Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 43 › Conversation 043-203

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam War and Prisoners of War

Tuesday, February 27, 1973 · 8:07 AM–8:14 AM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation043-203 on Tape 43StartTuesday, February 27, 1973 at 8:07 AMEndTuesday, February 27, 1973 at 8:14 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 043-203 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the administration's public response to reports that North Vietnam might delay the release of American prisoners of war (POWs). They agreed that the POW issue was of paramount domestic importance and decided to adopt a tough stance, instructing Secretary of State William Rogers to prioritize this issue at the Paris Peace Conference over all other matters. Kissinger was tasked with drafting a firm statement for the President’s upcoming press conference, emphasizing that the U.S. has strictly adhered to the peace agreement and will not discuss other issues until the POW situation is resolved.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Mr. President, Mr. Kissinger.
There you are.
Mr. President.
Hi, Henry.
I'm just preparing for this news thing, and I thought about the POW thing.
I'm just getting the material together, Mr. President.
Apparently, a North Vietnamese lieutenant colonel in Saigon has now said...
Well, almost officially that they are holding up the release.
That's what was in the paper this morning, you see.
Ending our observance of the agreement.
Right.
Now, McCloskey and Parrish gave an unbelievably half-assed statement saying the violations weren't entirely on our side, which suggests that we are largely responsible for them.
We're not entirely on our side?
That's right.
What violations are you talking about?
Well, it must mean some Saigon violations.
to exist but I think we have to take an extremely tough position on this issue and well of course the only I know that we have to realize that the only only real issue we have our only problem we can all the others of course are
are manageable, but the only real problem we have domestically is the POWs.
That's right.
I think we ought to take a very tough issue on the POWs.
That's my point.
And on the POWs, not on the other violations.
That's right.
That's right.
But I don't think it helps us if we imply that there may be...
I mean, we should be on the attack on these violations.
At any rate, we should say that for us, we are drafting something, Mr. President,
in reply to this, but I think we should, I don't think that we should let the conference in Paris go on to other subjects until that issue is settled.
Well, I couldn't agree more.
Of course not.
I think we should instruct Rogers to read this.
That's right.
And until he has a satisfactory explanation, we're not going to discuss other issues.
There are no other issues for us to discuss.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
That brings the other nations in.
Mm-hmm.
Well, on this violation thing, what do you attribute this to?
Now, of course, this has not been made at the highest level yet on their part.
No, but it's probably they're testing us out.
If we now...
I understand that.
I'm just saying that what I meant is in terms of the cause of it.
They have been charging violations at your level, and we've been charging violations.
This has been going back and forth for two weeks.
Right.
And I haven't bothered you with it because most of it is detailed crap.
Now, the major things they've been complaining about is, one, that the mine removal is going along too slowly.
We sent them a message on Saturday about some means of speeding it up.
Now, we have deliberately kept the mine removal so that the mines won't be cleared before the prisoners are out.
Mm-hmm.
At any rate, we've speeded up the process, and they've been informed of that on Saturday.
The second thing they've complained about is the treatment of their personnel in Southland.
Yes, I've seen that, yeah.
Now, there, too, before they said anything like this, we have sent bunker into C2.
Right.
So we have actually been the third they complain about is ceasefire violations.
And they are...
And then, of course, they had... What happened basically there is that they grabbed a lot of hamlets at the time of the ceasefire, which the government was taking back.
I suppose that they might relate this to Laos, too, don't you think?
No, no, definitely not.
That they haven't done.
Yeah.
And that they can't do.
Because it doesn't involve Vietnam, you mean?
That's not part of the agreement.
They're talking about observing the agreement.
No, they haven't mentioned Laos.
Yeah, there was no ceasefire agreement in Laos, just a withdrawal agreement.
That's right.
Well, no, there is a ceasefire agreement, but we are not part of it.
That's what I mean.
We have no ceasefire agreement in Laos, but they have a withdrawal agreement.
Well, actually, the parties in Laos are asking foreign troops to withdraw.
Yeah.
There are no formal obligations on our part.
They haven't mentioned Laos.
And moreover, in Laos, it's obvious that we have bombed once, but they're violating about 20 times a day.
Well, what is it?
The way it stands now, then, what do we do?
Well, I think you should say we have not yet had official words.
But we want to make our position absolutely clear.
We stand for the strict observance of the agreement.
We have kept the agreement meticulously.
To us, one of the central issues in the negotiation was the release of the prisoners.
I wouldn't say, I would say one of the most vital issues.
One of the most vital issues which the North Vietnamese have always been told about.
If there's any delay about this, all other aspects of the agreement are in jeopardy, and you have asked our delegation in Paris to raise this on the most urgent basis and to go on to no other business until that issue is settled.
And then I would avoid other questions about it.
If they talk about mining, you can say we had already informed them on Saturday.
They won't raise that.
They don't know about that.
Well, I saw it on television this morning.
Oh, that's what the mining is?
Yeah.
I missed that.
It wasn't in the news this morning.
If they raise, then another thing they may raise is civilian prisoners.
I think you should say that the issue of civilian prisoners has been separated in the agreement explicitly from the issue of American military prisoners.
That was one of the South Vietnamese civilian prisoners has been separated from Americans.
That was one of the big issues in the negotiation.
And that the release of our prisoners has been, from the record and from the agreement, never been conditional on the fate of the others, which is a separate negotiation.
I'll tell you, when you get time, why don't you just...
Take a couple of... Just in rough form, and I'll work it into other form when I get ready.
I'll do it immediately.
All right, fine.

NARA Description

On February 27, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:07 am to 8:14 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 043-203 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 43-203

Date: February 27, 1973
Time: 8:07 am - 8:14 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

[See Conversation No. 415-12]

       Preparation for the President’s press conference
            -Vietnam settlement
                   -Prisoners of War [POWs]
                         -North Vietnam
                         -Press reports
                         -Delay in release
                         -Paul N. McCloskey’s statement
                         -Possible violation of cease-fire
                                            -117-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                              Conversation No. 43-203 (cont’d)

                        -South Vietnam
                        -Importance
                              -The President’s view
                  -Possible response on violation
                        -Draft reply
                        -Paris Peace Conference
                              -William P. Rogers
                        -Mine removals
                              -Timing of removal
                              -Treatment of North Vietnamese in Saigon
                                     -Ellsworth F. Bunker
                                           -Nguyen Van Thieu
                                     -North Vietnam’s actions
                                           -Cease-fire
                              -Laos
                                     -Cease-fire and withdrawal
                                     -US bombing
                              -POWs
                                     -Importance to US
                              -US response
                                     -The President’s possible statements
                                           -Press conference
                                           -North Vietnamese
                                           -Civilian prisoners
                                           -US POWs
                                                 -Kissinger’s view

Also recorded on February 27, 1973

  • 043-202 8:01 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:01 am and 8:07 am.
  • 415-006 8:01 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:01 am and 8:07 am.
  • 415-007 8:07 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:07 am to 8:14 am.
  • 415-008 8:14 AM · 10 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 8:14 am and 9:30 am.
  • 415-009 8:14 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:14 am and 9:30 am.
  • 415-010 9:30 AM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:30 am to 10:20 am.
  • 043-204 9:34 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:34 am.
  • 043-205 9:43 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:43 am and 10:20 am.

All 56 conversations from February 27, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 043-203, February 27, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/043-203 (accessed October 1, 2026).