Nixon, Haldeman & Haig on Vietnam War negotiations and Water bill veto

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I'm going to send him a message from me today.

All of these personality complexes.

He might just look into it.

We're pregnant.

We can't have this.

We can't afford it.

We're both bad losers.

That's what he's going to do.

He's not going to see me.

He knows it, too.

God damn it, that's the thing about him.

Or does he?

Yes, he does.

He knows it if he sits in that.

abstract and thinks about it, but when you're in the middle of it there, you may not.

You may just be looking at what's the most spectacular thing for him.

Well, that was the most practical thing.

Wait, I don't think we should.

I'm just trying to make sure.

But if you go to the end of that slide, it'll say perhaps something.

Also, it's like the other things that he's written.

He said we may find partners in all of the two issues.

Well, the two issues are the only people who matter.

The prisoners that they have in South Vietnam.

South Vietnam has a replacement issue.

Those are the two that I resigned to in the region.

Yeah.

But anyway, that's the other.

Al didn't see that.

Oh, yeah.

The others don't matter.

Henry himself, I mean, I went over the thing with Brian Henry, all this bullshit about the internet.

It doesn't matter.

That's all the gas around my bed.

But you know that's only for public.

So yeah, I don't know all that matters.

He's dealing with awful tough people here.

It's a problem because he's...

It's going to be hard for him, I'm sure, and understandably contract to maintain a balance in that realization to get that close.

And then change.

Jack has all the motivations that are there.

His personal motivation on the body is for the wrong reason.

She knew that this was going to happen in the election.

She knew that this was going to happen

keeping the action going.

Yeah.

But even that, you don't need, you know, not as far as the election's concerned, you need it as far as the settlement thing.

But you have a, you have a situation.

Yeah.

As far as the election, we can just let it go and they can be strong walls and just bomb them a little more.

Well, the American people didn't give one shit about bombing that embassy.

No, not one shot.

No, because, again, it's like everything else.

First of all, they wouldn't care anything about bombing the French embassy.

But now, they're so overplayed, and this is their own goddamn problem, media and the opposition.

They're so overplayed every time a stray bomb hit a little girl or a stray bomb hit a hospital or a village or whatever.

There's been so much of that.

But now, it's just another drop on the rock.

So they hit the embassy so much.

And I don't think it would have mattered if it had been full of people being killed 30 minutes from then.

I still don't think that people would have cared.

I agree with those people who are saying they take care of people with white skin.

It was a bad blow.

It was a bad thing that happened.

Well, it was a bad thing because the son of a bitch in the airport should know better.

That's a stupid thing to do.

We've done a lot of stupid things.

Monday and Tuesday, I'm signing bills, and we'll get the whole picture of the whole goddamn bills piled up on the desk.

Let me tell you an interesting thing about the water, and I don't want to say that I wrote it, because I know that there's one place where he's so honest, he really wants me to sign it, and I want him to bend it down, because it's so easy to believe in the environment.

I think that's a hell of an issue.

Joe Martin wants me to worry about it.

the president never loses.

He said, oh, I'm not going to lose.

He didn't realize it, but that destroyed him.

It's like what we did.

We bought Social Security.

I didn't veto it.

But we threatened to veto.

It passed.

Now we're sending out things.

Now this bill passes over our veto.

We don't.

So I'm not as worried about the other companies.

I've never been as worried about that.

The only reason I wanted to get this done and get the Congress out of here is the fiscal reason that I know it's a hell of a thing.

And I thought, when I talked earlier about it, I think the way we're going to have to handle it now, I think we ought to ask the Congress to pass a clean water tax.

Say, 1% of operations, something like that, clean up our water.

In order to pay this $24 billion, that would make the issue.

Clean water.

And save.

Save your government pounds of money.

Yeah.

That's right.

The Congress.

passing clean water tax.

And then that way, I made a pledge to go to the tax system.

I just passed a bill over my veto, which required a 24-billion-dollar suspension.

