know, that speech was a real gem, wasn't it?
Oh, that was a beauty.
You know what I mean?
It was simple.
Also when you attacked the various alternatives that had been offered.
Oh, boy.
I said, you know, about peace for us and war for the others and leave our POWs and...
And also that gigging the press on Johnson, vilification of Johnson and the Democrats, who is basically, I'm defending myself too, you see.
Exactly.
I thought it was a beautiful speech.
Very strong.
Well, anyway, I just thought you'd be... Of course, Mr. President, what you have accomplished runs counter to what the intellectual establishment of this country...
has been preaching for 30 years, and your success is almost more painful to them than... Well, they've got to change, though, God damn it, Henry.
The intellectual establishment is important to this country.
Yeah, but they don't want to change.
Then let's build a new establishment.
That's what the duty is.
All right.
Okay.
Right, Mr. Meyer.
Have a good sleep.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On January 23, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 11:13 pm to 11:17 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 036-099 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 36-99
Date: January 23, 1973
Time: 11:13 pm - 11:17 pm
-60-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 36-99 (cont’d)
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.
The President’s Vietnam settlement announcement
-Reaction
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s view
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] reporters
-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid, Marvin L. Kalb, Dan Rather
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s report on press
-National Broadcasting Company [NBC]
-Charles W. Colson’s conversation with the President
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Kalb
-Congress
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield, Thomas P. (“Tip”) O’Neill, Jr.
-The President’s view
Kissinger’s schedule
-Congressional briefing
The President’s Vietnam settlement announcement
-Reaction
-CBS broadcast
-Liberals
-Bombing
-Quality of statement
-Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrats
-Press
-Intellectuals
-Establishment
-Kissinger’s viewAlso recorded on January 24, 1973
- 036-094 10:49 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 10:49 pm to 11:00 pm.
- 036-095 11:00 PM · 44 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 11:00 pm to 11:08 pm.
- 036-096 11:00 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:00 pm and 11:08 pm.
- 036-097 11:08 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 11:08 pm to 11:09 pm.
- 036-098 11:09 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:09 pm and 11:13 pm.
- 036-100 11:17 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:17 pm and 11:20 pm.
- 036-101 11:20 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 11:20 pm to 11:35 pm.
- 036-102 11:37 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 11:37 pm to 11:48 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 036-099, January 24, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/036-099 (accessed October 12, 2026).