Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 36 › Conversation 036-102

Nixon phone call with Colson on Vietnam War and Public Relations

Tuesday, January 23, 1973 · 11:37 PM–11:48 PM ET · White House Telephone · 12 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation036-102 on Tape 36StartTuesday, January 23, 1973 at 11:37 PMEndTuesday, January 23, 1973 at 11:48 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 036-102 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417194639 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson reviewed the positive public and political reception to the President’s announcement of a Vietnam ceasefire. They discussed strategies to maintain momentum and dominate the news cycle by coordinating favorable public statements from labor leaders, veterans, and administration allies while actively countering critical press coverage. Nixon and Colson also evaluated the possibility of delaying the President’s upcoming budget message to ensure that the Vietnam settlement remained the primary focus of public attention.

Audio

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NARA Description

On January 23, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 11:37 pm to 11:48 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 036-102 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 36-102

Date: January 23, 1973
Time: 11:37 pm - 11:48 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Charles W. Colson talked with the President.

       The President’s Vietnam settlement announcement
            -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
            -United Press International [UPI]
                  -Robert C. Byrd
                  -Barry M. Goldwater
            -Associated Press [AP]
                  -Hubert H. Humphrey
                  -Robert J. Dole
                  -John G. Tower
            -Editors
                  -Thomas Vail’s comments
                        -William B. Saxbe
            -James J. Kilpatrick, Jr.
            -George D. Aiken
            -John C. Stennis
            -Carl B. Albert, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends
            -Prisoners of War [POWs] wives
                  -Beatrice Williams
                  -Mrs. Grubb
                              -64-

     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                              Conversation No. 36-102 (cont’d)

      -Mrs. Donald Shea
      -Carol Hanson
      -Colson’s view
             -National Broadcasting System [NBC]
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Clairborne Pell
-Labor
      -Donald Rogers
      -Michael P. Balzano, Jr.
      -Frank E. Fitzsimmons
      -George Meany
Show the rest of the log (44 more lines)
      -Peter J. Brennan
-Veterans groups
      -Americans for Winning the Peace
-Public relations [PR] efforts
      -Advertisements
      -Telephone calls to press
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
      -Marvin L. Kalb, [Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Television [TV] ratings
-Compared to the President’s November 3, 1969 speech
-Delivery
      -Haldeman
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-TV interviews
      -Veterans
-Senators
      -Jacob K. Jarvits
      -Humphrey
      -Tower
      -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
      -Dole
-Henry A. Kissinger’s schedule
      -Laird
      -Congressional briefing
-The President’s budget message
      -John D. Ehrlichman
-The President’s January 25, 1972 speech
      -Public reaction
                                              -65-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                           Conversation No. 36-102 (cont’d)

             -Meeting with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
             -Network coverage
                   -Talk shows
                   -Kissinger
                   -Laird
                         -Relations with Congress
             -Kissinger
                   -Schedule
             -Press coverage
                   -Control

