Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 332 › Conversation 332-025

Nixon alone in his EOB office on Vietnam War and North Vietnamese invasion

Tuesday, April 25, 1972 · 10:05 AM–10:40 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation332-025 on Tape 332 (tape position 02:54:16–02:56:34)StartTuesday, April 25, 1972 at 10:05 AMEndTuesday, April 25, 1972 at 10:40 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 332-025 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon dictated specific notes and revisions for a speech draft addressing the North Vietnamese invasion. He emphasized characterizing the conflict as a case of naked aggression while outlining the necessity of the U.S. response and the defense of South Vietnam. The President directed an aide to consolidate these dictations into a formal document to finalize the speech's messaging regarding the frustrations and strategic stakes of the war.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 111.8 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 02:54:16 into the tape and ends around 02:56:34.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

2:54:43A clear, clear case.
2:54:47This has been a clear case of brutal, unproven, naked aggression.
2:54:59And on the last page of the tape, the private tape that you gave, where the sentence starts out as blackly rejected, et cetera, take back to the
2:55:13take that paragraph and the one that I just dictated to you and put them on a sheet of paper, take it away and move forward.
2:55:23The only difference on that page that I just dictated to you is we found, that's why we talked to you, but we found that I'm okay with it.
2:56:13I think it's important that you get, uh, well, I'll tell you, I think I've had to talk to you about this, you know, with all the, uh, you, you with somebody who you, uh, no, no, I have no hurry, I'm working on something else anyway.
2:56:28Uh, whenever you agree.

NARA Description

On April 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:40 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 332-025 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 332-25

Date: April 25, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:05 am and 10:40 am
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President dictated notes for a speech draft.

     Vietnam
          -North Vietnamese invasion
               -Failure to win over South Vietnamese people
                      -Creighton W. Abrams's views
               -Gamble
                      -Military victory
               -US response
                      -Test
          -Frustrations of war
          -North Vietnamese invasion
               -US response
                      -Necessity

                      -Alternatives
                 -South Vietnam defense
                      -Evacuation of US forces

Also recorded on April 25, 1972

  • 332-023 10:05 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:40 am.
  • 332-024 10:05 AM · 35 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 10:05 am and 10:40 am.
  • 332-026 10:05 AM · 19 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 10:05 am and 10:40 am.
  • 332-027 10:05 AM · 21 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 10:05 am and 10:40 am.
  • 332-028 10:05 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:40 am.
  • 332-029 10:40 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:40 am to 10:45 am.
  • 332-030 10:45 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:45 am and 10:50 am.
  • 332-031 10:45 AM · 12 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 10:45 am and 10:50 am.

All 54 conversations from April 25, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 332-025, April 25, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/332-025 (accessed October 12, 2026).