Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 31 › Conversation 031-115

Nixon phone call with Haig on Vietnam War and Henry Kissinger

Wednesday, October 18, 1972 · 9:03 AM–9:07 AM ET · White House Telephone ·5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation031-115 onTape 31StartWednesday, October 18, 1972 at 9:03 AMEndWednesday, October 18, 1972 at 9:07 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-115 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss the ongoing Vietnam peace negotiations led by Henry Kissinger, specifically emphasizing the need to maintain strong military pressure on North Vietnamese forces before a potential ceasefire. Nixon explicitly vetoes a proposed diplomatic trip to Vientiane, fearing the political optics, and stresses the importance of South Vietnamese military performance. They conclude that if a favorable agreement cannot be reached before the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the administration will be in a stronger, less-constrained position to act afterward.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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President General Hague.
Hello.
Hello.
President.
I wanted you to know that I, having read Henry's thing there, I have two, one, this idea of going to Benton is an utter loser.
You just can't do that at all, under no circumstances.
You see what I mean?
That's not quite like going to Hanoi, but that would build up the speculation beyond belief.
If he's got to come back after he meets you, he's got to come back here.
Have you told him that?
Well, no, I haven't.
I've had about five messages during the night, some of which went on to the other side, which he told them it was impossible to go to Hanoi.
There was a total agreement that there would be absolutely no reduction in the bombing, but he did.
He didn't promise, no.
He made this offer.
There are two paragraphs that are fundamentally in disagreement.
Well, the point is they're the only two that matter.
But when he said, you know, in his memorandum now, everything is settled, everything went well, except for only two things.
But what matters more than that question of the release of 40,000 saboteurs in the South?
And the other point, huh?
I understand that those were the two that mattered.
That's right, but I think in the context of the replacements, he has a very good paragraph for us, and they're the ones that are hurt for the recent people in the South.
Right.
So he has this thing now with the...
They accepted it.
That's right.
If Q accepts it, accepts something that is acceptable to them, that we can get an okay, I think we've got a lot.
Al, let me ask you this, Al.
Are we really pounding the hell out of them around Saigon there?
I asked you that last night, and you said yes.
But Jesus Christ, kick more in the ass and tell them to— I talked to Mr. Laird after I spoke to you last night.
I got him in a restaurant and said that you should call me and get them off their bus.
Because if you're going to have a ceasefire, this will help you agree to it if we pound them.
And what did he say?
And I said to get these assets, and if you have to move a carrier down, to help on it to do it.
Right.
Right.
I'll follow up on that with you, because now is the time to hit them.
I mean, you know always before ceasefires, that's when you run your offensives.
They are, and we've got to.
Are the South Vietnamese getting off their butts a bit or not?
They are.
They're moving very—every place is satisfactory, except where this goddamn men is.
Yeah.
Other places are taking back everything that they've lost.
That's the stuff.
That's the stuff.
He's on the ground and it's you right now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right.
You keep me in constant touch, will you?
Yes, sir.
Right.
I'm just trying now to keep Henry from getting out on a limb here and then having to saw it off.
Oh, exactly.
Now, you know, I've hit him with about three cold towels in a row tonight.
Right.
That's right.
And he's got it and has gone and conveyed these and stuck them to the other side.
Good, good, good.
So you two, I think you're what you had told Bob.
reported.
I mean, when you said, look, if a guy wants to settle, they'll settle.
If they don't want to settle, they won't.
So therefore, what we have to do is to put it to them as hard as we can.
And if they don't settle, then we'll settle after the election.
That's right.
I also have this feeling, I think, your position after the election is stronger than before, our position is.
Right.
After the election, we have no restraints.
You know it.
Right.
Agree?
Oh, I do.
Yeah.
But if they collapse on us—and they accepted this stuff yesterday, apparently.
But I do think that they're really geared to this attack schedule in the South.
Well, that's a question for the South Vietnamese.
And now the South Vietnamese are going to have that for the next half a dozen years, and they'd better learn to deal with it now, don't they?
That's Rudy Abrams' point, isn't it?
How can we sit there all the time, and every time they attack, we bring in the Air Force?
God damn it.
They don't have an Air Force tacking.
If this thing jins out right, we've got to take it.
Exactly.
It seems to be in pretty good shape.
Right.
All right, Al.
Just let me know.
All right.

NARA Description

On October 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 9:03 am to 9:07 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-115 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-115

Date: October 18, 1972
Time: 9:03 am - 9:07 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 369-9A]

        Vietnam settlement
            -Henry A. Kissinger’s message

                                        (rev. Oct-06)

             -Kissinger’s possible trip to Vientiane
                  -The President’s view
             -Possible trip to Hanoi
             -Status
             -Kissinger’s memorandum
                  -The President’s view
                  -Issues
                  -Nguyen Van Thieu’s cooperation
             -Military action by US
                  -Saigon
                  -The President’s view
                  -Haig’s talk with Melvin R. Laird
                  -Possible ceasefire
                       -US bombing
                            -Timing
                  -South Vietnamese military action
                       -Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Minh
                            -Haig’s view
             -Kissinger’s possible action
             -Timing
                  -Forthcoming US presidential election
                       -Possible consequences of failure for North Vietnamese
             -South Vietnamese military position
                  -Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
                  -Use of air power
                       -US air support

Also recorded on October 18, 1972

  • 031-114 7:53 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:53 am to 7:55 am.
  • 369-005 7:53 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:53 am to 7:55 am.
  • 369-006 7:55 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:20 am.
  • 369-007 7:55 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:20 am.
  • 369-008 7:55 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:20 am.
  • 369-009 8:20 AM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:20 am to 9:50 am.
  • 803-001 9:53 AM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, William E. Timmons, John D. Ehrlichman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:53 am to 10:07 am.
  • 803-002 10:07 AM · 57 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Masayoshi Ohira, Nobuhiko Ushiba, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Sadaaki Numata, James J. Wickel, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:07 am to 11:05 am.

All 86 conversations from October 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-115, October 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-115 (accessed September 18, 2026).