Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 039-139
Date: Thursday, June 7, 1973 at 7:30 PM
Participants: White House operator; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/039-139

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yep.
[0:01] General Haig, sir.
[0:01] Yep.
[0:03] Hello?
[0:04] Hello, Al.
[0:05] Yes, sir.
[0:07] I just talked to John.
[0:08] John Lee.
[0:09] Yeah.
[0:10] And he says, great.
[0:12] He feels this is the thing to do.
[0:15] He wants to freeze?
[0:16] All the way.
[0:16] He said you can't do this in a half-assed way.
[0:18] All right, fine.
[0:19] Well, you told him to get some leadership into that group.
[0:24] And you told him that the guy could call him and tell him?
[0:27] Well, I think he'd be very grateful if you did.
[0:30] All right.
[0:30] I'll call him.
[0:31] Now, two other things, sir.
[0:33] Henry's still stalled out over there on Saigon, and they're going to plug in tomorrow afternoon.
[0:38] Will there be nothing tomorrow?
[0:40] No.
[0:40] Well, unless it was late.
[0:42] That's all right.
[0:43] That's all right.
[0:43] Let him keep scrambling around.
[0:45] Right, sir.
[0:46] And then the third thing is, and I just feel obligated to body what it says, Volpeak.
[0:52] in town and begged for five minutes even on the helicopter ride to the airport to tell you what the Pope said about you and the country.
[1:02] All right.
[1:04] I'll do that or I can have him write a note.
[1:07] Well, no, he can ride in the helicopter with me.
[1:10] Let's do that.
[1:11] All right, sir.
[1:11] I hate to bother you with it.
[1:12] No, no.
[1:13] That's a good time on the helicopter.
[1:15] Let's just say that we're going so early that we can't meet before that.
[1:19] That's what I told you.
[1:20] He can ride out to the airport and then the helicopter bring him back.
[1:22] Fine.
[1:23] Okay, sir.
[1:25] Good.
[1:25] I'll have him there then.
[1:26] How did Henry sound?
[1:27] A little discouraged?
[1:29] No, I didn't talk to Henry.
[1:30] I talked to Ron Guzman and Scowcroft.
[1:33] Yeah.
[1:34] And they have...
[1:36] And if Saigon is still off the reservation?
[1:38] That's right.
[1:39] They're still off.
[1:42] There's nothing more we can do, is there, Al?
[1:44] No, I don't think so.
[1:48] I could call the ambassador here again.
[1:51] Scowcroft said he's been pushed as far as he can go, and he knows he's reporting it.
[1:55] Yes.
[1:56] All the problems in Saigon.
[1:59] Well, just be sure that Henry knows that we have to do it.
[2:05] do something without Saigon.
[2:07] Find a way to do it without Saigon, you know?
[2:09] Right.
[2:09] Really.
[2:10] That's the thing to do.
[2:11] Absolutely.
[2:12] And let them hang out there.
[2:15] Right.
[2:16] Well, that's all I can think of.
[2:18] Yes, sir.
[2:19] Because we've got to have him come back with something.
[2:22] No question about that.
[2:24] That's got to be.
[2:25] And if Saigon doesn't go a little—gosh, how could you handle it?
[2:31] Do you think of any way you could do it?
[2:32] I don't know.
[2:33] Henry's probably thinking of ways.
[2:35] Oh, I'm sure he's had it.
[2:38] I think we can get them.
[2:40] Yes, I think we can get them.
[2:42] They're just playing their typical shitty game.
[2:46] Well, I think the thing to do is for maybe Scowcroft calls the ambassador and says we're going to go forward in any event.
[2:54] They want to be aboard mine.
[2:55] If not, they risk their aid.
[2:57] Right.
[2:57] That's it.
[2:58] It's ultimatum.
[2:59] That's all you can do.
[2:59] Ultimatum.
[3:00] Okay.
[3:00] Good, sir.
[3:02] Bye.