Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 400 › Conversation 400-005

Nixon & Haldeman on Vietnam War and Public relations

Monday, January 22, 1973 · 2:55 PM–3:39 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation400-005 on Tape 400StartMonday, January 22, 1973 at 2:55 PMEndMonday, January 22, 1973 at 3:39 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 400-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate the President's upcoming public schedule, focusing specifically on the timing and content of his address regarding the Vietnam peace settlement. They discussed concerns regarding potential television over-exposure and the logistical challenge of balancing a domestic policy speech with the Vietnam message. The discussion emphasized managing the workload and the President's personal involvement in drafting his remarks to ensure optimal delivery.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 40% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I've got a prediction though, so you can go.
In fact, there's one in the garage.
It's worth like $2,000.
The question I raise is whether or not
Well, I'm thinking, right now, there's an over-exposure, an over-insertion.
My fellow, Richard, a few days ago, Steve, Jeff, and I, we were on Saturday, and I'm glad we are here today.
It's a real question of how much you really put on the plate.
That's very important.
That's because I'm watching John all the time, as I said, because he's not aware of how much I put on the stage.
Of course, I'll take more than a few hours.
Well,
If they can get something that I have a history with, that I will not have to deliver to any other people at all, I don't think I was going to be the writer on it.
That's the point.
That's the point.
Yeah.
That's it.
That's it.
I'll put it on the top of my card.
Alright.
I'll office it.
I'll office it.
I'll office it.
It's going to be down for some reason.
Hold on.
Hold on.
That's one thing that I suppose we've done.
I think we've hired up a lot of others, but there are no certain things that might not go very well.
And I know that's what we're approaching.
We did not agree on that.
We're trusting about 2,000 players, perhaps, and 17 more or so.
Yeah, okay.
The most money, $300,000 is money, but not quite $800,000.
Just about $3,000.
Well, I'll talk a little bit, John, about the fact that the client didn't care about the order.
I just wanted to know whether it was going to be a hell of a lot of my life in terms of trying to prepare it.
He's a good writer.
He's one of the best writers, yeah.
Christian, well, you know what?

NARA Description

On January 22, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:55 pm and 3:39 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 400-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 400-5

Date: January 22, 1973
Time: Unknown between 2:55 pm and 3:39 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman [?].

       The President’s speech on Vietnam settlement
            -The President’s schedule
                  -Postponement
                         -Speech on domestic policy [?]
            -Work by the President
            -Voters
            -Timing
            -Television [TV]
            -Teleprompter
            -Length

       The President’s schedule
            -John D. Ehrlichman [?]

Also recorded on January 22, 1973

  • 400-004 2:53 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:53 pm to 2:55 pm.
  • 400-006 2:55 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:55 pm and 3:39 pm.
  • 400-007 3:15 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:39 pm.
  • 036-041 3:39 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:39 pm.
  • 400-008 3:39 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:39 pm.
  • 400-009 3:39 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:39 pm and 4:05 pm.
  • 400-010 3:39 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:39 pm and 4:05 pm.
  • 400-011 3:40 PM · 55 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Raymond K. Price, Jr., White House operator, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 4:05 pm.

All 49 conversations from January 22, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 400-005, January 22, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/400-005 (accessed October 11, 2026).