Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 410 › Conversation 410-022

Nixon & Moorer on Prisoners of War and Public Relations

Thursday, March 15, 1973 · 4:26 PM–4:29 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Moorer, Thomas H. (Adm.)Conversation410-022 on Tape 410StartThursday, March 15, 1973 at 4:26 PMEndThursday, March 15, 1973 at 4:29 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 410-022 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Admiral Thomas Moorer discuss the management of a high-profile, emotionally compelling news story involving the return of prisoners of war and the contributions of a specific nurse. Nixon requests that Moorer cooperate with anticipated media inquiries, emphasizing the need to shape a positive narrative regarding these events. The conversation serves as an alert to ensure military personnel are prepared to provide coordinated testimony once the timing is appropriate.

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 57% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
I forgot to mention to you in the middle of the day, I had a call and I had a request.
But then
On the field of everything, I said, well, this is one of the great stories.
I said, we cannot be ready yet.
We'll have to wait until after all of the return.
But that means what we have done.
The contributions of the lady, the nurse, the nurse, the dramatic emotional story, it's all gone.
It's all settled.
It's one of the important diaries of the book.
He, of course, told me, I told him, he would like to have Hansel Baldwin, of course, you know, he would like to sign him, but he can't do it.
He would like to have Hansel Baldwin, but he can't do it.
I like the idea that I told him that you would be, you know, on the call.
I mean, that you would cooperate, that I'm sure you would cooperate.
Of course, as you know, the digestive system, they're just trying to help us.
They're on our side.
And what I would think is that all of us, because she's probably responsible, and we're people who are, you know, we've got to be able to move forward.
so they can start collecting the material now and we'll all have a very positive story about it.
So I just wanted to alert you that if they call, which I assume they will, probably there is a point in time where people are expecting an idea.
Sure.
Sure.
Great.
But I know this, too, that, as you realize, there are very few members of Gresham who thought the contract was going to be there.
I just came to my own decision.
There's absolutely nothing to believe, per se, or anything about this.
Of course, a lot of it is not present.
So tell me, because after 28 months, we were going to be able to talk about it a little bit later.
All right.
Okay.

NARA Description

On March 15, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:26 pm to 4:29 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 410-022 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 410-22

Date: March 15, 1973
Time: 4:26 pm - 4:29 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Adm. Thomas H. Moorer.

[See Conversation No. 43-92]

Also recorded on March 15, 1973

  • 880-016 4:17 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:17 pm and 4:18 pm.
  • 880-017 4:17 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:17 pm and 4:18 pm.
  • 880-018 4:18 PM · 2 hr 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:18 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 410-021 4:24 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 4:24 pm and 4:26 pm.
  • 410-023 4:29 PM · 18 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 4:29 pm and 4:34 pm.
  • 410-024 4:29 PM · 14 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 4:29 pm and 4:34 pm.
  • 410-025 4:34 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:34 pm to 4:35 pm.
  • 410-026 4:35 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:35 pm and 4:42 pm.

All 83 conversations from March 15, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 410-022, March 15, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/410-022 (accessed October 1, 2026).