Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 354 › Conversation 354-017

Nixon, Colson & Haldeman on George McGovern and Vietnam War

Friday, October 6, 1972 · 12:35 PM–1:55 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation354-017 on Tape 354StartFriday, October 6, 1972 at 12:35 PMEndFriday, October 6, 1972 at 1:55 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 354-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Charles Colson, and H.R. Haldeman met to coordinate political messaging strategies regarding George McGovern's foreign policy critiques and Black community outreach. The discussion focused on characterizing McGovern's stances on the People's Republic of China and India as destabilizing to international relations, specifically regarding the Soviet Union and Japan. Additionally, the participants reviewed draft speech materials and discussed administrative efforts to counter McGovern’s Vietnam War proposals.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 75% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, I mean, the blacks are decent people.
They're good people.
They really are.
They're not killers.
We had a good meeting also.
I bought my government's practice today.
The line about communist China is about security.
It's got to go right.
It's a hero in me.
Sure.
It would scare the world.
Well, it does a lot of things.
First, it irritates the Russians.
They don't want communist China dominating India.
Second, it frightens the Japanese and Indonesians.
It frightens 300 million people to death in India.
Even the guy who matched her with Indians.
Well, what's the difference?
They fight for the Chinese.
They're hedging.
That might change.
Yes, he's just big.
And she's supposed to rely on the Chinese.
That's about it.
It's done.
I just wanted to have a little more meat in it.
We've got a big fish waiting in line.
It has to be here.
It's actually here.
That's what's going on.
Everybody's going to fire.
The television says they're going all out, you know, super, you know, demonstrations, and they're messing, and they're speaking out, and all this sort of stuff.
It's supposed to be really conservative.
I haven't been treated that way in years.
The fact of it being peristaltic doesn't put something in the neighborhood.
But it doesn't matter until they have a lady that I love.
That's going to hurt.
If we hit them with a car,
I don't know.
I just saw it right there.
Chuck's got a good point.
He's got all the people.
He might find out, I think.
He's driving.
He can't do it.
He's got a chance, but it's not.
Yeah, it's a problem.
I must have picked it up.
You need to work with them more than you can with all of them.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On October 6, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:35 pm to 1:55 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 354-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 354-17

Date: October 6, 1972
Time: 12:35 pm - 1:55 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles W. Colson.

        Black issues
            -Robert J. Brown
            -Demagoguery in racial issues
            -Meeting on October 6, 1972

        George S. McGovern's ability to deal with foreign affairs
           -The President's meeting with Irish Foreign Minister
           Patrick Hillery and with Thai officials

        McGovern’s October 5, 1972 speech
           -People's Republic Of China [PRC]
               -Soviet Union
               -Japan
               -India
                    -Indira Gandhi
               -McGovern

H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 12:37 pm.

         McGovern’s recent speech
            -Gandhi
                -PRC

         Speech draft
             -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
             -Patrick J. Buchanan
             -Typing

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1h 14m 31s ]

Colson left at 1:40 pm.

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

*****************************************************************

         Issues
             -McGovern's peace plan
             -Vietnam War as issue
                 -Henry A. Kissinger
                 -Melvin R. Laird, William P. Rogers, Colson

         The President's schedule
             -Camp David
             -Speech
             -Marjorie P. Acker
             -Buchanan and Price

Haldeman left at 1:55 pm.

Also recorded on October 6, 1972

  • 031-010 12:29 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:30 pm.
  • 354-011 12:29 PM · 9 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 12:29 pm and 12:31 pm.
  • 354-012 12:29 PM · 8 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 12:29 pm and 12:31 pm.
  • 354-014 12:30 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 12:30 pm.
  • 354-015 12:30 PM · 41 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 12:30 pm and 12:31 pm.
  • 031-011 12:31 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 12:31 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 354-016 12:31 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:31 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 031-012 12:37 PM · 2 min — Charles W. Colson, White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Joan Hall, and Susan Lallathin talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 1:40 pm.

All 64 conversations from October 6, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 354-017, October 6, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/354-017 (accessed October 1, 2026).