Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 238-027
Date: Sunday, December 31, 1972 at 11:47 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President)
Recording device: Camp David Hard Wire
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/238-027

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:14] This is the last day of 1972, 12-11-45, Camp David.
[0:34] I remember I had a file not to be transcribed.
[0:37] Pat got away last night in good shape, I think, because I've always recorded.
[0:42] And I think that she revealed that
[0:44] I have been under considerable stress.
[1:03] I can sense that she had some stuff before, but I've been going through.
[1:05] I know, too, that it must have been affecting her because she had been really quite a little pot all along.
[1:07] I know these emotional events that get to her as they get to the girls, and I'm glad for that reason as well as for many others.
[1:09] One more.
[1:14] At the end of the year, on the Sunday before she goes to the Rose Parade Parade, to talk to Colson, because today, I made the point that we would not have a positive reaction from people on this bombing call.
[1:49] to the extent that we had it, maybe, because, as I put it again, in nature and in all forms of life, political and otherwise, the peaks count are only as high as the valleys are deep.
[2:15] It is our belief, and it may be mistaken, that divine has not yet reached the point of its mind
[2:19] because of the consternation of the tremendous opposition that was made as a cause.
[2:45] Contramodally, while the valley in First Blush was very deep, the peak afterwards, coming out of the Moscow Sun, was a very high one.
[2:47] In this instance, because of the fact that
[2:49] to get out and get out in the public mind to a very great extent, especially in the middle of the week.
[3:11] We, on Valentine's, had a lot of consternation among some of our friends as we talked to the common, to the grand, to the king.
[3:13] But the sense of relief
[3:20] which is basically all it is, will not create a peak of public support, such as we had after May 8th.
[3:45] There are no negotiations, but of course, the hopes are peaks.
[3:46] This will help.
[3:46] Getting across the point, we would never have negotiations.
[3:49] on a serious basis unless we get bombed.
[4:10] It's something that they can only hope the public will understand because we've actually come up with this one.
[4:13] I've also talked to more in basements and all kinds of things every morning.
[4:14] It's funny when I have my two hours and some of them seem to be now
[4:16] Rather standard pattern.
[4:37] I was about to get a little bit somewhat angry.
[4:38] Incidentally, in that respect, I tried to get last night's train up to 11 o'clock.
[4:40] 11.30.
[4:40] Then going to bed late, hoping to sleep until around 6.30 or so.
[4:41] It was the same pattern.
[4:42] I still woke up at 2.30 between the morning.
[4:43] Perhaps I may have to develop a new scheme whereby I have to accept the fact that regardless of when I go to bed,
[4:46] I wake up after 4 or 5 hours.
[5:03] It takes me about an hour and a half to 2 hours to get back to sleep again.
[5:04] People would have an hour and a half to 2 hours in the most destructive way.
[5:06] The only problem is when I have to be in bed or make notes in bed, I think that I shouldn't be in bed nights.
[5:14] I don't think I covered my friend yesterday when I called him over.
[5:40] He said that he was very proud of the men.
[5:41] They're doing their vines.
[5:42] They were true professionals.
[5:42] They admired the President's courage.
[5:43] I told him that my courage
[5:44] was done in the area they were sent to while they were risking their lives.
[6:02] What I'm raising questions is to your wisdom and policy, which had to be made some kind of leverage, which caused the detention.
[6:28] Morning papers were predictable with regard to the handling of the announcement.
[6:52] Most of the book times were just the bombing calls.
[6:53] Most of them tried to indicate that it was not really clear as to whether or not the return of the negotiations was a result of bombing.
[6:56] Or whether, on the other hand, the bombing calls
[6:58] Yeah.
[7:27] Yeah.
[7:27] Yeah.
[7:35] Your talks broke down.
[7:57] This is the reason we had to go back to our May 8th policy.
[7:58] This is the reason that we, uh, the reason that we called a halt on the bombing of the plane.
[8:00] Because the enemy agreed to come back to serious negotiations, counting to a letter, which was written on the radio diagram.
[8:02] One of the exercises wasn't as serious as the other.
[8:03] I'm sorry.
[8:03] I'm sorry, but I can't do that to you.
[8:04] working in the wild is a lot harder than it is on the farm.
[8:35] I suppose he was not consulted.
[9:00] Of course, I remember that the access is important, but he was not consulted.
[9:02] Of course, there's no way to find them all, and no reason to.
[9:03] Unless the situation would be different.
[9:06] Um, and they haven't taken so long as to require additional appropriation, so.
[9:26] The divine class zero reserve might march what they've done by the breakings at all.
[10:02] You were still, uh, complaining about the fact that, uh, we should go on and explain why we had bombed.
[10:28] This is the explanation, and it was made clear that the only major solar node was, um, the resting piece.
[10:30] It was on the paper.
[10:31] It indicated that, uh, an area that was civilized and urban and
[10:33] a lot of negotiations to go forward, that the President could lean back and insist on a fine, and that Henry was trying to get the President to agree to continue the talks so that he kept a better feeling about having the operation.
[11:02] Uh, I hope that Henry, directly or indirectly, got his line on himself.
[11:23] Uh, and Colson has been called on.
[11:24] Uh, I think he has to be shifted to a side team, because what he must realize is that he's going to end up in a better position than I should leave him.
[11:27] It's Barbie's decision.
[11:27] And he goes back to the table on 8th of January.
[11:28] Of course, Henry wants to be well-followed.
[11:34] It's the e-bubble that's playing this line.
[11:56] The split is one that's being a hard to spread.
[11:57] The gutter's faster.
[11:58] I can only get away with this instance on this one.
[11:59] Now we're closer to my sound down.
[11:59] It's taking a lot longer than I should have.
[12:00] The administration is nice for it.
[12:01] He's correct.
[12:01] And they're going to take security down.
[12:07] out of this terrible, difficult period after the election.
[12:23] We've gone off to get some of our loyalists in key positions.
[12:25] They did not allow us, or they denied us, the right to savor our victory there.
[12:26] But on the other hand, that's become the cause of this war here.
[12:52] Thank you.