Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 402 › Conversation 402-017
Nixon, Haig & Price on Vietnam War and Peace Negotiations
Monday, January 22, 1973 · 8:47 PM–8:50 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 48 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with Alexander Haig and Raymond Price to review and refine a draft statement or speech regarding the ongoing negotiations in Vietnam. The discussion focused on editing specific paragraphs and determining the appropriate tone for addressing the progress of the peace efforts and the role of the South Vietnamese government. Nixon provided direction on which sections to retain or omit to ensure the document effectively communicated the administration's position.
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 11 minutes of this recording (about 22% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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How did you communicate with my phone?
I sat on the wire set and I talked to him on the phone.
I waited until after the news broadcast.
Yes, sir.
That's why he went there after the war.
Yeah.
Then he went out the next day.
Yeah.
He said.
Yeah.
He was here.
Very good.
He couldn't go places.
And I think most Americans, by the time this word was over, felt it.
Yeah.
And he got to be here.
Yeah.
He wanted to be back there.
Right.
Well, there's always a tendency to, for people to
Right.
Well, anyway, yes.
Colton Ziegler, who had a bomb struck all the way from Saigon, he's talking about the very positive thing that happened, and so he's saving the way we're going, I suppose, for the time that as far as any nation is concerned, even though it's an arduous case.
And I have to agree that we will not put it out long, but...
Wait, wait, wait, no.
I think what we're going to do is Henry and I breakfast to say this is what we're trying to achieve, right?
Well, one of the,
But on the other hand, if Blom is talking this way, he isn't good for our authority.
Oh, he's coming.
There's no question about it.
Hell, I know he's coming.
Because he's giving orders to us to spy on him.
He's not going to do that.
He's not going to do that.
He's not going to do that.
He's not going to do that.
He's not going to do that.
But I did it intentionally.
And then I walked out.
He said there was no press bag on it.
He said it was a light machine.
We'll get some
Well, before we get into this thing here.
I've been thinking about trying to get it as short as possible.
I think it should be short, but you have to deal with what you're doing.
Are we?
Are you ready?
Yes, sir.
All right.
Well, we've come to... You know, the first week that I was in, I was just graduating.
I was playing a poker game over something I played today, and I liked it.
Yeah, I personally, I personally missed this contact with President Chu, and I would not think it would appear that it was President Chu at all.
Maybe it's more President Chu and other representatives of the Federal Army, but it would be a long, long, long time.
Strike a second.
Well, yes, sir.
That would be the first thing that would flash back to us.
What can we do if we don't?
Well, he's going to ask them whether or not it doesn't have anything to do with us.
I suppose, well, it doesn't have anything to do with us.
Just leave it in the back and consult with them and not mention any other support.
That next paragraph bothers me.
Why me?
It doesn't seem to bother me that much.
They're both sides of the same sort of question.
I don't think that bothers me.
I wouldn't say that I'm particularly grateful to help with that.
I'd just say one of the two is...
I'd just start with that.
See?
You think that it's needed, but it's not all that, uh...
Yes.
Why do you take out the negotiated settlement?
It's not all that either of us wish.
Let's be honest.
Why don't we just start to just go on for the two, and then I'll stay behind it, and then say the two rules.
No?
I think that's important.
That should be left in.
I think the safe side here is going to be .
All right.
I think you can say it down to there.
Rita?
Yes, sir.
I would be interested.
See you.
The question there was fun.
That's true.
I would say that's the reason for the current police brief.
Thank you.
I think that's, you know, I think that's how it works.
But it's really about, you know, that it fights, fights you.
I think it will be a
I don't think you want to deal with that anymore.
Come on.
That's the first one.
Hello.
I don't know.
The paragraph in the top of the page.
The paragraph in the top of the page.
Thank you.
I don't want to.
I don't want to.
Hold me.
Hold me.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't want to be done with that.
I've got it.
I'll get it.
I don't want to do it.
I don't want to do it.
Thank you.
Well, let's get you all in.
I would say that I I would say that I feel sorry that the the view of the fact that I feel sorry that the view of the fact that I feel sorry that I feel sorry that I feel sorry
You know, you've got to follow the text.
And I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but it's the right thing to do, but it's kind of free.
I mean, that's the way it is, right?
I mean, I used to say, you know, if you're going to vote for your future, you're going to vote for your future.
