Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 338 › Conversation 338-012

Nixon & Haldeman on Vietnam War and Naval blockade

Tuesday, May 9, 1972 · 11:24 AM–11:32 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation338-012 on Tape 338 (tape position 00:36:27–00:38:10)StartTuesday, May 9, 1972 at 11:24 AMEndTuesday, May 9, 1972 at 11:32 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 338-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss the public reaction to the administration's recent Vietnam blockade policy, noting reports from Charles 'Bebe' Rebozo that the move generated significant emotional support, even among Democrats. The two also coordinate the logistics and site selection for the installation of a White House swimming pool with a contractor named Walter. They conclude by evaluating the perceived spontaneity of public support following the President’s recent televised address on the war.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 96.0 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 00:36:27 into the tape and ends around 00:38:10.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
36:00All right, bye.
36:07I didn't want to, this is not as important, but I didn't notice anything.
36:10Can you, could you have a checkmate before I see him, or whether he could put in a sort of tool there, and he might want to be alone?
36:18No, no.
36:23I'd like to tell Walter about it today.
36:31Incidentally, I just had a call from Bozo, and he said that, I mean, of course, this is typical of the buses, but that was the reaction he heard, so it was,
36:52There's something emotional going on, cracking down.
36:57Democrats are the tendency citizens to say, thank God we did something.
37:01They know it's going to take time.
37:03They're all prepared for it.
37:04They're prepared for it.
37:10Of course, well, that's right.
37:11At this time, we don't have to.
37:13It may be, but we don't have to go to that point.
37:14My point is that, like, remember, third, you know, we did build something, but I think most of that was spontaneous, wasn't it?
37:19I think there's stuff last time we got through that we heard that was a good reaction.
37:30Let's see if that's good.
37:34Great.
37:35Great.
37:35Okay.

NARA Description

On May 9, 1972, 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 11:24 am and 11:32 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 338-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 338-12

Date: May 9, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:24 and 11:32 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Swimming pool
         -Installation
               -Location
               -Walter [Surname unknown]

     Vietnam
          -Blockade
               -Response
                    -Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo's report
                         -Emotion
                         -Democrats
                    -Spontaneity
                         -President's previous speech
                    -Ronald L. Ziegler’s previous press conference

Also recorded on May 9, 1972

  • 024-040 11:16 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird talked on the telephone from 11:16 am to 11:21 am.
  • 338-009 11:16 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:16 am and 11:21 am.
  • 024-041 11:21 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:21 am and 11:23 am.
  • 338-010 11:21 AM · 10 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 11:21 am and 11:23 am.
  • 024-042 11:23 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 11:23 am to 11:24 am.
  • 338-011 11:23 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:23 am and 11:24 am.
  • 338-013 11:24 AM · 1 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 11:24 am and 11:32 am.
  • 338-014 11:24 AM · 30 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 11:24 am and 11:32 am.

All 96 conversations from May 9, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 338-012, May 9, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/338-012 (accessed October 9, 2026).