Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 312 › Conversation 312-004
Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Melvin Laird
Sunday, January 9, 1972 · 12:41 PM–12:52 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building
AI Summary
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger coordinate the messaging and logistics for an upcoming administrative announcement regarding Vietnam policy. Nixon decides to involve Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird in the announcement to allow him to field press questions and receive credit for Vietnam-related developments. The two also discuss personnel management, specifically vetting a candidate for a role under Laird, and deliberate on the diplomatic protocol of withholding immediate formal recognition of a foreign government.
- Vietnam War
- Melvin Laird
- Public Relations
- Diplomatic Recognition
- Personnel
- Press Briefing
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 118.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 107.9 MB
This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 00:01:44 into the tape and ends around 00:10:51.
Transcript (AI-generated)
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
1:48Oh, thanks, Henry.
1:48Thank you.
1:49How's the weather?
1:50Any better?
1:53I hope so.
1:53Yeah.
1:55Is the sun shining or is it foggy?
1:58That's good.
2:00That's good.
2:00Well, let's see.
2:01It's 10 o'clock out there, so it ought to be a very good day.
2:06Good.
2:07What I was calling you about is about the announcement on Wednesday.
2:17I thought it might be, well, 12, I don't know, maybe, I don't know.
2:24We'll see.
2:27I'll have to check here to see how fit with that.
2:30It will do one in two days, 12 and 13.
2:33But any event, it occurs to me that it might be well to,
2:43So that I don't want to, of course, be questioned at all.
2:45But on the other hand, the defense always gives a little briefing on those things, don't they?
2:51Why would it not be to have Laird come over, and then I could walk out with him and say, I'm announcing this, and the secretary will read the press, and then he'll offer details.
3:05lets him get it on the show a little bit.
3:08He'll be doing it anyway, and I'll talk to him about what he should say.
3:13Think that's a good idea?
3:17Yeah.
3:19Well, it gives him a little, you know, some credit for his Vietnam-related policies.
3:26He should get that.
3:27All he has to be sure he's on on the right track in regards to that.
3:35Any questions about POWs and so forth, which I immediately handle those well.
3:43Good idea, too.
3:44Second point.
3:50Oh, there's no... At this point, I don't think the credit's there.
3:56Yeah.
3:56You see, at this point, it doesn't have a lot of difference.
4:00We've moved along.
4:03And it's...
4:04Yeah.
4:04Now, did you get to him first?
4:07Does he know about this announcement?
4:15Yeah.
4:16A number?
4:16Fine.
4:17Well, that'll give you...
4:18Right.
4:19Now, when you talk to him, you can talk about this and say that's over.
4:29And then the idea that he would go over
4:35And that I will, I'll make the announcement in one sentence and then turn the press over to him for the briefing on it.
4:47And that he would say that we would, or you can start to start with that, that'll soften up the Russian thing.
4:54And then that we, I think that just ask you to maybe check with HIG or somebody on our, I don't know,
5:03I'll give him a couple of talking points with regard to the negotiation side.
5:07So that he'll, they said, what about the next announcement?
5:10What will be made during the month of April before May 1st?
5:14Will it be a final announcement where the President pointed out that there could be no final withdrawal?
5:22What about negotiation?
5:24I'm not going to go beyond what the President has already said.
5:30And, well, what about withdrawal?
5:31That's a deadline.
5:32I don't know if you saw what they said last week.
5:36He ought to really make hard at that point.
5:44That's fine.
5:45Third year's hard for me.
5:48Third year's a good day.
5:49That's the case.
5:50Just bring him to him right there.
5:55All right.
5:56And so you can call him.
5:57Now, on the rush thing, I could
6:01Yes, yes.
6:04He does.
6:07Well, the point is that this is basically the kind of a man Larry's been looking for.
6:12He just looks for his qualifications.
6:14But he has the advantage of knowing all about MEFR and so on, right?
6:21And that is an enormous advantage for whoever's in that position.
6:32And you can say that he said he admires Blair, you know, a little of that.
6:36He's a hard-line follower, what we need.
6:42He's a real man.
6:42He said that we've also found that he's been impeccably discreet and loyal and has never leaked anything to Mike's head, actually.
6:52That'll impress the hell out of him.
6:56Okay.
6:56Well, what else is new?
6:56Do you have any other conversations until I was gone?
7:22I don't know what he's been released by, but he is, you know, that's the other thing I suppose that whatever we do with regard to, but that pretty much will resolve itself in the past, recognize the moment.
7:45Yeah, that's what I think they're going to do.
7:53Yeah, but as far as Loachie was concerned, what would be the point in going to record?
8:01He's not, not anything, let the counselor go, but I would, until he, otherwise you're giving him de facto recognition.
8:17All over him right away, that's the point.
8:20We'll eventually have to go that way.
8:22We know that.
8:23But I don't think we need to fall over right at the beginning.
8:30Yeah.
8:33That's right.
8:36Let a political counselor go.
8:38I mean, we want to go at the highest level because after all, he is not yet a government we recognize.
8:44That's the point.
8:46I think...
8:49That would be my reaction.
8:50I don't feel too damn strong about it.
8:53I don't think it's going to make that much difference.
9:05Yeah, yeah.
9:07Okay, and nothing else?
9:07No other reports?
9:08Hey, he's probably on his way back now.
9:16Okay.
9:19Any of the balance of their power, whatever it is.
9:53It's pretty hard with all the problems we've got here again, to have all of us do it.
10:01What if they had to do that in parliamentary elections?
10:18Who's going to be the next prime minister?
10:21Well, we don't have to see him then, do we?
10:29Okay.
10:30Well, I hope you get a little sun and everybody's gone and we all be peaceful out there.
10:42Okay.
10:42Bye.
10:43Thank you.
NARA Description
On January 9, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:41 pm to 12:52 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 312-004 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 312-4 Date: January 9, 1972 Time: 12:41 pm - 12:52 pm Location: Executive Office Building The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger. [See Conversation No. 18-17; two items have been withdrawn from the conversation]
Also recorded on January 9, 1972
- 018-016 12:39 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:41 pm.
- 312-001 12:39 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:41 pm.
- 312-002 12:39 PM · 1 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:41 pm.
- 312-003 12:39 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:41 pm.
- 018-017 12:41 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 12:41 pm to 12:52 pm.
- 018-018 12:52 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:52 pm and 12:55 pm.
- 312-005 12:52 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:52 pm and 12:55 pm.
- 312-006 12:52 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:52 pm and 12:55 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 312-004, January 9, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/312-004 (accessed October 9, 2026).