Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 207 › Conversation 207-003

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on 1972 Presidential Election and Vietnam War

Monday, August 21, 1972 · 10:26 AM–10:41 AM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 10 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation207-003 on Tape 207StartMonday, August 21, 1972 at 10:26 AMEndMonday, August 21, 1972 at 10:41 AMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 207-003 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the political landscape surrounding the 1972 election, including potential critiques from figures like Eugene McCarthy and the administration's strategic response. The conversation focused on refining the rhetoric for an upcoming presidential speech, with Nixon emphasizing a shift away from specific domestic policy promises in favor of broader, more cautious language. Additionally, Nixon firmly rejected the possibility of a bombing halt in Vietnam prior to the election, arguing that such a move would be strategically counterproductive and misaligned with public sentiment.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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What do you think McCarthy would do?
Sure, sure.
Certainly showed their own problems, doesn't it, Henry?
I don't know either.
is that they're living in a dream world.
Oh, he could say his judgment of McDuckers.
Second, his judgment as to how the election's going to come out.
Third, and he could say that you better watch out what's going to happen afterwards.
He could say that.
Third, why don't you make peace because it'll be generous now and it won't be generous
he approached you in the first instance anyway.
Right.
Right.
Right.
That's good.
Well, that's great.
Well, I wish you were taking another day off.
You're going to see the rain today, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it's right.
It's right now.
It isn't just the thing we want right now.
To make that deal, yeah.
Are you worried a bit?
Isn't it interesting that Goodwin was outraged by their attack on you too, huh?
I know.
Sure.
I understand.
I think, Henry, if others could start saying it, I think I've gone about as far as I can in my talk.
Because, you know, the thing is, I can't give them the opportunity.
I'm just finishing some of the final work on this draft now.
Not so long on the domestic side, basically, a little on the foreign side.
But I'm just trying to be sure to hone down anything that can be taken out of context and made to be a peer, to be, you know, a slam
the other hand, I'm leaving him everything that's really come.
It's going to be a very strong speech.
We've got, let me say one thing that I did do that I think you'd be interested in.
I agree with your analysis.
But where we say that as a result of when we can turn toward peace, it will allow us to release our great creative energies to all.
I don't know.
I know that.
You see, I listed that.
I listed that we can rebuild our cities.
We can do that.
I just took that out.
Now, but what I did do is what I think is a just,
just a little place in America will mean that we can undertake initiatives at home that will be just as exciting as the great initiatives we've undertaken abroad.
Just put it that way.
You see, and then not say we can launch a war against the forces of poverty.
We can rebuild our great cities.
We can move toward our promising initiatives to restore our natural environment.
We can have welfare for our, you know, that's just, that's the kind of stuff that the voice
I've got to relate peace to our
I know Bill didn't intend to say that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
McCartney probably let him into it, though, Henry.
Yeah.
Anyway, we've now knocked it down.
He was expressing a hope, and that's that.
But I think Bill will be very good on that from now on.
But we all sat around and acted.
And the...
One thing that I was going to tell you is this.
It seems to me that we have a very, very interesting point here.
You know, the bombing halt thing.
I think these people are, and I may be so doctrinaire, and, you know, thinking history repeated itself, that they missed the point that there is no possibility of our getting a bombing halt now because they don't have anything to give.
something to give.
Now let me say, if they were to say in return for a bombing halt or say or do something, that would be something else again.
But you recall, Henry, they want the bombing halt to be made.
That's again a misjudgment that the left made about why the bombing halt helped Humphrey and or Johnson.
And the left said it helped them because people said, thank God we're not bombing.
That wasn't true at all.
The American people were for bombing.
I know, I speak in office time.
The reason it helped Johnson was that the bombing halt was
And you remember what saved us only by
It is so illusory.
There isn't going to be any bombing home under any circumstances of anything before the election.
We're going to bomb more, believe me.
That's my view, too.
That's my view, too.
You can't come to that when he doesn't look to kill us.
On the other hand, if it's not
They're surrounded, don't they?
Even in that damn Citadel, they still have it, don't they?
Anyway, that's good, and I think your idea is excellent, and I wish you well.
I'll see you tomorrow at a good time.

NARA Description

On August 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:26 am to 10:41 am. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 207-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 207-3

Date: August 21, 1972
Time: 10:26 am - 10:41 am
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

Henry A. Kissinger talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 140-55; one item has been withdrawn]

Also recorded on August 21, 1972

  • 207-001 8:30 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:30 am and 10:26 am.
  • 140-055 10:26 AM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 10:26 am to 10:41 am.
  • 207-002 10:26 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 10:26 am.
  • 140-056 11:20 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 11:20 am.
  • 140-057 11:20 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:28 pm.
  • 207-004 11:20 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 11:20 am.
  • 207-005 11:20 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:28 pm.
  • 140-058 12:28 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:28 pm to 12:31 pm.

All 18 conversations from August 21, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 207-003, August 21, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/207-003 (accessed October 9, 2026).