I do not feel it's fair to raise taxes on everything in the county, but I think there should be a bill, a tax for this purpose only, including water tax.

One percent.

Just laid out a correct rule on that.

Just a blank right on the line.

Another sign.

Don't mention it before the election.

Thank you.

Do that.

What did he, what did Emory, what was the question that he put in the comment?

It was about an IT&T contributor who was given over 100,000 miles, was given over 100,000 miles.

I said, well, how'd I go from the little slips that were in there?

I said, well, it must have done, right?

It was the comments that were written.

They were cutting the shit out of him.

They were really doing it.

Oh, I wanted you to know that I, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, I have two feelings.

One, this idea of going to Indiana is a utter loser.

I guess you can't do that at all under no circumstances.

You see what I mean?

But that's, that's not quite right, but I know I haven't got to build up the speculation beyond belief.

You've got to come back to me.

After he meets you, you've got to come back here.

Have you told him that?

Yeah.

Good.

Promise to go to the FDA?

Well, the point is that the only two that matter, you know, and he said, you know, that it's never happened now, that everything is settled, everything went well, except for only two planes.

But what matters for that collection of the release of 40,000, the seven turrets in the south, and the other plane, I mean, as I understand it, those are the two that matter.

if they accepted it.

Yeah.

Right, right, right, right.

Well, yeah.

Now let me ask you this.

Are we really pumping the hell out of them around the site, around the area?

I asked you that last night and you said yes, but do you just try to kick more in the ass and talk better?

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah, because if you're going to have a ceasefire, this will help you agree to it, if you're confident.

What do you say?

Yeah.

Right.

Well, I'll follow up on that with you, because now is the time to get behind that.

If you know always the worst ceasefires, that's when you're right there to mention it.

They are, and we've got to.

All right, it's all Vietnamese getting on their buses, whether or not you should.

That's the stuff, that's the stuff.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.

You keep getting a constant touch with it.

I'm just trying now to keep Henry from getting out of the living room and having him sawed off, you know.

Good.

That's right.

Good.

When you say two, I mean, you're talking about .

They decide what to settle, they'll settle.

They don't want to settle, they won't.

And so therefore, what we have to do is to put it to them as hard as we can.

If they don't settle, then they'll settle after the election.

I also have this takeaway here.

After the election, the stronger the more our position.

You know, after the election, you know, we have no restraints.

And they know it.

Agreed.

Well, that's a question for the South Vietnamese.

And now the South Vietnamese are going to have that for the next 10 to 15 years.

They better learn to deal with it now, don't they?

That's .

How can we sit there all the time and every time they impact you, bring in the Air Force?

They don't have an Air Force.

Exactly.

All right.

Good.

All right, Al.

Just let me know.

Good, man.

Good.

It's predicted that this spaceship will retire this morning and be ready for the wrapping of the tape.

We're not standing for all the time we've left.

They did do it.

I didn't see it.

That's good.

I know that for Christ's sake, how could you die?

They're wrong.

I know I'm not.

That's the only way.

You know, I don't take the press on it, except in a very precise way.

And at that cost, they are vulnerable.

They know it.

You've got to let them know.

I was praising other people here.

They didn't stand up.

And I think it's a goddamn embarrassment of a notion.

And I think we should embarrass ourselves.

There's some, there's some, there's some opinions.

Oh yeah, I think that's what, that's what the missions people, the college people, you know, they know that they can look at that stuff.

I agree.

And even, even Arnett, you know, in his piece that he thought it was a great mistake to bomb a mine when it didn't move out of the way, so that's what he did, but it didn't even, you know.

I don't want people to wear sackcloth and ashes and all the other things.

Except that I don't like them.

I don't like that the tape is high on the edge of them.

They're always right.

And then he tore it afterwards and then I threw it on myself.

Now, today, the trade agreement, the question of what I want to do about it, it's a sign that Rogers told us that we're going to have to sign one agreement.

Now, I don't want to do that.

