Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 327 › Conversation 327-001

Nixon & Haig on Henry Kissinger and Vietnam War

Monday, March 27, 1972 · 8:42 AM–9:21 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation327-001 on Tape 327 (tape position 00:02:35–00:07:13)StartMonday, March 27, 1972 at 8:42 AMEndMonday, March 27, 1972 at 9:21 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 327-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss the scheduling of Henry Kissinger and the President's desire to insulate him from bureaucratic distractions regarding personnel like Marshall Green and Arthur K. Watson. The conversation shifts to the military situation in Vietnam, specifically the influx of North Vietnamese aircraft and skepticism regarding recurring military predictions of enemy offensives. Nixon expresses a cautious outlook on the coming month, emphasizing the need for prepared, strategic responses to potential enemy aggression.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 28% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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How's Henry doing?
Good.
I hope you haven't bothered him too much down there.
The poor guy, when he gets down there, he'll probably worry if we don't call him.
But, uh, tell him to keep going.
There's really nothing to bother him about.
You know, there's not...
He shouldn't get all... You know, otherwise, if he were here, he'd be snarling up and down about that sort of... About Marshall Green and about, uh, that sort of fellow, uh, Watson and so forth.
What the hell does that make any difference?
Don't you realize that all these things that you just figured in the last week I was looking over in the summer, you probably thought they were spotting crises at least.
Not with Mom, the goddamn thing.
You know, everybody's forgotten about Coral Watson now.
And I think he's agreeing to make sure that he's safe.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Fine.
Is there anything new?
I noticed, what about the, we're getting quite a few aircraft coming down.
On the other hand, it must be doing some good, Al.
Because basically, let's fix it.
So they just may be waiting for a purpose to be there unless you don't have it.
But you know and I know that if they could have done it, they would have done something.
But now, do you think so?
This was almost the first of April.
We've only got a month left.
I hope we can set those up very, very, very well.
It's a long chance, so it has to be.
I don't know how.
Well, I must say that, you know, I've been reading the reports, and I guess I've told you that you've been reading the reports ever since, I mean, from the first of February, every week, the military has predicted events.
Am I right or wrong?
That is right.
I'm not complaining.
I'm just saying, though, that they must have felt they had to start to do it when they had many of those others.
Yeah, yeah.
That's what they ought to be able to do.
They're pretty much ready for it this time, aren't they?
Right.
Okay.
Anything else that's bothering you about here this morning?
They don't want to have that thing.
We're just searching.
Yeah.
But they are acting by force.
I don't know where they're going.
I don't know what they're going to do with that week.
But there's a lot of things to do.
Okay.
Hold it.

NARA Description

On March 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:42 am and 9:21 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 327-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 327-1

Date: March 27, 1972
Time: Unknown between 8:42 am and 9:21 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Henry A. Kissinger
          -Schedule
          -Possible actions
               -Marshall Green
               -Arthur K. Watson
               -Green
          -Schedule

     Vietnam
          -Military activities
                -Aircraft
                -North Vietnamese

An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time between 8:42 am and 9:21 am.

                        -Possible offensive
                             -Reports

     Northern Ireland

     Vietnam
          -Negotiations
               -Kissinger
               -The President’s view

Also recorded on March 27, 1972

  • 327-002 8:42 AM · 18 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 8:42 am and 9:21 am.
  • 327-003 8:42 AM · 4 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 8:42 am and 9:21 am.
  • 022-023 9:21 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 9:21 am to 9:22 am.
  • 327-004 9:21 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:21 am to 9:22 am.
  • 327-005 9:25 AM · 1 hr 6 min — 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 9:25 am and 10:55 am.
  • 022-024 10:55 AM · 46 sec — Ronald L. Ziegler, White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:55 am and 11:11 am.
  • 327-006 10:55 AM · 7 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 10:55 am and 2:53 pm.
  • 022-025 11:10 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 11:10 am to 11:11 am.

All 35 conversations from March 27, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 327-001, March 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/327-001 (accessed October 1, 2026).