Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 398 › Conversation 398-015

Nixon & Rebozo on Vietnam War and Peace negotiations

Friday, January 19, 1973 · 6:15 PM–6:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 12 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rebozo, Charles G. ("Bebe")Conversation398-015 on Tape 398StartFriday, January 19, 1973 at 6:15 PMEndFriday, January 19, 1973 at 6:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 398-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard M. Nixon and Bebe Rebozo engaged in a wide-ranging, informal discussion in the Old Executive Office Building. The conversation covered anecdotal topics, including anecdotes about multiple births and linguistic observations, before shifting to significant geopolitical matters, specifically the ongoing Vietnam peace negotiations and the associated bombing campaigns. Nixon discussed his upcoming report to the nation regarding these developments and finalized personal scheduling plans for a future vacation.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 10.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 6.1 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 6 minutes of this recording (about 53% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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It was difficult at all, but a lot of times it was the right thing.
It would have saved many more people.
We're not a big party, but the ball's in the right testicles, so they can have all the kids at once now.
That's beautiful.
Those kids are very important, you know, facing out.
Science is good.
There's five kids, and they're all good.
Remember when the D.R.s, I call them that, were actually, you know, country doctors or whatever.
Yeah.
Well, six were born in Peru after lockdown.
We could have had dozens of them, but the neon thing was the only five that we could relate to.
There was a six-year-old woman who was this other age.
It was the athlete that she was.
I remember when it happened.
I don't know.
It was either a daughter or a baby.
It was a child.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
They were really nice.
What did he say?
They had some scrambled eggs and I had some hot chocolate.
I ordered some eggs and the guy forgot so I had to do it too.
When I heard this I didn't feel like eating food.
They didn't go because I had some food.
I don't know how I started with this.
You know that one word
Where's the throat?
My nose?
It literally happened in the middle of the night.
I mean, we'd be here, we'd be here, but it's worse than that, apparently.
It's one of the worst words that I've ever heard.
It's one of the worst words that I've ever heard.
You know, just, just, you know, or I was just kind of like, that's me, that shit on the floor.
That shit on the floor.
That's one of the expressions I got to play when I was a little kid.
It's like, it's casual.
How do you spell that?
It's like D-A-T-O.
This is ridiculous!
The sound is there.
It's caught in yourself for some reason or other.
And it's quite a bit.
It's caught in itself for a fact.
That's the only part of it.
It's caught in fact.
It's caught in fact.
But he is just, he's just a bit, he's just a bit.
It just comes out.
You know?
It's just a sound.
It's so delicate, but if I had really been a good kid as a lady, I wouldn't have had to worry.
But she's quick.
She knows my heart.
I'm okay with it.
Well, I think everyone is having a great, great time.
It's great.
You know, what do you think about it?
My opinion is that it's sort of a bit of a stop.
It's a good thing, right?
It's a good thing.
It's a good time to stop.
And that's why it's hard to let go.
It's hard to see.
It's hard to stop and let go.
It's hard to let go.
It's taken.
It's taken.
Oh, it is?
I don't understand a word.
I don't even know who she was.
He's a nice guy.
What is it about her?
Well, one thing she tells me that... About her irrelevant ancestors?
No, I mean, just go ahead with that.
But, uh, she has a way of doing it.
But the best thing is, of course, she's just a nice woman.
Isn't that right?
and then you've got the swamp effector, or something like that.
But she goes into the blinds and she creates this effector, and then she goes into the light.
Maybe there's another thing, or something, I don't know exactly what that is.
there's a lot of air people to make up this great the earth of ours you know that we should be grateful that's right
You know what I mean?
all this stuff about the bond and so forth, I think that should probably be down in a way for our benefit because what happened was we found that all of a sudden it was going back to Paris and what the damn thing was worth.
Don't you think so?
What do you think?
What do you think about our reputation for this thing, I think?
We saw the back of the woodwork and I hope we've got that pulled in as far as we can call it in.
I'm looking forward to the time that you make your report to the nation that you're going to present today.
That's the way that I'll wait to move on.
Well, after it's all over, it's all very good science.
I'll tell you, in fact, we have questions and questions.
And I hope you'll take them.
Then if you wonder why I checked my schedule, I can't tell you.
I'm on February 6th.
I hope you'll take it off when you believe me.
And I will do that.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You might have to hold the time.
If we decide, if there's a decision that we want to make, that's what I do sometimes.
I spend a week there, and in fact, when I put on the line, that's a very good time to do it.
And I'll step off and go off that after the end of it.
And that's what I'm going to do.
It takes a family.
It really takes a family to do something like this.
I mean, you crushed the word, but I mean, I got that.
I got it.
I got it.
Well, thank you very much.

NARA Description

On January 19, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 398-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 398-15

Date: January 19, 1973
Time: Unknown between 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo.

*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

       Children
             -Dionne Quintuplets
                   -Doctors
             -Sextuplets
                   -Peru
                         -Unknown child
                              -Mother, daughter

       Rebozo’s breakfast

       Unknown people
           -Argument
                                                       -21-

                       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                                           Conversation No. 398-15 (cont’d)

        Spanish language
             -Manolo Sanchez
             -Bad words
             -Colombia [?]

        Unknown people
            -[Name unintelligible]
                 -Personality

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Deed of gift-Privacy]
[Duration: 2s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                -Ancestors [?]
                -People’s imperfections

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************

        Vietnam settlement
             -Bombing of Northern Vietnam
                   -Effect on negotiations
             -President's report to nation
             -Press conference

        President's schedule
              -Vacation
              -California
              -Washington, DC

President and Rebozo left at 6:40 pm.
                                            -22-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Also recorded on January 19, 1973

  • 398-009 5:24 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:24 pm to 5:55 pm.
  • 398-010 5:56 PM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 6:40 pm.
  • 036-008 6:15 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm.
  • 036-009 6:15 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm.
  • 398-011 6:15 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 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm.
  • 398-012 6:15 PM · 18 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 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm.
  • 398-013 6:15 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm.
  • 398-014 6:15 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:15 pm and 6:40 pm.

All 53 conversations from January 19, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 398-015, January 19, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/398-015 (accessed October 11, 2026).