Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 331 › Conversation 331-006

Nixon & Rogers on Vietnam War and Troop withdrawals

Monday, April 17, 1972 · 2:43 PM–2:50 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation331-006 on Tape 331 (tape position 00:25:00–00:31:55)StartMonday, April 17, 1972 at 2:43 PMEndMonday, April 17, 1972 at 2:50 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 331-006 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417186341 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers discuss the administration's strategy for responding to North Vietnamese aggression amidst ongoing troop withdrawal plans. Nixon outlines his intent to announce a reduction in the U.S. troop ceiling to 50,000 within two months to manage domestic political pressure. The two men also discuss the importance of effectively communicating the administration's Vietnam policy to Congress and foreign missions through concise summaries of official transcripts.

Audio

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NARA Description

On April 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:43 pm to 2:50 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 331-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 331-6

Date: April 17, 1972
Time: 2:43 pm - 2:50 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with William P. Rogers.

[See Conversation No. 23-7]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 78% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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So, okay.
I got back from the house, and I reached the porch, and I pulled up to the back.
But everything was, everything was, I'm very, I am, I'm apparently home.
I told you that I had to, I'm trying to, as soon as we can get a transcript, and I'm not going to wait until tomorrow.
I'm just going to get on with the day.
And I just figured that, you know, probably, you know,
But that's what the...
I saw a little of it myself.
I mean, I stepped in and said, you know, I'm just going to...
I'm going to be...
I'm going to be...
I'm going to be...
I'm going to be...
I'm going to be...
I'm going to be...
I'm going to be...
I heard about that.
I have a chapter version.
He always has five questions.
That's it.
Yeah.
And I think, really, we ought to give it to Congress instead of adopting what we consider a must-be resolution.
We should condemn our Vietnam for its aggression.
Do you think that?
I think
The difficulty with sending the whole transcript, of course, you have to do that to your missions abroad.
It's too much effort.
But if you can, it's great.
It's summarized in the city.
And he'll go out there and he does the lines and fire them and everything.
Now, as a matter of fact, I'll have him send a copy over to you and you might want to send his summary of your missions.
You know, you understand that the main point being is that most people just won't read the whole thing and they won't understand it.
Well, I hope
The Secretary of the House will say at 3 o'clock that this country is firing on the last five minutes of Saturday.
The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning.
The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning.
The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning.
The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning.
Well, let me tell you.
I haven't yet checked with Abrams right now, but just for your information, I don't want to be a military.
A lot of the time, if I have to do what I want to do, I'm going to do it quickly.
So what I have in mind is rather than doing his response, which I appreciate, I'm
Of course, we can't do it at the same level.
I think we should get down to 50,000.
I think that piece is a little bit gone, but I have to make it, you see.
So what I would like to do, I'm thinking about now, is to make it enough for two months, which will bring our ceiling down from 69 to 50,000.
$50,000 gets us down to basically $50,000.
And what happens is we draw $50,000.
So there's another $50,000.
I mean, I don't know.
There's $10,000.
Now, the other positive, of course, which you can discuss with me, and that's all in a month.
I have a two-month announcement.
I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be there.
I think it means we don't have to come up against it every time.
It only shows confidence in the policy.
But they are fighting well.
You know, they're dying in the thousands.
If you get into some of that, then by God, we ought to be, we're our brave airmen and sailors.
are frankly risking their lives to help these people defend themselves against a massive crime and invasion.
In that sense, the Americans ought to be proud of our guys on this moment.
All right.
Bye.

Also recorded on April 17, 1972

  • 023-005 2:28 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:28 pm and 2:36 pm.
  • 331-003 2:28 PM · 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 2:28 pm and 2:36 pm.
  • 331-004 2:28 PM · 17 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 2:28 pm and 2:36 pm.
  • 023-006 2:36 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 2:36 pm to 2:43 pm.
  • 331-005 2:36 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:36 pm to 2:43 pm.
  • 023-007 2:43 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 2:43 pm to 2:50 pm.
  • 331-007 2:50 PM · 1 min — 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 2:50 pm and 3:48 pm.
  • 331-008 2:50 PM · 31 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 2:50 pm and 3:48 pm.

All 49 conversations from April 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 331-006, April 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417186341). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/331-006 (accessed November 15, 2026).