Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 336 › Conversation 336-068
Nixon alone in his EOB office on Vietnam War and Public Speaking
Monday, May 8, 1972 · 7:25 PM–8:04 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 13 min
AI Summary
President Richard Nixon utilized this time to rehearse his televised "Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast Asia." The speech draft outlined the ongoing conflict, criticizing North Vietnam's invasion and their refusal to negotiate in good faith despite American peace proposals. Nixon articulated the necessity of his decision to continue military efforts to protect remaining U.S. troops and prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam.
Audio
This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.
Listen to the full tape segment
Position in tape: 03:25:31 – 03:38:21
part B, 1:22:10
336a.mp3
336b.mp3
336c.mp3
NARA Description
On May 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:25 pm and 8:04 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 336-068 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 336-68 Date: May 8, 1972 Time: Unknown after 7:25 - 8:05 pm Location: Executive Office Building The President rehearsed his “Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast Asia”. [See Public Papers of the Presidents, Richard M. Nixon, 1972, pp. 583-587] H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with the President between 8:04 and 8:05 pm. [Conversation No. 336-68A] [See Conversation No. 24-17] [End of telephone conversation]
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.
I don't know that he's ready to talk to me, but I can't think of what he wants to talk to me about.
I don't know.
That's all.
Good night, Mr. Bennett.
— 1 min 18 s with no transcribed speech —
Yeah, good, good.
Well, that's all we need.
They're not relevant to their problem.
Okay, fine.
Good evening.
My name is
Tell him that he is the Lord.
And call him he is the Lord.
All of these people are in place, not bothered who they are.
Do you understand what I'm talking about?
Yeah, and they're all in place and they want to be.
Five weeks ago, on a street weekend, a car repairman told me about a massive invasion of South Vietnam.
The invasion was made possible by tanks that were totally out of their capacity to supply them with a sort of equipment and other combinations.
The South Vietnamese had fought bravely to repel this brutal assault.
The Japanese were on both sides of the Vietnam War.
Post-trash, there are over 20,000 civilian conditions, including for children, in the city, which is an argument that needs to show on this regard.
As I announced my report on the nation's quality of development, the role of the United States in resisting this opinion has been one of the air-able tracks on military progress in Vietnam and South Vietnam.
As I also pointed out in my report, we have responded to our Vietnam as a military offensive by undertaking wide-ranging coup d'etats.
aimed at ending the war of negotiation.
I wrote my last book, The History of Hospitality, before I decided that I was going to be a professor at the Department of Health and Human Services.
I instructed him to emphasize our desire to program the solution to the war in Ireland before all possible approaches.
At that time, the Soviet leader showed interest in the war that would happen.
Without a face, it's just full of silence.
Later, as a result of the negotiations in Ireland, they indicated they would use their constructive argument.
Based on all the shortness of time that I've had the opportunity to try to meet with Tom Hardy every first year in October, on Tuesday, May 2nd, the National Board of Directors proposed that the public issue the changes in Paris, April 9th, 7th, and 8th.
That those meetings, both public and private, all we heard from them was about nasty gravity, and we pledged that their demands were strong.
For example, on May 2nd, I know I've read about the National Board of Directors about every conceivable matter of the court case.
They refuse to offer any new approach to their own.
Instead, they simply reiterate in their briefings what they've been asked.
Here's what we're free to hear.
All right.
I'm going to close you now.
Good night.
The United States, for the purpose of our sovereignty and our lives, has offered to pass on the claim that we have offered.
We have offered the escalation of the crisis.
We have offered a ceasefire on the deadline to withdraw all of our armed forces.
We have offered new elections between the international community and the Congress for just a minute, both to supervise our economy and the elections in the summer.
President Chu has offered a new design in Illinois and a new board election.
We have offered an exchange of prisoners for a ratio of 10 yards of these prisoners for every one of their answers.
We are very honored to have each of these offers.
They have backed the Americans who used the negotiations as a warning to peace.
Their answer to every peace offer they've made has been to escalate the war.
In two weeks, as long as I don't lose any negotiations, now they've launched three new events.
In those two weeks, the risk of a common discrepancy in these votes is that the ability to stop an economy is increased.
An economy that has not reached the point of any greater threat to the lives of 60,000 American troops, we're still in Vietnam.
Only two issues left for us in this war.
First, in the face of a massive invasion, we stand by and jeopardize the lives of 60,000 Americans who have been exiled from their communities for a long time, which are in disarray.
We should be aware that we require the same crime every month.
Second, on the basis of the pre-transition of the Congress of the United States, we join with our enemies for the struggle against government in South Vietnam.
This troop will not have it.
