Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 385 › Conversation 385-008
Nixon, Haig & Butterfield on Vietnam War and Paris Peace Accords
Monday, December 11, 1972 · 4:05 PM–4:55 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 46 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. to coordinate administrative logistics for upcoming White House holiday events and to conduct a critical strategic review of Vietnam peace negotiations. The President expressed frustration with the progress of talks and explored the potential for resuming intensive bombing campaigns if North Vietnam continued to delay or reject a final settlement. Nixon and Haig also discussed the administration's tense relationship with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu and considered a possible diplomatic mission to Saigon to secure his cooperation.
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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NARA Description
On December 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:05 pm to 4:55 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 385-008 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 385-8
Date: December 11, 1972
Time: 4:05 pm - 4:55 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.
Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
White House gifts
-Memento
-Number
-White House staff
-Republican National Committee [RNC]
-Secret Service
-Personalization
-Rose Mary Woods
The President’s schedule
-Press relations
-Christmas tree lighting
Haig entered at 4:10 pm.
The President’s schedule
-Press relations
-Reception for 1972 election supporters
-Timing
-Christmas tree lighting
-Receiving line
-Photograph session
-Washington Post
-Cabinet dinner
-Responses
-William P. Rogers
-John N. Mitchell
-6-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Assistants
-Dwight D. Eisenhower Cabinet
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
-Clark MacGregor
-Possible party
-John B. Connally
-Mitchell
-Connally
-Moynihan
-Connally
-Rogers
-The President’s role
-Melvin R. Laird
-Reception for surrogates
-Press relations
-Christmas tree lighting
-Press relations
-Washington Post
-Receiving line
-Photograph session
-Pools
-Instructions for Ronald L. Ziegler
-Invitation
-Washington Post
-Television
-Columbia Broadcasting
System [CBS]
-Washington Post
-Constance M. (Cornell)
(“Connie”) Stuart
-Cabinet dinner
-Press relations
-Washington Post
-Pool
-Instructions for Ziegler
-Friends
-Wire services
-Washington Post
-Reception for surrogates
-7-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Guests
-Cabinet wives
Butterfield left at 4:20 pm.
Vietnam negotiations
-Report
-Length
-[Henry A. Kissinger’s] meeting
-Cable
-Settlement agreement
-North Vietnamese interest
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Plan
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
-B-52s
-Duration
-Weather
-B-52s
-Effect on North Vietnam
-Cessation
-October 23, 1972
-Kissinger’s trips
-Settlement agreement
-North Vietnamese acceptance
-Timing
-Kissinger’s view
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Timing
-Conditions
-Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]
-DMZ
-Violations
-Korea
-US troops
-Results
-North Vietnam’s delays
-Settlement agreement
-Breakdown in talks
-US deadline
-8-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Kissinger’s view
-US bombing south of 20th Parallel
-Compared to bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Hanoi
-Haiphong
-Breakdown
-Kissinger’s return
-Reassessment of positions
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Hanoi, Haiphong
-Announcement
-TV
-Public opinion
-Washington, DC
-Escalation
-October 1972
-“Doves”
-Settlement agreement
-Haig’s conversation with Kissinger
-Haig’s and Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Haig’s meeting with Agnew
-Duration
-Agnew’s view
-[Nguyen Van Thieu]
-Bilateral deal
-Charles Whitehouse
-Arrival from Saigon
-Ellsworth F. Bunker
-Haig’s and Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Thieu
-US support
-Violations
-US retaliation
-Plans
-Haig’s and Agnew’s
possible trip to Saigon
-Agnew’s view
-Thieu
-US support
-US political climate
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Whitehouse
-Return from Saigon
-Conversation with Haig
-Haig’s and Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Thieu
-Kissinger
-Bunker
-Thieu
-The President’s meeting with Nguyen Phu Duc
-Possible meeting with the President
-Announcement
-Haig’s and Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Bunker’s view
-Kissinger’s view
-Kissinger’s relationship with Thieu
-Others’ views of Kissinger
-Wiretaps
-Haig’s possible trip to Saigon
-Whitehouse’s view
-Bunker
-Whitehouse’s view
-Haig’s relationship with Thieu
-Relationship with Haig
-Press relations
-Left wing
-Bunker’s forthcoming answer
-Timing
-Haig’s and Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Possible appearance
-Whitehouse
-Breakdown
-Kissinger’s view
-Civil War
-Korea
-Kissinger’s possible trip to Hanoi
-The President’s conversation with Kissinger
-North and South Vietnam
-Haig’s conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Kissinger
-North Vietnam
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Instructions
-Forthcoming meetings
-Settlement agreement
-US position
-US bombing
-Cessation
-Timing
-1972 election
-Kissinger’s memoranda
-The President’s view
-Deadlines
-1972 election
-Chou En-lai
-Concessions
-Kissinger’s view
-Recent history
-Kissinger’s meetings
-October 8, 1972
-October 12, 1972
-Paris
-Hanoi
-Saigon
-Paris
-October 26, 1972
-Compared to October 8 or 11-12, 1972
-Hanoi
-Statement
-Settlement agreement
-Thieu
-Changes
-October 8, 1972 – October 26, 1972
-October 26, 1972
-Paris
-North Vietnamese demands
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-DMZ
-December 4, 1972 to the present
-DMZ
-Phrase
-Technicians
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Tone
-DMZ
-Technicalities
-December 12, 1972
-DMZ
-Message for Dobrynin
-Transmittal
-Washington, DC
-Moscow
-Hanoi
-Paris
-Timing
-Thieu
-Haig’s and Agnew’s possible trip to Saigon
-Bunker’s view
-The President’s meeting with Duc
-US-South Vietnam relations
-US aid
-Removal
-Whitehouse
-Bunker
-Ultimatum
-“Hawks”
-Battle plan
-The President’s possible meeting with Thieu
-The President’s schedule
-Haig’s schedule
-Agnew’s schedule
-Hanoi
-Kissinger’s schedule
-Seoul
-Meeting with the President
-Paris
-Haig
-Thieu
-William H. Sullivan
-Hanoi
-Saigon
-Seoul
-Sullivan
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
-Saigon
-Thieu
-Hanoi
-Return to Washington, DC
-Timing
-Settlement agreement
-Announcement
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Return
-Nelson A. Rockefeller’s office’s telephone call
-Businessmen, Congressmen
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Timing
-Announcement
-US-Soviet Union relations
-US bombing
-Tactics
-Tone
-South Vietnam’s military actions
-Whitehouse
-Performance
-Thieu
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Hanoi
-Targets
-Railroads
-Breakdown
-“Recess”
-Christmas
-Resumption
-Settlement agreement
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s [Shah of Iran] view
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 4:20 pm.
The President’s schedule
-Meeting with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 4:55 pm.
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 385-8 (cont’d)
Vietnam negotiations
-Settlement agreement
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Shah’s view
-US public opinion
-Casualites, draft
-US position
-Tone
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-North Vietnam’s interest
Haig left at 4:55 pm.Also recorded on December 11, 1972
- 034-041 4:55 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 4:59 pm.
- 385-009 4:55 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 4:55 pm and 4:59 pm.
- 034-042 4:59 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 4:59 pm to 5:01 pm.
- 385-010 4:59 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:59 pm to 5:01 pm.
- 034-043 5:01 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:01 pm and 5:09 pm.
- 385-011 5:01 PM · 12 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 5:01 pm and 5:09 pm.
- 385-012 5:01 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:01 pm and 5:14 pm.
- 034-044 5:09 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 5:09 pm to 5:10 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 385-008, December 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/385-008 (accessed September 28, 2026).