Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 238 › Conversation 238-018

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam peace negotiations

Saturday, December 30, 1972 · 12:45 PM–12:59 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation238-018 on Tape 238StartSaturday, December 30, 1972 at 12:45 PMEndSaturday, December 30, 1972 at 12:59 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 238-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to coordinate their strategy regarding upcoming peace negotiations and the management of domestic political fallout. They discussed the importance of controlling the narrative by refusing to explain or defend recent bombing decisions to critics, focusing instead on presenting the finalized peace agreement as a fait accompli. Additionally, they reviewed key political allies and opponents, emphasizing the need to keep supportive congressional leaders informed while bypassing or ignoring critical media figures.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 19% 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.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, how's the weather now?
Good.
Oh, I know.
It's all right.
There was a group of 60 in there that filled up.
Good.
Sitting is all good.
It's all right.
No, that's very foolish, very foolish.
Because basically, you give a report on what?
The only point that people are going to be interested in is what are the prospects.
And anything we say there can have no help on the negotiation and could hurt.
After what?
Oh, after you negotiate.
Oh, that's fine.
Well, I agree, but the point is that I thought of that too, you know, something before the inauguration, but the point is that we can't do that without, because
But you see, if we get into that, we've got to build up an enormous anticipation of a report.
And you may find you've got a delay of a week or something and so forth.
And I don't want to have any indication.
You see, at an appropriate time, you see that if Coney is a zigger, virtually every conference he has, well, now he's missed the time.
Dr. Kissinger's just come back from Paris.
He'll be back on the 12th or the 14th.
or whatever it is, or the 9th, and they'll say, oh, what's the report?
You see what I mean?
Quite a concern.
But I understand I've got to make a report, but I've got to make it at a time that we've got the damn thing sewed up in our own minds.
See, I don't think that we should give this idea of giving a...
We were, of course, under great pressure.
Well, hell, we were blown to the other side.
And we have to do it.
But I think, you know, Scott, for us, brought me to get out in the act.
But I think that should just play up.
Some of them understand it.
That's good.
Albert was good, too.
Good.
What did I say?
Yeah, I told him to call you.
Good, I want Ed Wilson, Dick Wilson.
What did Smith say?
Yeah.
Yeah, December 18th.
Right.
Oh, I heard about it.
I heard about it, yes.
1,500 children are made in the countries a little softer than the Peloponnesians.
You see that?
Good for him.
Well, he feels pretty good then, doesn't he?
Good, good.
That's good.
That's good.
the people that stick with us we and i would if i were to i wouldn't uh charge funding or any of those calls but now now they've all had it you see because that's they exposed them always
Good.
Well, any others that you think of that stand up and you let her know, okay.
Well, we wanted to, right?
Well, even last night, she told me Mansfield was all right, too.
The line of the Fulbrights and the Doves will be there to yank somebody up.
explain as why did we bomb and all that, in other words, and so forth.
And we must.
And we should refuse.
The other thing, too, is for me to go on and explain.
I have nothing to explain.
What we have to aim at now is to have this thing succeed, and everything must be played to that.
So your meeting is next week.
Oh, what do we do with regard to letting our funeral—I hope not too much.
We're going to have to do.
That's why I think they're chucking it out and letting him.
In effect, getting a veto is finished now.
We just finished the deal and presented it to him as a fait accompli.
No more fooling around.
Well, provided that he doesn't get any idea we're asking for his support or for his agreement, it's just about that.
He's got to just understand that we're going to go forward, and that's that.
Because you see, as long as he can milk anything out of us, he will, but there's no more to milk.
Yeah.
Which, in the case of Elizabeth,
Started the bombing.
Yeah.
Well, he's kind of broken his pick on this one, hasn't he?
Well, he just doesn't have the stuff, the character to stand up.
You know, he's got a wife.
No way, no way.
He's got to be just informed.
I would warn him of too goddamn much.
He really is, in all these things, Henry has never contributed anything except, well, meeting the problems on May.
Well, he says it was a mistake that started, I don't know.
Which we all know.
In other words, beating the op.
Beating the op just to death.
Right.
Right.
And he said he got more wires than he'd ever received and most of them positive.
Well, it's because we sit here and read the Washington Papers, you see, and they give a different view of that than the country.
I hope you will follow through on taking a little hike off Lord's Channel.
I'd do that.
Okay, Henry, fine.
Enjoy the day.
Bye.
Bye.
Yeah, that was...
He's always cautious.
He gets glad to be off the hook, but it's good that Scott is playing the line.
Scott will save him.
That's good.
Were you able to get a bear?
Yeah, okay.
That's all right.
He knows.
That's all right.
with anybody else.
Dakin, we're handling him from here.
We've got to inform him or he'd feel hurt.
So, I think we've covered the patient basically.
Okay, bye Henry.
Bye.
Oh, one other one that you might just call is Chancellor.
Right.
I don't know if he's feeling good, but at times he has been.
You could just, you know,
Because he'll get it.
Here's the problem, you see.
Some of the Washington reporters will understand this, but then in New York, by the time the Cronkites and the Brinkleys get out, they just tear hell out of them.
So you just might...
Right, right, right.
I would not call the fellow like Cronkite or Sarah.
They're not worth it.
Okay, fine.

NARA Description

On December 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 12:45 pm to 12:59 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 238-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 238-18

Date: December 30, 1972
Time: 12:45 pm - 12:59 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

[See Conversation No. 158-55]

Also recorded on December 30, 1972

  • 158-052 12:37 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 12:38 pm.
  • 238-014 12:37 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 12:38 pm.
  • 158-053 12:38 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 12:38 pm.
  • 238-015 12:38 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 12:38 pm.
  • 238-016 12:38 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:38 pm and 12:40 pm.
  • 158-054 12:40 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 12:40 pm.
  • 238-017 12:40 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 12:40 pm.
  • 158-055 12:45 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:45 pm to 12:59 pm.

All 64 conversations from December 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 238-018, December 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/238-018 (accessed October 11, 2026).