Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 374 › Conversation 374-011
Nixon, Buchanan & Kissinger on 1972 Presidential Campaign
Friday, October 27, 1972 · 9:10 AM–9:50 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 39 min
AI Summary
President Nixon, Patrick Buchanan, and Henry Kissinger met to strategize an aggressive public relations campaign in the final days before the 1972 election. Nixon instructed his team to produce a 'White Paper' that would contrast his administration's 'peace with honor' approach to Vietnam against the 'peace with surrender' policies of George McGovern, while also countering media narratives regarding Watergate and administration campaign practices. The participants emphasized the need to frame the recent Vietnam peace negotiations as a successful, hard-won achievement driven by the President's firm May 1972 policies, rather than as a rushed election-year political maneuver.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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NARA Description
On October 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Patrick J. Buchanan, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:10 am to 9:50 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 374-011 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 374-11
Date: October 27, 1972
Time: 9:10-9:50 a.m.
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Patrick J. Buchanan.
White Paper on campaign practices
-The President’s instructions
-For the record
-Editor of Barron's
-Subjects
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-The President’s press conference
-Soviet Union grain deal
-The President's involvement
-Carpet industry gift charges
-Corruption
-American Federation of Teachers [AFT] support for McGovern
-Right to strike
-Campaign contributions
-Press coverage
-ITT, Watergate
-The Milk Fund
-Congress
-Wilbur D. Mills
Henry A. Kissinger entered at 9:14 am.
White paper
-Watergate cover up and campaign practices
-Reports on H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman involvement
-Washington Post article, October 27, 1972
-Democratic National Committee
-San Francisco
-Clean administration
-Sabotage
-Information on rallies
-Necessity
-News summary
-Barry M. Goldwater’s campaign
-Democratic campaign tactics
-Action against Edward R.F. Cox
-Republican Phoenix headquarters
-Damage in San Francisco
-Los Angeles
-Republican National Convention
-McGovern supporters
-Damage
-Violence
-Lack of criticism
-Organization of demonstrators
-Rallies of the President, Thelma C. (“Pat”)
Nixon, [Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Tricia
Nixon Cox]
-Hecklers
-Free speech
-Lack of criticism
-Campaign finances
-Double standard
-Desperation tactics
-Reasons
McGovern and 1972 campaign
-The President’s view
-McGovern’s position on Vietnam
-White House attacks
-Settlement
-W[illiam] Averell Harriman’s statement
-Communist government in South Vietnam
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Laos, Cambodia
-Disarmament of South Vietnam
-Unconditional withdrawal of US
-“Peace with surrender”
-“Peace with Honor”
-White House attacks
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Effect on negotiations
-Thailand
-McGovern settlement terms
-Cambodia
-Laos
-POWs
-Peter Lisagor’s statement on coalition government
-Administration achievement of peace terms
-Effect on critics
Press relations
-Administration policy on returning calls to the press
-The president’s orders
-Washington Post Watergate story
-Murrey Marder, Carroll Kilpatrick, Joseph C. Kraft
-New York Times
-Libel actions
-John M. Mitchell
-Maurice H. Stans
-Haldeman
McGovern and 1972 campaign
-McGovern’s position on Vietnam
-Aid to Laos and Cambodia
-Ramifications
-Communism Laos and Cambodia
-Thailand
-South Vietnam
-Peace with surrender
-Guarantees on POW's
-Good faith of enemy
-White House attacks on McGovern criticism
-McGovern position
-Terms of agreement
-Ability to obtain same terms previously
-Charles W. Colson
-Response by the White House
-Kissinger’s previous trip to Paris
-R. Sargent Shriver’s statement on the President’s morality
-The president’s order to response
-Administration use of trip
-Indira Gandhi
-Hanoi
-Reason for trip
Vietnam peace settlement
-The press
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s view
-The President’s view
-Motivations
-Thieu
-POWs
-Laos, Cambodia
-Bombing and mining, May 8, 1972
-Summit meeting with Soviets, May 1972
-Mood
-Issue of the coalition government
-Le Duc Tho
-Thieu’s strategy
-Opposition in South Vietnam
-Communists
-Cease-fire agreement
-Elections in Vietnam
-Prospects
-The press
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s conversation with Marder
-White House treatment of Washington Post
-White House attacks on McGovern, Shriver
-President’s view
-Strategy
-McGovern’s Vietnam position
-Thieu
Publication of White Paper by Barron’s
-Reprints
-Release by an individual
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat
-Clark MacGregor
-Reason for publication
-For campaign
-For the record
1972 campaign
-Television [TV] program October 26, 1972
-Press coverage
-Networks
McGovern campaign tactics
-Bombing
-Violence
-Hecklers
-Location
-Treatment of McGovern, Shriver compared with the President
Vietnam peace settlement
-1972 campaign
-Aggressive campaigning
-Agnew
-Cease-fire Agreement
-Secrecy
-Administration campaign strategy
-McGovern attacks
-Delay of peace
-“Peace with honor”
-“Peace with surrender”
-Hanoi’s public release of settlement
-Content of agreement
-1972 election
-Timing of settlement
-Prospects for peace
Buchanan left at 9:30 am.
