Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 158-032
Date: Friday, December 29, 1972 at 7:02 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Johnson, U. Alexis
Recording device: Camp David Study Table
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/158-032

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello, is it down here?
[0:09] Yes, it's down here.
[0:09] Oh, Alan.
[0:09] Yes, I wanted to be sure that, uh, going around here a little bit, knowing about the information, you know, uh, you can't reach me by phone, but we don't want to open the line.
[0:14] I got you what I've done, no?
[0:29] I had no reason to steer away.
[0:30] I'm sending a message tonight to the Navy Channel.
[0:31] I'm sending a message tonight that you wanted to tell him about tonight.
[0:32] That I was, that I called you tonight.
[0:33] That I was...
[0:34] Yeah, and there's a lot of radio switches on that.
[0:48] I sent you the message I sent you, Mr. President.
[0:49] I said that you wanted to reach me.
[0:50] But we decided there was no sufficiently secure way to do so.
[1:14] But I knew that the news...
[1:15] I took it on myself.
[1:15] I knew that the news that he would receive, he would be glad to have.
[1:17] And therefore, I suggested that he listen in at 10 o'clock tomorrow to get the story.
[1:19] And I see
[1:19] That's really the only way I could do it.
[1:24] ... ... ... ... ...
[1:50] I'm not saying congratulations to you.
[1:59] Well, it's not like you know it's been a pretty rough decision.
[2:00] It's your head, man.
[2:00] It's your head, man.
[2:01] I, you know, it's a real decision.
[2:02] Well, the last fellow I had in this afternoon, as you know, I've been receiving a stream of him, he said, you know, this is a pretty rough day.
[2:21] And I said that, you know, only history can tell.
[2:22] And if it works, if it doesn't work, then all of you then, you know, you can come up to that.
[2:35] There's a lot of ways to see if there's a chance.
[2:36] Right.
[2:37] Good.
[2:37] Good.
[2:37] Fine, Alex.
[2:37] Fine.
[2:37] Bye.