We will not cross the line of generosity and pressure.
We now have a clear-hearted choice among three courses of action to be given to all the war and enforcement, continued attempts at negotiation, or precisely military action.
I know that in America, the state is the first course of action.
They believe that the way to end the war is to do not escape to get out, to remove the threat of what would be an important question to Detroit.
I'll go to the staff members here, and there's a choice that we can accept.
I did not send over one and a half million Americans to Vietnam.
I have about 500,000 at home in Vietnam, outside of Hawaii.
But a bad thing about the victims of Vietnam, even now, is that we incurred 70 million, some of it in voter confidence, charity, and purity.
It would mean that the hundreds of American prisoners in communist camps would no longer have a place to live.
We are at the peak of Vietnam to encourage this kind of aggression all over the world.
Aggression of smaller nations, armed by their major elements, to attempt to attack favored nations as well.
World peace would be a great job.
The second course of action is to keep on trying to negotiate suffering.
This is the course we have been spurred to do, and we should continue to pursue it.
But we have made every reasonable offer for every possible platform to support the Congress.
The problem is that it takes too many negotiations.
And now, as throughout the past four years, North Korea has made arrogant refusals to negotiate any kind of imposition by the United States of America on the issue of 70 million people in South Vietnam.
We do not want to comment on that.
It is fundamental that we have chosen to do the course of action in the United States.
It's really no choice at all.
by getting out to the .
I rely solely on negotiations between the .
That is to keep the weapons of war out of the hands of .
Throughout the war, Vietnam and the United States .
That was our responsibility as a great nation.
The National Convention is an area involved in peace and non-conflict.
Other than that, the event is on its way.
But before we come to terms with its name, we refuse to negotiate.
We face a good situation.
We should have done this before.
We should have done this before.
We should have done this before.
We should have done this before.
which is the North Vietnam East Port Center, will be mined for that access to the ports and or those that enable operations around the ports.
The United States will directly take appropriate measures for many new panels and clean territory for the waters of the North Vietnam, the Libyan Peninsula, and the Subah.
Rail haulers in addition will be cut off for maximum extent possible.
They are able to rise to the solar airtime as long as they're possible.
That should be my recommendation.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
must go before they're released, must be in an anguish for the rights to cease fire.
Again, we will stop all acts of torture throughout the country.
At that time, we will proceed with a complete withdrawal of all acts of torture to be annulled and foregone.
Each and every one of us should do not require a surrender to the United States of America.
If we were to go to the United States, we would be thrown out.
We would have been killed.
We would have been killed.
We would have been killed.
We would have been killed.
We would have been killed.
We would have been killed.
... ... ... ... ... ...
that you should continue to have our support and existence in that direction.
It is your spirit that is going to be on the map.
It is your will that is going to be on the map.
To other nations, especially those which are out of the country now, we ask you to add us to that.
I'd like to mention your soul friends, your allies, your brothers and sisters, your friends and family, your friends and family, your friends and family.
.
.
.
.
.
of our allies standing for the purpose of their demands, not for the purpose of launching nations against our neighbors.
Otherwise, the cost of peace, the cause of the people, will have so great a stake that it will be seriously dejected.
Our two nations have been submitted to brothers and sisters in this class, and we are here to make you agree that we are our own nation, our church, and our host of our nation.
Let us not slide back from our challenge, but to be safe.
We are not asking you to sacrifice your principles or your practice.
We are here to build a hand on those who cast
Also recorded on May 8, 1972
- 336-057 6:34 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:34 pm and 7:14 pm.
- 336-058 6:34 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:34 pm and 7:14 pm.
- 336-059 6:34 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:34 pm and 7:14 pm.
- 336-064 7:14 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:14 pm to 7:25 pm.
- 336-065 7:25 PM · 53 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 7:25 pm and 8:04 pm.
- 336-066 7:25 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:25 pm and 8:04 pm.
- 336-067 7:25 PM · 26 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 7:25 pm and 8:04 pm.
- 024-017 8:04 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 8:04 pm to 8:05 pm.
Related conversations
- Nixon phone call with Kennedy on Vietnam War and Paris Peace Talks December 4, 1972 · 13 min
- Nixon, Kissinger & Sanchez on Vietnam War and Bombing policy May 1, 1972 · 12 min
- Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Le Duc Tho May 1, 1972 · 24 min
- Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam War and Nguyen Van Thieu May 25, 1971 · 19 min
- Nixon phone call with Kissinger on POWs and 60 Minutes January 2, 1972 · 7 min
- Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Troop withdrawals April 7, 1971 · 13 min
Cite this conversation
Conversation 336-068, May 8, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/336-068 (accessed November 2, 2026).