Vietnam peace settlement
-Administration campaign strategy
-Political aspects
-Contrast with McGovern proposals
-Coalition government
-POWs
-Laos, Cambodia
-Defense of South Vietnam
-North Vietnam
-Thieu’s position
-Propaganda
-North Vietnam
-Signing of agreement
-Western propaganda
-US support for Thieu
-Intelligence information
-North Vietnamese officials
-North Vietnamese strategy and 1972 election
-October 26, 1972
**********************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN-T-MDR-
2014-019. Segment exempt per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(1) on 05/06/2019. Archivist: DR]
[National Security]
[374-011-w007]
[Duration: 11s]
INTELLIGENCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
**********************************************************
Vietnam peace settlement
-Present situation
-Message to North Vietnamese
-Kissinger's schedule
-Press relations
-Kissinger's press briefing, October 26, 1972
-The President’s view
-Lisagor
-Bernard Kalb
-Killed in action [KIA] figures for previous week
-Media coverage
-Type of settlement
-No surrender
-Desire of American public
-McGeorge Bundy's appearance on TV
Watergate
-The New York Times
-The Washington Post story on campaign charges
-White House response
-H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and secret fund
-The President’s view
-Kissinger’s view
-Nelson A. Rockefeller’s campaign tactics
-Wiretaps
-Rockefeller’s associates
-Watergate
-Wiretapping
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Watergate break-in
-Democratic National Committee [DNC]
-Lawrence F. O’Brien, Jr.
-Responsibility
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Kissinger’s view
Campaign strategy
-Attacks on McGovern
-Vietnam as issue
-Aggressive campaigning
-Barry M. Goldwater
-McGovern attacks on Vietnam peace settlement
-Effect on peace settlement talks
-Effect on US
Vietnam peace settlement negotiations
-North Vietnamese strategy
-Publication of settlement terms
-Possible White House strategies
-Thieu’s actions
-Dispatching of ambassadors worldwide
-Referendum proposal
-Kissinger’s conversation with Joseph W. Alsop
-William F. Buckley, Jr.’s possible visit with Thieu
-Catholicism
-Post-1972 election strategy
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-Kissinger’s role
-Thieu’s position in light of US strategy
-South Vietnamese government
-Administrative structure
-1972 campaign
-John B. Connally
-Haig’s call to Connally
-Reaction to timing of settlement
-Kissinger's talk with Alsop
-Forthcoming article
-Haig's forthcoming telephone call to Cardinal Cooke
-Kissinger’s forthcoming telephone cal to Ronald W. Reagan
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Coalition government
-Attack on McGovern
-Haig’s forthcoming telephone calls to Samuel W. Yorty,
George C. Wallace
*****************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/16/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[374-011-w005]
[Duration: 1m 40s]
1972 campaign
-Gallup polls
-Percentages
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-1956 campaign
-Unemployment
-Public perception
-George S. McGovern
-The President’s opinion
-Henry A. Kissinger’s opinion of public perception
-George S. McGovern
-R. Sargent Shriver
*****************************************************************
Vietnam
-Kissinger’s forthcoming telephone call to Connally
-Colson’s previous call to George E. Christian
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Agnew
-Haig’s briefing
-The President’s view
-The President’s relationship with conservatives
-The President’s November 3, 1969 speech
-Demonstrations
-Mining Haiphong, bombing North Vietnam
-Negotiations
-Thieu
-US strategy
-North Vietnam
-Strategy
-Message
-North Vietnam position compared with US position
-Bombing halt
-Progress
-Timing
The President’s schedule
-Harold Lee
-Hong Kong
Kissinger’s forthcoming telephone call to Connally
-Kissinger’s forthcoming telephone call to the President
Kissinger left at 9:50 am.Also recorded on October 27, 1972
- 374-006 8:30 AM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:30 am to 8:45 am.
- 032-066 8:45 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:45 am and 9:03 am.
- 374-007 8:45 AM · 12 sec — 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 8:45 am and 9:03 am.
- 374-008 8:45 AM · 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 8:45 am and 9:03 am.
- 032-067 9:03 AM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 9:03 am to 9:04 am.
- 374-009 9:03 AM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:03 am to 9:04 am.
- 032-068 9:06 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:06 am.
- 374-010 9:06 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 9:06 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 374-011, October 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/374-011 (accessed October 9, 2026).