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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Hello.
Mr. Colson, sir.
Hello.
There you are.
Hello.
Did Bob fill you in, Mr. President?
Yeah, he gave me a little rundown on the stuff around the country.
Well, it's now beginning to come.
The wires are just beginning to pick up the reaction stuff, and it's good.
I mean, it's...
The lead on UPI is official Washington greeted President Nixon's announcement of a Vietnam ceasefire with prayers to God that a peace would be lasting, audible relief that America apparently was executed longest and most divisive war.
It goes on, bipartisan named Bob Byrd, and then UPI says Nixon drew strong praise, and his war critics say stinging rebuke from Senator Barry Goldwater.
Good.
They've got two paragraphs of Goldwater's stuff, which is damn good.
And then they're...
see they pick up uh lap has picked up humphrey congratulating you i mean uh it means more than the end of the war it'll mean that we in america can once again turn our attention to the domestic needs oh yeah then they well then they got they've got two paragraphs out of cold waters uh dole tower it's it's beginning right right it's beginning to come and they're those are cracking at the uh
Cracking at the critics.
Interestingly, as Bob probably told you, a hell of a lot of the editors picked up that point.
You know, like Tom Vail, which I thought was...
Yes, yes, he told me about that.
He was one of the best to bloom, to teach Saxby a lesson.
In fact, I would gather reading these that the editorial comment is going to be universally...
Good from our standpoint, but a hell of a lot of it kicking at the critics, if you think so.
Well, reading what they're saying sure is good.
He has certainly neutralized the knee-jerk libs going from Kilpatrick.
Aiken's statement is damn good.
Yes, I heard that.
So he did take the line through it.
Stennis was excellent.
As I look at each of these, Albert, I'm told, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told he put out a damn good statement.
And Ford and Aarons both have good ones out.
So I think, you know, as much as the POW wives... Oh, yeah, how about them?
They must...
Excellent, yeah.
They've just been... Of course, the wire copy on them is spectacular.
What do they say?
Oh, Harold... Mrs. Hanson?
Mrs. Beatrice Williams.
Oh, we got Mrs. Grubb, who was on before, and the new gal.
Mm-hmm.
She was on NBC with Mrs. Grubb.
They both were just superb, saying that you were right in what you had said in your speech, that they never wanted an end to the war just to get their husbands back, that the war was being fought for much more than that, and that their husbands had served more than that.
Hallelujah, said Mrs. Beatrice Williams.
I'm going to go someplace and scream.
Mrs. Williams, his husband, in prison.
Some were so happy they were still expressing disbelief.
I cannot believe it.
This is very emotional stuff.
I'm completely elated.
I'm just numb.
Mrs. Donald Shea, live in peace.
Praying.
It's good.
The POW stuff is going to be very emotional.
Very good.
Very emotional.
Teddy Kennedy didn't mention your name, but expressed profound relief that these years of the nation's sacrifice and tragedy and bitterness are over.
They're not over for you, Teddy.
Mm-hmm.
sticking it into him.
Muskie's question, can the piece last?
Oh, yes.
Isn't that awful?
That really is.
Right to the last.
Hypocritical son of a bitch.
Claiborne Pell said, thank God.
I pray it sticks.
I think it's, you know, it's ebullient.
It isn't...
I mean, it's almost, it's kind of like people sighing relief.
A hell of a lot of it...
like no one, you know, saying this is your finest hour.
The people at Rogers and Belzano have been talking to it, but very emotional.
Good.
It's good.
And we'll have, you know, we'll have between the Fitzsimmons one, which is already out, and which kicks the hell out of the critics, and Meany, who I hope will do that, Brennan Citywood, and the rest of our labor guys in the morning, and our veterans group, we've also got the old Committee of Americans for Winning the Peace.
Good.
Good.
We had a conference call here tonight.
Good.
Got their people in.
We've asked some ad agencies to start running.
Good.
Some praise the president, thank the president ads.
Good.
In lieu of maybe giant food and fuel.
Just start that kind of thing going with the flag and a picture of you.
I think that'll catch on.
We've got our people calling, all the columnists and the editors that we can get now, although we can't.
And you, I hope, have a few savaging CBS, are you?
Yes, sir.
That was started tonight with calls and letters and wires to Kelb and Severod.
Good.
Oh, Christ, we'll savage them.
Yeah, we'll cut hell out of them.
All right.
I think the other two, I must say, the other two did all right by us.
They won't.
They'll start, you know.
Oh, we don't mind that.
That's all right.
Let's get the first reaction and the people, you know, they...
just so the people heard me.
So what these assholes do is not going to make that much difference.
I'll be anxious to see the ratings because I would imagine, Mr. President, that that's about as big an audience as one can get.
I mean, the buildup that this has had for, I mean, the days of expectation and the people who, you know, thought it had come once before and it didn't, and now here it is.
Of course, the way you hit it in that first sentence was just superb because it...
You know, instead of trying to build up to it, just to come right out and say it.