And that, you know, you've got to study, you've got to study, you've got to study, you've got to study, you've got to study, you've got to study, you've got to study, you've got to study.
Come on, let's go.
Come on, let's go.
Come on.
Come on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
laughter laughter
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
... ... ...
Well, we just said it about three days ago.
Thank you.
I get thanks for the point that you have made before.
That's right.
One thing that we've been talking about.
When you're going to carry a lot of trash into the building, that's when you've got a chance to do a hundred things.
Exactly.
That's right.
And if you're carrying a lot of trash into the building, that's when you're going to carry a lot of trash into the building.
That's what I did, so you can cut it with your hands.
You're not gonna cut it with your hands.
You're not gonna cut it with your hands.
You're not gonna cut it with your hands.
You're not gonna cut it with your hands.
You're not gonna cut it with your hands.
That's a great question.
That's a great question.
That's a great question.
All right.
Ha ha ha!
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, the thing about the... the...
Thank you.
Hey, what's up?
So, uh, you know, like, for what they're not, they're, like, they're, they're behind the wheel, like, they're not going to get hard.
But I was just on the side, and, you know, I was, like, I was, like, I was, like, I was, like,
I don't, I don't, I don't know.
Thank you.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On January 22, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:47 pm and 8:50 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 402-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 402-17
Date: January 22, 1973
Time: Unknown between 8:50 pm and 9:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and Raymond K. Price, Jr.
Lyndon B. Johnson's death
-Communication to Henry A. Kissinger
-Method
-Timing
-Method
Kissinger's schedule
-Lon Nol
-Le Duc Tho
-Communication
-Timing
Vietnam settlement
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Attitudes
-Harry S. Truman
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-19-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 402-17 (cont’d)
-Public support
-Postponement
-Ronald L. Ziegler's Report
-Lon
-Saigon
-Initializing
-North Vietnamese
-Kissinger
-Announcement
-Kissinger's and Haig’s role
-Lon
-Relations with US
-Statements
-Cease-fire
-Orders
-Thieu
-Corps commanders, division commanders
-Announcement
-Lon [?]
-Intentions
-Press representative [?]
-Haig’s role
-Protocol
-Language
-Thieu
-Statement by the President
-Length
-President's contact with Thieu
-Wording
-Revisions
-Kissinger
-Thieu's Position
-Aid to South Vietnam
-Reciprocity
-Wording
-Tone
-Previous Public Statements
-Johnson
-Final Sentence
-President's Last Conversation with Johnson
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 402-17 (cont’d)
-Date
-Tone
-Claims
-Terms of Agreement
-Obligation
-Opposition to war
-Compared previous draft
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Opposition to President's policies
-Peace with honor
-Compared to surrender
-George S. McGovern supporters
-Kissinger
-Duration
-First sentence
-Revisions
-Page three
-Thieu
-Effect
-Sacrifices of service members
-Kissinger's possible review
-Rewriting
-Avoidance
-Confidentiality
-State Department
-William P. Rogers
-Kissinger
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Reasons
-Johnson’s death
-National day of mourning
-Announcement
-Tho
-Timing
-Kissinger
-National day of mourning
-Lon [?]
-South Vietnamese
-Announcement
-Bombing of North Vietnam
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 402-17 (cont’d)
-Cease-fire
-Ziegler
-Kissinger
-Ziegler's press conferences
-Dates
****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[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:
MAS]
[National Security]
[402-017-w001]
[Duration: 4m 43s]
RICHARD M. HELMS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
****************************************************************
Vietnam settlement
-Prisoners of War [POWs] wives
-Flight doctors
-Bombing missions
-Draft resisters
-Amnesty
-Canada
-Message
-Announcement
The President, Haig and Price left at 9:45 pm.Also recorded on January 23, 1973
- 398-016 7:56 PM · 35 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 7:56 pm and 8:15 pm.
- 036-060 8:03 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 8:03 pm to 8:05 pm.
- 402-012 8:22 PM · 9 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 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
- 402-013 8:22 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
- 402-014 8:22 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 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
- 402-015 8:22 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
- 036-061 8:47 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:47 pm to 8:50 pm.
- 402-016 8:47 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:47 pm and 8:50 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 402-017, January 23, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/402-017 (accessed October 1, 2026).