Father, I think it's going to look as if we are used to these things too much.

Now, there's a point beyond what you kept on my intuition.

I know it's right or not.

I just feel that on this one, you have to sign in the process a memorandum to the Congress of the Epsom Bank to certify it.

No, Father, I'll sign it.

Just put it on.

You want them to sign at the department and then come over?

You want them to?

No, sir.

No, no.

I'm a man, son of a bitch.

Everything was in there, really.

for a half hour, and I don't really want to have any more time with him.

Okay.

Oh, that's American.

No, this gift, you know, that the Donald's done before, but he was there before.

The question is, you know, if they want to sell the trade to him, where do you want to get him?

Done today, basically, yeah.

I don't know.

The problem with you doing the signing is that they do this, not my dad and my other one.

You have to sit there while everybody else signs the agreements.

I don't really have a, I don't really want to figure out something to say on this.

You know, this is the next bag, this trade thing you should know.

And the other thing you can do is simply let them do all the signing, and then we'll put out the story about Rogers.

Then let, once after a sign, you have Rogers, Peterson, and the fellow chaps go in and come in.

You get the picture in the Oval Office.

They report to you with the signing.

And you know, you sign your little thing with no picture for it.

You don't do it talking to just a fellow officer in the prior office.

Then let Rogers go out and read backwards.

Wait, what's the point anymore?

Rogers got a brief road, and Peterson and Peterson

I'm sorry.

Okay, I'll see.

That might be, that's the way you get a picture.

Fine.

And they tell the story.

You don't have to make any remarks.

I think I will do that.

But I don't want to make remarks.

That's crazy.

It's killing the bird too often.

Let Rogers go out.

Rogers and Pearson.

Right, but that, if you've seen it in the office when you get a picture, that gives them the least of the money.

That's right.

Good.

What time of day do you want it?

Probably 2.30, 3.00 or something.

Yeah, here's our latest message, sir.

Probably 3.00.

2.30.

3.00 is probably right, so they know the question.

That's the reason.

They've got a reason to cut the meeting off, too.

But let it take their time.

Yeah, sure, yeah.

No, I'm sold, too.

Let's decide that.

They want me to go out and make some big statement or not.

I don't think they should.

We've discussed it at some great length, but that's only an announcement of a meeting that's in the announcement that we're going to resume.

That has to be made from the White House, not by Rogers.

Do you understand why?

Sure.

Because it involves defense as well as...

I can't have Rogers back now.

Who the hell is going to...

I think the difference should make.

Right.

And if there's a breaking vote, then I don't want to.

I wouldn't have a reason.

I just announced it.

No reason.

That's not even a reason.

You just say, hey, thank you, Ron, on a statement.

Ron can do the statement straight on.

I'm going to do it for Cameron.

Right.

The president has announced today.

Right.

The agreement has been reached with the Soviet Union, with the Supreme Court.

Right.

Phase two, I begin announcing here whatever it is.

That's how you do that.

Period.

The end.

That's all.

That's all you know?

I see you've got that jab in the skull here.

I thought you weren't going to do that.

I didn't decide it was necessary.

But it only, they said it was necessary so we turned it down and we came back with an appeal that got us in.

I turned it down on the basis of being, have I, have I just seen the change today?

I don't know.

I'll be over here in about a half hour.

Uh, what is it?

Is that Mr. Jack?

Yes, sir.

He's coming in.

He's coming for a 10 o'clock meeting for the General.

Well, they cleaned us up.

Sure.

Don, come over and see if Jack can just...

I'll have him here.

Yeah.

Uh, oh, uh, Steve?

I'll go over there.

I'll see closer.

I'll go over there, because I'm going over anyway, and I'll see if I can put down the old, uh... All right, sir.

These talking points would have made an immediate reality, that son of a bitch.

But I guess it's the way it has to be.

Nixon, Haldeman & Haig on Vietnam War negotiations and Water bill veto

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on October 18, 1972

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