NBC had to rerun it at the end, just to be sure everybody got exactly what you said at the beginning.
But I think it's, you know, it is playing, in my view, it is playing right on target.
I just don't think, you know, for the first shot out of the gun.
All right.
Well, that's the first shot is the important one, you see.
Well, that's right.
Just demolish the bastards, and then like, you know, November 3rd,
There, of course, the instant commentary was pretty negative, but the fact that I'd been on won the day.
Well, of course it did.
And I frankly think, and Paula and I both agreed on this, that this was as effective a delivery as you've ever made.
It was short.
It was tight.
You got all the points across and wove them in beautifully and hit the critics yourself.
twice.
Chris, as Bob probably told you, all of these people that we're talking to are mentioning the Johnson thing.
That was a masterstroke.
And I think that's a, you know, that shows bigness.
And it also slams those that were... That's right.
...mobilifying him.
And, of course, mobilifying me, too.
Well, that's right.
But, I mean, it's nice to use Johnson as the foil for making that point.
They've got some veterans on tonight.
Some of them were
month, you know, being interviewed on television.
And I must say that that lineup of Javits, Humphrey, Tower, and Jackson, that couldn't have come any better.
Dole has been on.
We've heard him on radio.
Good.
Excellent.
So my view, which I think we can do, is just keep this alive.
We've got a pretty good schedule of people who will
who will be available every day after Henry does his briefing tomorrow.
Right.
Laird will do a... And he's going down to Congress Friday, you know, and give them a shot, too.
Oh, Henry is?
Yep.
Oh, that's excellent.
He'll go down there and he'll murder those bastards.
Oh, that's excellent.
I didn't know that.
That's a damn good move.
Right.
Well, we really should be able to dominate the week with it.
I hope we can...
I talked to Erlichman and both today about delaying the budget message if we possibly could to keep
Yeah, I know that we can't, but keep all the argument is, of course, so obsessed.
Everybody's obsessed with his own deal.
And I just have a feeling that my going on Sunday night and talking about the budget ain't much, but they feel so strongly.
I don't mind.
I'll just do it.
Yeah, I hate to take any attention away from Vietnam for it.
That's what I mean.
I'd rather keep talking about our issue a while.
Well, this is our issue, you know, Mr. President.
This is where the American people look at you and say, my God, you remember the reaction January 25th last year.
I remember that so well because so many people said, my God, what that man endured, and he never said it, and he had to remain silent while his critics were attacking him.
Well, you're going to get the same thing this time, only in spades, because it's the end of the war.
we will get it from the people and it's just we ought to let the glow of this yeah last for a week here get a hold of bob and i don't know well you'll be meeting with him in ehrlichman in the morning yeah well bob agrees on this and it's just a question of whether whether it can be uh whether we can whether we can get the congress to agree to delay if we i think we really should because it because this is this is my god this is going to dominate
The networks are all cranking up for specials, which means we can get our...
There is a beautiful opportunity for us because we can put our people on and control who goes on, and they can cut hell out of the critics.
We can control the Sunday talk shows, and we can... And certainly, Henry should not do a talk show.
It's not worth his time.
No, absolutely not.
I don't think anybody's...
I hope nobody's proposed that.
The only one that I would put in a talk show, I think you could put Laird on one.
Well, Laird has agreed to do it.
Laird could do one.
Mel's in an interesting state of mind.
I think he feels that his former colleagues up there didn't treat him very well.
I think he thought after four years in this job, he was going to be... Mel's ego, he thought he was going to be carried out on their shoulders, and he wasn't.
He said to me tonight, when he was on his way into the cabinet meeting, he said, I'll say anything you want.
He said, I'll
delighted to stick it to these bastards that have made life so tough.
Good.
And Mel can be very good.
He's Mel a lot.
Mel can get vicious as hell, and he's good at it.
Yeah, he's tough, and he doesn't mind being the spear carrier right now for us.
All right.
I think he'd be great over this weekend.
I really think we've got to dominate it with tomorrow, Henry again on Friday, Thursday, of course.
Dead, which is good.
Yeah, it is good.
But they'll be writing interpretive stories.
All right.
And then if we can hold the, of course, there's other news on the weekend, and hold the Sunday talk shows.
Right.
Okay.
We'll keep the momentum, Mr. President.
Keep needling them.
That's the main thing, you know.
We'll needle them with a big needle.
All right.
Yes, sir.
Bye.
Thank you, Mr. President.

Also recorded on January 23, 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.
  • 036-099 11:13 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 11:13 pm to 11:17 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.

All 102 conversations from January 23, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 036-102, January 23, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417194639). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/036-102 (accessed November 15, 2026).