Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 410 › Conversation 410-043

Nixon & Hope on POWs and Vietnam War

Thursday, March 15, 1973 · 6:34 PM–6:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hope, Lelsie T. ("Bob")Conversation410-043 on Tape 410StartThursday, March 15, 1973 at 6:34 PMEndThursday, March 15, 1973 at 6:45 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 410-043 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and entertainer Bob Hope discuss the return of American POWs from Vietnam, emphasizing the importance of welcoming them home with honor and recognizing their heroism. The President expresses his firm opposition to granting amnesty to draft evaders who fled to Canada, arguing that doing so would disparage the sacrifices made by those who served. Additionally, the two men touch upon the potential award of a Presidential Medal of Freedom to filmmaker John Ford, discussing the logistical planning for a celebratory dinner in Los Angeles.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 7% 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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What did you think of those POWs?
Well, she sent me a message, and I said, she said, hope God, and I thought it was a joke.
Yeah.
I must say how you must have felt, though, Bob.
You know, you've gone out there, and sometimes your friends will tell you.
Well, I think it was one of the greatest things.
You know, I really think, Bob, that in terms of movie makers, I guess you've got to get an old-timer like Jack Warner to understand what's going on.
This is Christmas for five good all-American movies.
What these guys went through, you know, and that they survived.
You know, a couple of interesting things.
I remember my chief today, you know, they told me this is just too much.
You can't say it's enough.
They're all out.
But they said on the 26th of December, that's the day after Christmas, that's the day after the cross.
I called them on it.
I said, look,
He said, because they were out shouting and clapping and the rest of them.
He said, their captors were all dying for their mom's shoulders.
They all know how it happened.
They said, we're out bombing them.
And so, you know, the bombing was coming.
But that's another...
that all of the people that stood up, you know, we need heroes, Bob.
The country needs heroes.
You know, it's a curious way, because these are heroes, aren't they?
That they, and the way to, can you imagine if they had come back, if we had simply, as the peace manager suggested, gotten them back for a bucket, they wouldn't come back proud and sorely.
They'd come back a little bit disgraced.
But now they came back to a country that's with honor, you know.
Don't you agree?
Washington?
Oh, God, I'm sorry.
I'm in Washington.
Oh, yeah.
Well, give him my very best.
He's a great fellow, you know, with a soft heart.
But tell him that we did the right thing.
Got it?
But I thought that, yeah, what I was so pleased with was the buyer he sent right after him.
Wasn't it great that Palmer won the first time?
He's a great guy.
Let me ask you one thing on a Russian phone.
You know the producer, the director, John Ford,
He's a great supporter of what we've done in Utah.
He's been, well, he's 78 years of age and so forth.
Somebody suggested, I mean, giving him the Medal of Freedom.
He gets a nice idea.
I thought we could do it in California in March.
I don't, I have no ideas about it, but you have some thoughts as to...
I think we should have a good, nice dinner in L.A., you know, and give it to them, you know, and have all the people that are active in this thing.
How about some of you?
But if you... Take care of the CYO.
I remember... Just say that... That...
that these men would not come back with their heads high unless we had had the support across the country of people who believe deeply in America and who we should have honored this morning for them.
But you know, Mason, you know, after all this is a business you and I have been in for a few years, let's be very honest.
country could not lose this war, either way.
Your program?
No, I saw your program.
Good God, I saw the whole damn thing.
Yeah, yeah.
You know the funny thing?
You know, in December, many of our plans, they didn't serve.
They didn't serve.
They didn't serve.
They didn't serve.
And said nothing.
The enemy would never capitulate, and they didn't capitulate.
You had to put it to them.
Remember that time that you and Tommy Paul and the rest of you all talked about when you said that the 25th was finally spread to them, and that's when the Lord and Abrams, we were all watching today, but they spoke to you about it.
It came out of our own.
But everybody, I think if you could talk about, if you could talk about to these people,
I'm proud of the two and a half million guys that served out there.
You know, it was a tough war.
I'm proud that the United States came out with the flag flying high.
You know, I think it was the idea of where I put the flag up, you know, today.
But the flag is flying high.
Let's say that, okay?
The Jew is coming in March, and I've got to go out there, and I want to be there.
And at that time, maybe I'll play.
Tomorrow's the second.
Right.
I understand that Bob got, that you got Bob to a Jewish testimonial, right?
Tom for Israel.
That's right.
Right, right.
How do you feel about those people?
Does it bring tears to your eyes?
You know, I'm not... We're all emotional, but I control mine.
If I know that really did me in.
I talk about the police station so far.
They say they want me to give amnesty to people in Canada.
If I didn't, I would say that all these guys were immoral.
I can't do that.
I don't want to be hard on people.
Well, that was undeserved, I think.
Well, I was with General Abrams today, and I said, well, General, I said, you know, I had a great touch for that.
I said, you know, I had a great touch for that.
I said, you know, I had a great touch for that.
No, but you know, my point is, these guys, these guys are the bravest men in the world.
Thank God that America produced such men.
Right.
But you do have great fun.
I'll whip you up and tell you, I want that chili dinner.
Or spaghetti.
This is spaghetti.
All right.
Bye.
We'll see you.
Bye.

NARA Description

On March 15, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Lelsie T. ("Bob") Hope met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:34 pm to 6:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 410-043 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 410-43

Date: March 15, 1973
Time: Unknown between 6:34 pm and 6:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope.

[See Conversation No. 43-109]

Also recorded on March 15, 1973

  • 410-036 6:21 PM · 26 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 6:21 pm and 6:24 pm.
  • 410-037 6:24 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 6:24 pm.
  • 410-038 6:24 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 6:24 pm and 6:28 pm.
  • 410-039 6:24 PM · 47 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 6:24 pm and 6:28 pm.
  • 410-040 6:24 PM · 8 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 6:24 pm and 6:28 pm.
  • 880-026 6:24 PM · 1 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 6:24 pm on March 15, 1973 and 10:14 am on March 16, 1973.
  • 410-041 6:28 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:28 pm to 6:29 pm.
  • 410-042 6:33 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:33 pm to 6:34 pm.

All 83 conversations from March 15, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 410-043, 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/410-043 (accessed October 1, 2026).