Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 234 › Conversation 234-015
Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Vietnam War
Thursday, December 7, 1972 · 9:04 PM–9:12 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 12 min
AI Summary
President Nixon dictated a series of memoranda regarding his administration's handling of Vietnam peace negotiations, administrative staffing, and key political appointments. He analyzed Henry Kissinger's role in the stalled Paris talks and discussed potential military options, including bombing North Vietnam, while balancing the political risks of a breakdown. Additionally, Nixon addressed personnel matters for the Cost of Living Council, the IRS, and the Treasury Department, emphasizing the need for loyal, effective leadership to advance his legislative and regulatory agenda.
- Vietnam War
- Henry Kissinger
- Personnel appointments
- Internal Revenue Service
- Negotiation strategy
- Budgetary policy
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 38% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.
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This is the sound of the cell.
September 7th, Camp David.
9.30.
September 6th, I am not recording because it is something more insane with regard to the situation in Paris.
The message we received today from Henry repeated some progress on the clocks.
And fortunately, when they called Bob and indicated that he favored the option of going forward on the negotiating front, rather than on the front, which was a great amount of negotiations.
It was a long conversation, which I'm sure all of you have heard, were required to go on.
The main point is that...
He feels that he is responsible for the negotiations.
He doesn't want to take the responsibility for their breaking down.
That's not what he does.
He would like to take a more melodramatic break on negotiations.
I mean, he's on national television.
He's on the box, et cetera.
I'm not going to message the risk of doing that.
greater than the risk of the jury.
Very great.
I'm trying to get the best out of what we possibly can.
And listen, after that record, the event that the negotiators wrote about, he would have warned us of all possibilities in advance.
This, of course, is reminiscent of Cambodia, Laos, and, of course, May 8th, where a
We always made the record very clear.
In other words, no question.
We had warned about all the possibilities of failure.
But when the chips were down, we always came out strong and hard.
And one of the three decided it had to be done.
The meeting was rushed.
Yeah.
I'll tell you about the castles tomorrow, okay?
I'll just interrupt this temptation with regard to the one I made to Ray Price.
We could not locate him, but I'll get her in.
heard, I want to be sure that I appreciated that kind of effort when it got in such an effective way for your background.
Getting back to the negotiations, Henry has made the record, so either way, the event we go as we are going to go, the settlement track breaks down.
The message was very well, very properly insisted, had to have a clause in it to be effective.
I was at least independent of the same judge that he had reached.
We should go forward on the option of proceeding to our assignment.
The first to take is Graham Carver.
Rush and Barr, both independently, agreed that we were to go on the
First, we might have to get our prisoners back.
Second, the rest of the armistice, that's an open breakdown.
I was very impressed with Schultz.
Schultz had come in with a recommendation regarding the Custom Electric Council.
They were very sound.
He had his quiet way of working things out with me.
They were people who stayed on the Employee Activity Council.
I ruled out Burns.
He was tough and strong
exactly the right man for the IRS.
I gave him a very, very tough charge because he was helpful.
And he turns out to be tougher than me.
It's pretty long, but so long as he
that we need to bring into that organization after, as I told you, eight years during the Eisenhower period, four years in our period, and if we didn't have an IRS man who would really not only be on our side, but willing to take the risks involved of conducting investigations on somebody of our importance, but now and then, of our friends, but...
This case proved to be very good.
We go for some of the offbeat things that do this balance that we otherwise might not get.
The thighs and the hearing, the hollering and other feelings take the hard line regardless of what you do.
Not so much do you seem to be very prepared.
Paragraph I added.
Talk to Julie.
She can call me around six o'clock.
I told all of them lately, and later, it was really a very reassuring thing to have somebody like Manolo, who is the court jester, and George Allen was, but in a better sense, because he doesn't interfere with decisions.
Also, I have somebody like Julie, who always gives everybody a letter, and never shoots around.
Very good paragraph.
Undersecretaries, I think it's a very good idea.
I had a very good talk with Charlie Walker.
He has excellent ideas regarding his public relations firm.
If we handle it properly, he will be very effective in fighting against changes in the tax laws, which will be detrimental to the business community and also detrimental to our cause.
He also is very skilled in dealing with the Congress.
He will be a great accent.
I called Colson on that point and told him that he ought to get in touch with Charlie Bunker and work with Charlie.
I thought he was a lawyer, which of course he is not.
But Charlie will be the fellow I'm supposed to work with on some of these problems.
It's very apparent.
I'm sure that, uh...
I hope you go forward with regard to the law school first.
The man that's really come true, of course, here, has been very brutal in his regard to people, and he continued to play the part of a major, not a role, and the children all called him, but he didn't.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On December 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:04 pm and 9:12 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 234-015 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 234-15
Date: December 7, 1972
Time: Unknown between 9:04 pm and 9:12 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire
The President dictated a memorandum for the file.
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Dictation
-Date
-Location
-Time
Vietnam negotiations
-Henry A. Kissinger’s message
-Progress of talks
-The President’s conversation with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Options
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Breakdown
-Kissinger’s state of mind
-Responsibility
-The President’s television [TV] appearance
-Risk
-Hope of settlement
-Cambodia and Laos
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Meeting with [David] Kenneth Rush
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
The President talked with the Camp David operator at an unknown time between 9:12 pm and
10:00 pm.
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 234-15 (cont’d)
[Conversation No. 234-15A]
[See Conversation No. 157-23]
[End of telephone conversation]
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Location
-Letter
-Quality
-The President’s appreciation
Vietnam negotiations
-Kissinger
-Settlement track
-Breakdown
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Relations
-Options
-Breakdown
-Rush and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer recommendations
-US bombing of North Vietnam
-Kissinger’s recommendation
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Risk
-Congressional reaction
-Cut off of funds for South Vietnam
Cost of Living Council
-George P. Shultz
-John D. Ehrlichman’s conversation with the President
-Personnel recommendations
-Labor people
-Arthur F. Burns
-Floyd E. (“Red”) Smith
-Loyalty
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 234-15 (cont’d)
-Naiveté
-Bureaucracy
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-George D. Webster appointment
-Loyal personnel
-Investigations
-Foundations
Vietnam negotiations
-The President’s discussion with Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Opinions
The President’s telephone conversation with Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 14s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manolo Sanchez
-The President’s conversation with Haldeman
-Personality
-George E. Allen
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Effect on the President
The President’s conversation with Charls E. Walker
-Appointment as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
-Tax law changes
-Congress
-The President’s call to Colson
Meeting on budget
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Appointment of deputies
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 234-15 (cont’d)
Justice Department
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-The President’s conversation with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Appointments
-Deputy Attorney General
-Dean of Duke Law School
-Robert H. Bork
-Haldeman’s role
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************Also recorded on December 8, 1972
- 157-022 9:04 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 9:04 pm.
- 234-012 9:04 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 9:04 pm.
- 234-013 9:04 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:04 pm and 9:12 pm.
- 234-014 9:04 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:04 pm and 9:12 pm.
- 157-023 9:12 PM · 15 sec — Camp David operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at Camp David at 9:12 pm.
- 157-024 12:05 PM · 3 min — George P. Shultz, Camp David operator, and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:05 pm and 1:12 pm.
- 234-016 12:05 PM · 21 sec — George P. Shultz and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:05 pm and 1:12 pm.
- 234-017 12:05 PM · 3 min — John D. Ehrlichman and George P. Shultz met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:05 pm and 1:12 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 234-015, December 8, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/234-015 (accessed October 10, 2026).