{"conversationCode":"233-006","tapeNumber":233,"conversationNumber":6,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-233-006","startDateTime":"1972-12-06T03:05:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-12-06T03:34:00.000Z","startDate":"5-Dec-1972","startTime":"10:05 PM","endDate":"5-Dec-1972","endTime":"10:34 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.;","description":"On December 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:05 pm to 10:34 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 233-006 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"CDHW","recordingDevice":"Camp David Hard Wire","latitudeEstimated":39.648333,"longitudeEstimated":-77.465,"chronCode":"5.2","chronRelease":"Fifth Chronological Release: Part II","chronReleaseDate":"2-Dec-2008","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 233-006\n\nDate: December 5, 1972\n\n       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542\n\nTime: 10:05 pm - 10:34 pm\nLocation: Camp David Hard Wire\n\nThe President talked with Charles W. Colson.\n\n[See Conversation No. 157-4]","filename":["233-006.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Colson, Charles W."],"prevCode":"233-005","nextCode":"233-007","transcript":[{"start":1.45,"end":4.49,"text":"Hello."},{"start":5.51,"end":10.16,"text":"Are you home now?"},{"start":10.18,"end":14,"text":"Yeah, well, you're quitting early, huh?"},{"start":14.02,"end":14.24,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":14.36,"end":20.07,"text":"Well, I went over today and saw the Californians."},{"start":20.09,"end":20.55,"text":"Without saying it."},{"start":20.61,"end":24.35,"text":"They're a great bunch, though, I must say."},{"start":24.57,"end":27.21,"text":"You know, they raised $9 million in that state."},{"start":29.12,"end":30.36,"text":"You know, they're in trouble in California."},{"start":30.62,"end":34.11,"text":"It's all the young people."},{"start":34.25,"end":50.13,"text":"As a matter of fact, you know, when you think of this thing, I think probably, you know, 64 apart from the 49 states where it came from, it's quite over a meter."},{"start":50.15,"end":52.42,"text":"That's the right achievement."},{"start":52.44,"end":53.06,"text":"Oh, yeah."},{"start":53.08,"end":54.6,"text":"So, like, when I talk about that, I said, that's sure."},{"start":54.62,"end":55.22,"text":"I think that's how nice it is."},{"start":55.24,"end":55.96,"text":"He is really, he's really a suspect."},{"start":55.98,"end":56.46,"text":"Especially for me."},{"start":57.27,"end":64.64,"text":"The number out, it must be very, very small now."},{"start":64.72,"end":69.42,"text":"There's only five states."},{"start":69.7,"end":80.42,"text":"Slightly over 60 already, so... What was this?"},{"start":80.44,"end":81.44,"text":"I'm doing some more thinking, and what are your..."},{"start":81.46,"end":82.84,"text":"I can think of some more of your reactions to what we're doing."},{"start":84.93,"end":95.94,"text":"Of course, our sentiment is that you could make a pretty good little talk, but the point is that it simply has nothing to do with us."},{"start":96.48,"end":104.27,"text":"It just escalates the war issue and puts it right on the front line."},{"start":104.29,"end":106.51,"text":"Again, it gets everybody talking about it far more than it does."},{"start":106.53,"end":111.28,"text":"And the point is that if we needed to rally the country, that would be different."},{"start":111.33,"end":114.92,"text":"And we can do it later if we have to."},{"start":115.46,"end":134.83,"text":"It would be effective, but the problem with using a truck is that on all the previous occasions when I've done it, I've used it."},{"start":134.85,"end":135.29,"text":"I have done something."},{"start":135.31,"end":135.83,"text":"You know what I mean?"},{"start":135.85,"end":137.44,"text":"I have either, I mean, I haven't just said, look, follow us above November 3rd."},{"start":137.46,"end":140.68,"text":"I said, but I said, no, I asked, I heard all these people march around the White House."},{"start":140.7,"end":142,"text":"I had to rally the country, and I said, I asked for your support."},{"start":142.02,"end":142.86,"text":"The silent majority, so they supported me."},{"start":142.88,"end":143.32,"text":"What do we talk about?"},{"start":143.34,"end":143.86,"text":"You see, that's the point."},{"start":143.88,"end":145.24,"text":"We're saying now these negotiations, if you were also willing to see"},{"start":146.44,"end":156.17,"text":"our impasse because the enemy has tricked us."},{"start":156.19,"end":168.78,"text":"It seems to me that he's in a position where we're looking at it from a standpoint where he's not going at all."},{"start":168.8,"end":171.3,"text":"It's like when he came back from Russia that time, not getting what we wanted."},{"start":171.32,"end":172.34,"text":"He says, well, we're going to break off the summit."},{"start":172.36,"end":174.62,"text":"And, uh, all right, then that would of course be the same to break off the summit when we did something."},{"start":174.64,"end":175.54,"text":"This time we're not going to do a damn thing."},{"start":175.56,"end":175.91,"text":"That's the point."},{"start":176.24,"end":185.17,"text":"I've got to do something, but I don't want to talk about it."