{"conversationCode":"246-030","tapeNumber":246,"conversationNumber":30,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-246-030","startDateTime":"1971-04-07T22:40:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-04-07T22:50:00.000Z","startDate":"7-Apr-1971","startTime":"5:40 PM","endDate":"7-Apr-1971","endTime":"5:50 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President);","description":"On April 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:50 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 246-030 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 246-030\nDate: April 7, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 5:40 pm and 5:50 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\nThe President rehearsed a speech\n[A transcript of the final version of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents,\nRichard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 522-527]","filename":["246-030.mp3"],"tapeStart":"05:06:55","tapeEnd":"05:14:50","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)"],"prevCode":"246-029","nextCode":"246-031","transcript":[{"start":0.12,"end":16.32,"text":"As you can see from the progress we've made today, by this announcement, the American involvement in Vietnam is coming to an end."},{"start":16.34,"end":17.64,"text":"The South Vietnamese can take over their own defenses in sight."},{"start":17.66,"end":19.26,"text":"Our goal is a total American withdrawal from Vietnam."},{"start":19.28,"end":21.5,"text":"And we will reach that goal through our program on civilization."},{"start":21.52,"end":22.55,"text":"We would infinitely prefer to reach it even sooner."},{"start":27.17,"end":45.01,"text":"I again call on Hanoi to engage in serious negotiations to speed the end of the war."},{"start":46.37,"end":52.41,"text":"I especially call on Hanoi to agree to the immediate end of the unconditional release of all prisoners of war who are under attack."},{"start":52.98,"end":71.66,"text":"On the other hand, on the end of our very use of our purpose as negotiators and pawns, to join us in a humane act that will freeze their name as well as ours."},{"start":74.02,"end":75.6,"text":"And now we'll move to the first glance at a great deal of appeal to the matter."},{"start":75.62,"end":77,"text":"So confident, you know, that we can control all forces."},{"start":77.02,"end":79.23,"text":"I want to announce a date now for the end of our call."},{"start":80.07,"end":96.55,"text":"The difficulty of making such an announcement to the American people is that I would also make the announcement to the United States."},{"start":96.57,"end":97.33,"text":"We are the enemy's purpose on our own."},{"start":97.35,"end":98.29,"text":"We will quit regardless of what the enemy does."},{"start":98.31,"end":100.57,"text":"In a way, our principle barred the encounter with the police of the United States during World War II."},{"start":100.59,"end":102.52,"text":"We would remove the enemy's strongholds and send them to end the war as children by negotiation."},{"start":103.44,"end":119.94,"text":"People have given enemy commanders the exact information they need to marshal their attacks against our remaining forces at them at the momentable time."},{"start":119.96,"end":121.78,"text":"The issue, very simply, is this."},{"start":121.8,"end":124.54,"text":"We leave Vietnam in a way that by our own actions consciously turns the country over to the country."},{"start":124.56,"end":128.25,"text":"So we leave it in a way that gives the South Vietnamese a reasonable chance to survive and free people."},{"start":128.26,"end":130.43,"text":"The land will end American involvement in a way that will provide that chance."},{"start":130.75,"end":136.9,"text":"I would have it presented with a good victory or not."},{"start":136.92,"end":144.28,"text":"It presents two days of choice in editing our involvement in this war on another despair or another hope."},{"start":144.3,"end":144.94,"text":"Thank you, Mr. Thomas Jefferson."},{"start":145.29,"end":154.7,"text":"America will always choose hope over despair."},{"start":154.72,"end":162.86,"text":"And in our power, they lead Vietnam in a way that offers a brave people a realistic hope for freedom."},{"start":162.88,"end":170.13,"text":"And in our power to prove to our friends in the world that America's sense of responsibility remains the world's greatest symbol of hope for peace."},{"start":170.15,"end":171.87,"text":"We have in our power to close the difficult chapters in America."},{"start":171.89,"end":172.39,"text":"We need them, but no one."},{"start":172.41,"end":174.89,"text":"So each one of us can come out of this serious experience with a measure of pride in our nation."},{"start":175.19,"end":200.16,"text":"We would abandon ourselves."},{"start":200.18,"end":201.6,"text":"We would budge from the anguish of war to a nightmare of incrimination."},{"start":201.62,"end":203.34,"text":"We would lose respect for this nation, respect for one another, respect for ourselves."},{"start":203.51,"end":231.02,"text":"... ... ... ... ... ..."},{"start":232.16,"end":253.06,"text":"soldiers who build schools, roads, hospitals, clinics, and help us act in general readiness, kindness, and helping people."},{"start":253.08,"end":253.5,"text":"We saw it in Vietnam."},{"start":253.52,"end":254.46,"text":"And we should be very proud of what we've done."},{"start":254.48,"end":255.82,"text":"Not our son, but our appreciation and our deep respect for America."},{"start":255.84,"end":259.39,"text":"The President's appreciation is to the dead America's participation in this conflict, not in failure or defeat, but in the achievement of the great goals in which they saw it."},{"start":259.55,"end":285.49,"text":"It will redeem the sacrifices of the world."},{"start":288.63,"end":313.07,"text":"I do not ask you to take what I say on paper."},{"start":313.1,"end":313.33,"text":"Look for it."},{"start":313.67,"end":335.02,"text":"Look again at that child."},{"start":335.04,"end":335.98,"text":"Is it in me to accomplish what I set out to do?"},{"start":336,"end":336.46,"text":"I have to do something."},{"start":336.48,"end":336.94,"text":"I have to do something."},{"start":336.96,"end":337.43,"text":"I have to do something."},{"start":337.44,"end":337.91,"text":"I have to do something."},{"start":337.93,"end":338.39,"text":"I have to do something."},{"start":338.41,"end":338.87,"text":"I have to do something."},{"start":339.47,"end":363.82,"text":"I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this celebration."},{"start":363.84,"end":365.19,"text":"I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this celebration."},{"start":365.21,"end":366.55,"text":"I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this celebration."},{"start":366.57,"end":367.91,"text":"I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this celebration."},{"start":367.89,"end":375.12,"text":"One."},{"start":375.14,"end":375.22,"text":"Two."},{"start":375.24,"end":375.32,"text":"One."},{"start":375.34,"end":375.42,"text":"Two."},{"start":375.44,"end":375.52,"text":"One."},{"start":375.54,"end":375.62,"text":"Two."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon rehearsed a televised address to the nation regarding the ongoing American involvement in the Vietnam War. He practiced articulating the administration's policy of Vietnamization and the goal of achieving a total withdrawal that would leave South Vietnam with a reasonable chance of survival. The speech emphasized the need for a principled exit that would honor American sacrifices while pressuring Hanoi to release prisoners of war and engage in serious negotiations.","topics":["Vietnam War","Vietnamization","Presidential speeches","POWs","Foreign policy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T11:34:23.658Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","vietnamization","presidential-speeches","pows","foreign-policy"],"audioDurationSec":376,"audioFiles":[{"file":"246-030.mp3","bytes":15028558,"durationSec":375.58,"bitrate":320117,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:36.695Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/246-030.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/246-030","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/246/conversation-246-030","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}