Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 331-006 Date: Monday, April 17, 1972 at 2:43 PM Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P. Recording device: Old Executive Office Building Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/331-006 This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative. [0:00] So, okay. [0:20] I got back from the house, and I reached the porch, and I pulled up to the back. [0:22] But everything was, everything was, I'm very, I am, I'm apparently home. [0:23] 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. [0:26] I'm just going to get on with the day. [0:26] And I just figured that, you know, probably, you know, [0:29] But that's what the... [0:51] I saw a little of it myself. [0:52] I mean, I stepped in and said, you know, I'm just going to... [0:53] I'm going to be... [0:53] I'm going to be... [0:54] I'm going to be... [0:54] I'm going to be... [0:55] I'm going to be... [0:55] I'm going to be... [0:55] I'm going to be... [0:57] I heard about that. [1:23] I have a chapter version. [1:23] He always has five questions. [1:24] That's it. [1:24] Yeah. [1:25] And I think, really, we ought to give it to Congress instead of adopting what we consider a must-be resolution. [1:50] We should condemn our Vietnam for its aggression. [1:51] Do you think that? [1:51] I think [1:52] The difficulty with sending the whole transcript, of course, you have to do that to your missions abroad. [2:14] It's too much effort. [2:14] But if you can, it's great. [2:15] It's summarized in the city. [2:15] And he'll go out there and he does the lines and fire them and everything. [2:17] 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. [2:19] 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. [2:22] Well, I hope [2:24] The Secretary of the House will say at 3 o'clock that this country is firing on the last five minutes of Saturday. [2:48] The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning. [2:49] The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning. [2:50] The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning. [2:51] The bill will be passed by tomorrow morning. [2:52] Well, let me tell you. [3:23] I haven't yet checked with Abrams right now, but just for your information, I don't want to be a military. [3:49] A lot of the time, if I have to do what I want to do, I'm going to do it quickly. [3:51] So what I have in mind is rather than doing his response, which I appreciate, I'm [3:54] Of course, we can't do it at the same level. [4:17] I think we should get down to 50,000. [4:17] I think that piece is a little bit gone, but I have to make it, you see. [4:19] 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. [4:22] $50,000 gets us down to basically $50,000. [4:46] And what happens is we draw $50,000. [4:46] So there's another $50,000. [4:47] I mean, I don't know. [4:47] There's $10,000. [4:48] Now, the other positive, of course, which you can discuss with me, and that's all in a month. [4:50] I have a two-month announcement. [4:50] I'm going to be there. [4:51] I'm going to be there. [4:51] I'm going to be there. [4:52] I'm going to be there. [4:53] I think it means we don't have to come up against it every time. [5:16] It only shows confidence in the policy. [5:17] But they are fighting well. [5:18] You know, they're dying in the thousands. [5:19] If you get into some of that, then by God, we ought to be, we're our brave airmen and sailors. [5:22] are frankly risking their lives to help these people defend themselves against a massive crime and invasion. [5:34] In that sense, the Americans ought to be proud of our guys on this moment. [5:37] All right. [5:37] Bye.