Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 407 › Conversation 407-007

Nixon, Haig & Price on Vietnam Peace Settlement and Presidential Speechwriting

Tuesday, January 23, 1973 · 4:14 PM–4:34 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 15 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation407-007 on Tape 407StartTuesday, January 23, 1973 at 4:14 PMEndTuesday, January 23, 1973 at 4:34 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 407-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Alexander Haig and Raymond Price to finalize the content and tone of his upcoming speech regarding the Vietnam peace settlement. The discussion focused on articulating the strategic necessity of the war and the U.S. commitment to international stability compared to historical precedents. Nixon provided direct instructions to Price regarding the drafting process and cautioned his advisors against idealistic misinterpretations of political opposition and media criticism.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 23% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 actually want to take a picture of that, but I'm not so sure about it.
I can't say why I don't want to take a picture.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I know what
I would say that would have
to have continued the war .
Maybe that's the way it is.
But he said it's really, you don't get the peace thing in that way.
That's really what it is.
What would have ended the war was a promise.
What would have continued the war.
What would not have ended the war.
No, it would have brought peace.
What would have not brought peace.
Maybe it's that way.
What do you think, though?
That's not quite true.
But it really happened.
We had to work for ourselves.
And then things just go on.
We don't perpetuate it by bugging out.
We just bug out.
The word goes off.
By the way we did, we'd get out, but we insisted
I was just looking at it just this week.
Do you know how many kilos that is?
It's about 350.
That's amazing.
I read the word for that.
Christ, the history of nations, is one of the most really important people to serve honor and distinction, and one of the most selfless men of all.
and one of the most solid in our country.
On page nine, where this generation, or a third generation of the world,
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All right, let's face it.
Here are the four of us.
Shall we say the break?
What the hell are they fighting for?
What are they fighting for?
Not to give it away, but to keep it.
The point is, what the hell are we fighting for?
Why are we fighting for it?
Not to get it.
We're fighting to stop something over there, which might, in the end, Korea's been lost.
And then we just pile on the rest.
He didn't fight for anything except for us.
So then, all of a sudden, we were winning down on people.
And we were actually winning.
We were winning.
We were winning.
We were winning.
We were winning.
Don't bother me.
And it's only a very few, very, very great men who ever can say, my God.
We're gonna change the line That's it
Howard, don't get discouraged because I talk so bitterly about you.
I'm not bitter at all.
I just want you to follow up on me.
You know, you have a tendency to be sort of an idealist.
You follow up on everything I say.
You've got that house out there with the port guards and all those black servants, those white servants, those Filipino, huh?
Yes, sir.
You've got to solve it up.
And you begin to think that everybody's a nice guy.
All you've got to do is just be real nice
very bold on that.
Talk to them a little more.
And they really, you know, it's only a question of understanding.
It's really a question of not communicating.
That's the real problem.
Oh, it isn't that they, you know, they really didn't quite get it.
But that's an insult to their intelligence.
They wouldn't consider it that.
But it's an insult
reason that is totally irrelevant to the whole body.
They said, oh, it's because we didn't explain it.
Like they did in Cambodia.
In Cambodia, they said, we explained too much.
Now here they explain, we explain too little.
But what was the real problem?
Both worked.
And then he killed someone.
Then they had failed.
That's the difference.
Now they're, they're, you know, not those goddamn Pentagon
That's right.
Yeah, I can't say so because it would be divisive right now.
Okay.
That's great.
I'll take a rest.
Congratulations.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On January 23, 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 from 4:14 pm to 4:34 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 407-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 407-7

Date: January 23, 1973
Time: 4:14 pm and 4:34 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and Raymond K. Price, Jr.

       Vietnam settlement
            -The President's speech
                  -Content and wording
                       -Agreement
                              -Full text
                       -Page 6
                       -Prisoners of War [POWs]
                       -Cease-fire
                              -Meaning
                       -Casualties
                              -U.S., South Vietnam, and North Vietnam
                       -Cease-fire
                              -Meaning for Indochinese people
                                     -Henry A. Kissinger's briefing
                              -Meaning for US
                                     -Da Nang
                              -Page 9
                                        -4-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                         Conversation No. 407-7 (cont’d)

                             -Generation of war
                        -Page 10
                             -Congress
                  -Style
       -US purpose
            -Compared to Great Britain in Boer War
                  -South Africa
            -Compared to France in Algeria, Indochina
            -Communists
            -Indonesia
            -Thailand
            -US forces
                  -Motives
                  -Straits of Malacca, Indonesia, Thailand
       -The President’s speech
            -The President's opponents
                  -Response of Congress, Press
            -Distribution through Herbert G. Klein
                  -Further changes
                  -Price's work
            -Further changes
       -The President's opponents

Haig
       -New job
            -House and servants

The President's opponents
     -Attitudes
     -White House response
     -Cambodia, Vietnam
           -Response
           -Success

Haig
       -Possible effect of new job at Pentagon

Vietnam settlement
     -Commentary on The President's May 8, 1972 decision
                                              -5-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                         Conversation No. 407-7 (cont’d)

       The President's schedule

Haig and Price left at 4:34 pm.

Also recorded on January 23, 1973

  • 036-086 4:09 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:09 pm and 4:10 pm.
  • 407-003 4:09 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 4:09 pm.
  • 407-004 4:09 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:09 pm to 4:10 pm.
  • 407-005 4:10 PM · 17 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 4:10 pm and 4:14 pm.
  • 407-006 4:10 PM · 24 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 4:10 pm and 4:14 pm.
  • 407-008 4:55 PM · 26 min — 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 4:55 pm and 5:24 pm.
  • 407-009 5:24 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:24 pm to 5:29 pm.
  • 407-010 5:29 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:29 pm and 6:19 pm.

All 94 conversations from January 23, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 407-007, 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/407-007 (accessed October 8, 2026).