Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 407 › Conversation 407-008
Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on Vietnam peace settlement
Tuesday, January 23, 1973 · 4:55 PM–5:24 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 26 min
AI Summary
President Nixon used this time to record a memorandum regarding personal family history and to reflect on his administrative schedule and political strategy. He discussed the upcoming announcement of the Vietnam peace settlement, coordinating with staff and congressional leaders to manage public and press reactions. Additionally, Nixon emphasized the need for better pacing of his own schedule to manage fatigue and reviewed ongoing efforts by Charles Colson and other aides to counter political opposition.
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 9 minutes of this recording (about 36% 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.
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This is a memorandum from a file that he picked it up.
It's by Mr. O'Farrill in the field on the 23rd of January, 1973.
I had some problems with this machine when I was on the water count.
I did not finish the paper regarding the relatives, I think, when I was coming to the conclusion.
I was talking about Alice.
She was very young and happy.
I recall those years when she lived with us.
She was a very nice girl.
In fact, it's really remarkable how those children,
And what happened was that all of the sisters liked him, and they were both in Ghana.
He used to come home to Grandmother Melana's house, come home with the children.
Grandmother Melana's situation was very similar to all of the children's.
This is a
finally at least got wrapped up for the moment.
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I know what I should do.
And...
... ... ... ... ...
I guess we both always have to at least see one thing that's in your eyes.
That already made me a sinner.
I'm just trying to figure out what it is for them.
We got a message from a parent that got paid with all I want.
I have no idea why he called me that.
He, uh, he, uh, the statement that they got around Johnson was twice as long.
I don't know how long it was.
I don't know how long it was.
I don't know how long it was.
I don't know how long it was.
What did you hear?
Right.
Right.
I didn't get a long message from an officer.
He also thought that the case was very fragile, and he didn't plan to place it on my title.
It was a kind of big grenade, of course.
The officer, to the level of that, said that he wasn't going to hide it as much longer as it was.
If anybody was in the bathroom, as I said, it would be a very, very heavy play.
We made a few calls.
Albert sort of took it one way or the other and raised the point that he was going to find a way to find a difficult place in the late course, in the late hour, in the house.
Maxie would also sort of ask for the same.
My idea is that both Maxie and Albert probably sort of get to know each other better.
Mr. Stennis, however, raised the point that ID was spent on the soft of it.
The problem was the line of sensitivity in regard to Johnston.
So, yeah, the line of sensitivity was there.
But, in any event, we got through with all the objectives and comments that were in line with the totals of the board building.
Although, it had to be ruled out for some reason in regard to Johnston.
I'm not going to be talking about the resolution, but it was more recent for us to go to the Congress and then have not only what I said, but then to have Heidelberg and McGovern and the fellow absentee members sit down in Congress.
I don't think
that we've covered for what it is uh
I was fighting up so very intensively to sleep, and I had to, uh, I don't know, break out some, uh, blockage.
I had, uh, two glasses of it, uh, and, uh, another half of that.
I had to go to the postal company, and I had some cheese and crackers, and I took a nap for an hour or an hour and a half.
Uh, I, uh, had to do this for some time, and I realized that it took a lot of hours before it was 10 o'clock, and, uh,
So I kind of go talk to him.
and other aspects of the story and bring it out to the public to find out what's really going on.
Of course, I think one of the questions we talked about is the public about the way that the curators are educated in the courts and the principle of life in the public.
Colson, of course, is really all out for a terrible hell out of the opposition.
And we're sure that I've got him laid out and locked out in the ground a little soon.
And he's been shot.
I have all of them harbored in this case.
They are not good.
They have a group of things.
They love the hangers.
They love the wall.
But we are going to have Henry Green when he comes back.
I've got to find Colson to get him back.
uh uh
It was great to read some of the films, most of them were really good.
I gave Price a big, I don't know, I don't want to say very little, actually, with regard to what I thought the press was doing, you know, so despite what they might have said, they were starting to smile back at us.
Of course, we're not getting too confident about it.
uh uh
uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
I thought you were white.
Radio there, but it was, uh, uh, it was, uh, Josh, the father of the man, put it right in there.
So, it's a conversation that I've had with him.
There's, uh, there's the case I'm talking about.
Yeah.
... ... ...
I think that's .
But any of that, this whole problem, one question or another, is that people go in and get overpaid, and they're in terrible trouble, etc.
and I have done some case.
I know that in the future, we simply have to see if the rolling on shelves and all the rest of the money is set up for substance use.
Very good.
That's the highest I can speak of those things.
We'll all be out of hands.
We'll put them in without consulting anybody else.
Whether we're going to have to have to be in this press conference or leaders group and so forth, it has to be done.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I also went down to home and, uh, we had, we had the responsibility to, uh, see if the president was not overworked in his time.
