Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 354 › Conversation 354-025

Nixon & Rogers on Vietnam War and Foreign Policy

Friday, October 6, 1972 · 2:09 PM–2:24 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation354-025 on Tape 354StartFriday, October 6, 1972 at 2:09 PMEndFriday, October 6, 1972 at 2:24 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 354-025 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers met to discuss foreign policy strategy, specifically focusing on the political implications of the Vietnam War and the administration's stance against a coalition government. The two leaders reviewed international relations involving Japan, Indonesia, and Europe, while emphasizing the importance of controlling the public narrative through media engagement. They also touched upon political optics and the necessity of maintaining a firm position regarding communist influence in South Vietnam ahead of upcoming diplomatic challenges.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 5 minutes of this recording (about 38% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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though I had nothing to bother about it, except that I was quite interested in whatever he was talking about.
And I just think that I thought, I just had to see what God had for me.
I was high, all the rest of the world knew about that.
He had a vision about what would be over me, and it was a lot.
And I really had the shock of God now.
The thing is, the guy who told Chuck this morning, I mean, he told me this before he left today, that you really are the one that has to take this on.
I don't want to take on the other side of it.
I mean, it looks like it's pretty much a job.
But I think this is an opportunity, and I don't want to force it.
We'll have to build up a big audience for it, too.
Yeah, that's what you want.
The Indonesians, good God, they scared me scared to death, or horrible, that matter.
How about the Japanese?
They're gonna be happy about that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You must have an incredible advice, yeah.
Now, we haven't any idea, at first, as to what, uh, the holocaust was supposed to be called.
You know, East Indonesia, there's the Japanese, I think.
There's a very little bond, you know, between them.
It's a loser for them to be responsible for it.
Right.
That sounds good to me.
That sounds good to me.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Tuesday is a very good time on his holiday.
And then, of course, we have to be geared up to find him on whatever Vietnam.
Of course.
Of course.
We support that.
Matter of fact, I think we talked to the NACA about it and said we support it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
One thing I would certainly do, because of Mr. Patkin's grades, is pick up that grade research and put it up on his catalog, all of our research.
So, you know, that's a real good thing.
So now, let's see what that would mean for you.
What you're going to do is put it up on the Pearl Harbor catalog, and also put it up on the
Oh yeah, yes, well we found that out when we came back from China.
And uh, we tried to expand it, and it certainly solidified the people that were concerned about art.
And then, and also I would hope you would take the uh, and don't let Jason go out of the original position, Jack has a position on Europe.
And then on Vietnam, it really comes back to the fact that he is for basically rolling over and accepting the imposition of a communist government in South Vietnam.
That's the work of three of the coaches, three of the drivers running here on the wall.
They don't want to be the two of them.
They don't want to be the two of them.
I've seen him as a better actor than the Irishman today.
He is a real talent.
Jeff, I'm surprised I didn't meet that birdie.
They, uh, they, uh, crossed the border.
Of course, if they've been scared to death, we wouldn't end up at this point.
Gary?
Is that right there?
You know, another thing that's interesting, which you and I know,
I mean, whether we, of course, all of us have done something on that, but on the other hand, a lot of this movement has to be, we are getting credit for it, even in some cases where we probably would not have preferred to come out that way.
Well, how are you getting along?
Do you see me in here?
Yeah.
Over Christ.
What I mean is, I wish we knew what was going on, but we don't.
Not at this point.
Yeah.
You just run...
Oh, uh, your child.
Yeah, how is his temperature?
Great.
He's the one we saw.
Ah, same one.
I met Wyatt at the last smile.
Yeah.
Smug as hell.
They've been very restrained.
All right, well, I just want you to know that, and I know Chuck's talking about this, and I'm sure you're wondering what our oversellings guys are doing, but on this one, we are not going to let them get away with something bad.
I mean, the press, of course, are right in front of us, and they're desperate, and I don't mind, frankly, they're coming way out on a way out Vietnam thing at this point, and they want to pick that issue and go fight them off, and be it.
Particularly if we can hang that, if we can say that all of Spain is a coalition of economy and government.
We can't agree with that.

NARA Description

On October 6, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:09 pm to 2:24 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 354-025 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 354-25

Date: October 6, 1972
Time: 2:09 pm - 2:24 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with William P. Rogers.

[See Conversation No. 31-18; one item has been withdrawn]

Also recorded on October 6, 1972

  • 031-014 2:06 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:06 pm.
  • 031-015 2:06 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:06 pm and 2:07 pm.
  • 354-020 2:06 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 2:06 pm.
  • 031-016 2:07 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:07 pm.
  • 031-017 2:07 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:07 pm and 2:09 pm.
  • 354-023 2:07 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 2:07 pm.
  • 354-024 2:07 PM · 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 2:07 pm and 2:09 pm.
  • 031-018 2:09 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 2:09 pm to 2:26 pm.

All 64 conversations from October 6, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 354-025, 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/354-025 (accessed October 1, 2026).