},{"start":185.19,"end":198.26,"text":"The point is that they are testing us, and that the answer is for me to go on television and rally the American people, because that will call their bluff."},{"start":198.64,"end":201.5,"text":"But, you see, my argument there is that you can call their bluff by what you do and not by what you say."},{"start":201.53,"end":205.91,"text":"And also, my own point is if you rally our supporters, you also rally the opposition again."},{"start":206.16,"end":225.67,"text":"I know they cannot but think that we are innocent."},{"start":225.69,"end":227.43,"text":"And if they don't think that, they're out of their minds."},{"start":227.45,"end":229.78,"text":"Now, the real problem, I think, though, is that they're clever enough already to just hang on and don't settle down."},{"start":229.8,"end":230.42,"text":"The Congress cut off the water."},{"start":230.44,"end":231.26,"text":"Well, he called me and asked me about it."},{"start":231.28,"end":231.94,"text":"I said, well, I don't understand."},{"start":231.96,"end":232.62,"text":"I said, well, I don't understand."},{"start":232.82,"end":262.29,"text":"I think, I don't know, that's the real problem."},{"start":262.76,"end":287.97,"text":"And this comes off the way that what it means is that they're going to be meeting at me."},{"start":287.99,"end":288.41,"text":"I think they are too."},{"start":288.43,"end":290.89,"text":"I don't think people are going to be asking them, they're going to be meeting at me and say, well, they were there with me."},{"start":291.82,"end":314.06,"text":"You know, other times we've, uh, we've all been pursuing that for a certain amount of time."},{"start":314.08,"end":316.13,"text":"But, you know, I'll figure out, uh, you know, I'll take a, I'll take a meeting for a few days."},{"start":316.15,"end":320.13,"text":"But, you know, we can't, we can't, uh, deal with something because, uh, we're, we're not going to be, because we're not going to be able to."},{"start":320.15,"end":321.77,"text":"It, uh, goes so far as to say that I'm confident we're going to have an agreement"},{"start":322.53,"end":348.6,"text":"... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..."},{"start":349.31,"end":360.54,"text":"The North Indian Marines aren't backing on."},{"start":360.56,"end":366.23,"text":"That we cannot go back to because we've gone and we went to Saigon."},{"start":366.25,"end":367.19,"text":"Saigon said no, we're going to Paris."},{"start":368.63,"end":370.14,"text":"And going back to Paris, he said no, we're going to put her back."},{"start":370.16,"end":371.5,"text":"No, no, we're going to Paris."},{"start":371.52,"end":373.36,"text":"He says no, we're going to Paris."},{"start":374.37,"end":403.85,"text":"I'm sorry."},{"start":404.22,"end":410.93,"text":"It feels a need to lock it back and get out there."},{"start":410.95,"end":414.78,"text":"Again, we can't do that."},{"start":415.82,"end":417,"text":"Those bastards off."},{"start":417.38,"end":421.73,"text":"That's the problem with rallying our own forces."},{"start":421.75,"end":428.52,"text":"You can stir it up again and get the idiots coming down again and saying, oh, boy, they're bombing all our..."},{"start":428.54,"end":429.4,"text":"I had deliberately had all of them read it."},{"start":429.42,"end":430.25,"text":"I mean, let him look at it first."},{"start":430.71,"end":435.36,"text":"He first read his first reactions."},{"start":436.96,"end":440.93,"text":"Well, of course, I guess he's got a good reaction."},{"start":440.95,"end":441.81,"text":"So there's some more of that."},{"start":441.83,"end":443.63,"text":"That's exactly how he felt that way."},{"start":443.75,"end":452.24,"text":"That's the way the American people would feel if I went out and did it."},{"start":452.26,"end":453.58,"text":"We've got to run it through the end."},{"start":453.6,"end":455.26,"text":"We can come to it if we have to."},{"start":455.28,"end":460.15,"text":"People said the president should come out and explain all this and report on the war again."},{"start":461.12,"end":490.96,"text":"All right."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss the political implications of addressing the nation regarding the status of ongoing peace negotiations in Vietnam. Nixon expresses caution about the potential for a televised address to escalate domestic war protests and unnecessarily revive the influence of the anti-war opposition. Ultimately, the two weigh the merits of signaling strength through decisive action versus the risk of political fallout from prematurely rallying the public.","topics":["Vietnam War","peace negotiations","public relations","domestic policy","televised addresses"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T11:10:12.619Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","peace-negotiations","public-relations","domestic-policy","televised-addresses"],"audioDurationSec":491,"audioFiles":[{"file":"233-006.mp3","bytes":19641783,"durationSec":490.92,"bitrate":320084,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:36.205Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:08.382Z","transcriptGapSeconds":182,"transcriptGapShare":0.37,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/233-006.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/233-006","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/233/conversation-233-006","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}