He was the first on a mission, the second on a mission, which is how, uh, the problem began.
When you have too many appointments in a day, when you shave too many hands in a day, when you have to get up at two minutes to eat something, or around two minutes to rest, that means we could have a full assault.
And orderly means that you cannot recover twice, but you cannot stand back as well.
You must pace yourself.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thanks for watching!
NARA Description
On January 23, 1973, 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. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 407-008 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 407-8
Date: January 23, 1973
Time: Unknown between 4:55 pm and 5:24 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President dictated a memorandum for the files.
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift.]
Testing
The President played the recording.
Introduction
The President’s dictation machine
-White House Communications Office
-H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
Incomplete previous memorandum on relatives
-Alice [Last Name Unknown]
-Appearance
-Background
-Children
-Ezra’s wife Anna [Last names unknown]
-Grandmother Milhous
-Real name
-Home
-Grandchildren
Vietnam settlement
-6-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 407-8 (cont’d)
-The President’s speech
An unknown person left at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 5:24 pm.
-The President’s letters to congressional supporters
-Unnamed secretary in Tom Johnson’s office
-Haldeman
-Compared with other efforts of the White House
-Correspondence section
-Heads of State
The President’s schedule
-Sleep
-Office arrival
White House Dinners
-Rose Mary Woods
-Staff
-George P. Schultz
-Haldeman
-Role
Vietnam settlement
-Message from Henry A. Kissinger
-Cabinet meeting
-Length
-The President’s speech
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Compared to Inaugural speech
-The President’s statement
-Lyndon B. Johnson’s death
-Length
-The President’s discussion with Haldeman
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-The President’s speech
-Location
-Press
-Congress
-Price, Haldeman, White House staff, Haig
-7-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 407-8 (cont’d)
-Price’s views
-Moscow
-North Vietnam, South Vietnam
-Haig’s views
-Ziegler’s views
-Publicity
-Calls to Carl B. Albert, Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Problems
-John C. Stennis
-John B. Connally
-Gerald R. Ford
-Publicity for President
-George S. McGovern
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Bella Abzug
-Television [TV]
-Significance
-The President’s opponents
-Bureaucracy
-Congress
The President’s schedule
-Sleep
-Refreshments
-Charles W. Colson meeting
-Sleep
-Colson meeting
-Lawsuit vs. time
-Public opinion
-Possible outcome
-Courts
-Campaign against the President’s opponents
-Haldeman
-Haig meeting
-Kissinger
-Elliot L. Richardson, [David] Kenneth Rush
-William P. Rogers, Melvin Laird [?]
-Price and Haig meeting
-Press response to the President’s speech
-8-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 407-8 (cont’d)
Vietnam settlement
-The President’s expectations
-Press response
-Compared to Cambodian invasion
-Price’s comment
-Washington Post editorial on the President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Effect of bombing
-Polish ambassador to Hanoi
-North Vietnamese leaders
-Hospital
The President’s call to William S. White
-The President’s last call to Lyndon Johnson
-Louis P. Harris poll
-Vietnam settlement
Lyndon Johnson
-1968 election
-Response to The President’s November 3, 1969 speech
-Public opinion on Vietnam War
-Harris
-The President’s opponents
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT] [?]
-Lessons for future
-Domestic policy, foreign policy
Rose Mary Woods
-Views on White House staff salaries
Personnel and salaries
The President’s meeting with Haldeman
-Possible budget groups
-John D. Ehrlichman, Schultz
The President’s schedule
-Stephen B. Bull
-Cabinet meetings
-Press conferences
-Congressional meetings
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 407-8 (cont’d)
-Haldeman
-Goals
-Ehrlichman
-The President’s speech followed by a press conference
-Goals
-Pacing
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman, Schultz
-Compared to Haldeman
Vietnam settlement
-Announcement
-Briefing
-Press relations
-New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times
The President’s conversation with Haldeman
-Claudia A. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson
-Tom Johnson
-Positions in administration
Vietnam settlement
-Bombing
-Comment by Haig
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift.]
*****************************************************************Also recorded on January 23, 1973
- 407-007 4:14 PM · 15 min — 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.
- 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.
- 407-011 5:29 PM · 2 min — 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 5:29 pm and 6:19 pm.
- 407-012 5:29 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:29 pm and 6:19 pm.
- 407-013 5:29 PM · 11 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 5:29 pm and 6:19 pm.
- 407-014 5:29 PM · 14 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 5:29 pm and 6:19 pm.
- 407-015 5:29 PM · 9 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 5:29 pm and 6:19 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 407-008, 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/407-008 (accessed October 8, 2026).