On March 29, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:32 pm and 7:35 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 426-024 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
or or or or
I immediately initiated a growth plan to win the war.
I have had an honorable release.
Eleven times over the past four years, I have reported the nation and the troops on the progress we have made to achieve that goal.
Tonight, today, we have all worked and prayed for this country.
For the first time in all years, no American military forces were stationed in Vietnam.
All of our American field judges are on their way home.
The 17 million people of South Vietnam have the opportunity to choose their own government without outside interference.
Because of our program of Vietnamization, they have the strength to do that at home.
We have prevented the imposition of a communist government by force from the people of South Vietnam.
There is still some problem.
The provisions of the agreement requiring an accounting for all missing in action in Indochina, the provisions with regard to lawlessness
provisions prohibiting infiltration of North Vietnam and South Vietnam have been violated and not been complied with.
We have and will continue to comply with the agreement.
We shall insist that North Vietnam comply with the agreement.
The leaders of North Vietnam should have no doubt of the consequences if they fail to comply with the agreement.
But despite these difficulties, we can be proud of the fact that we have achieved our goal of achieving our goal
of obtaining an agreement which brings peace to the land and Vietnam.
On this day, let us honor those who made this achievement possible, those who sacrificed their lives, those who were disabled, those who made us, those who made every one of us proud to be an American, as they returned from years of poverty and death.
And every one of the two and a half million Americans who served honorably in our nation.
Never have men served.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Never have men served with greater devotion of all, with less of power.
Let us provide these men with the federalist benefits and the jobs or opportunities they deserve.
And let us honor them with the respect they deserve.
And I say again tonight, let us not dishonor those who serve their country by granting amnesty to those who deserve it.
And I don't want to express the appreciation of the nation to others who don't make this day possible.
I do for you.
The great majority of Americans listen.
Despite an unprecedented barrage of criticism from the small and local minority, it could have burned for peace without it.
I know it was not easy for you to do so.
We had met through some difficult times together.
I recall the time in November 1969 when hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in the White House.
The time in April 1975 when I found it necessary to order tax and confidence bases in the Capitol.
The time in May 1972
when I ordered the mining of Taiwan and airstrikes on military targets in North Vietnam in order to stop the massive communist invasion of South Vietnam.
And then, perhaps the hardest decision I have made as President, on December 18th, 1972, when our hopes for peace were so high and when the North Vietnamese stonewall was to be conquered, I found it necessary to order more airstrikes on military targets in North Vietnam to get rid of them.
On each of these occasions,
The voices of opposition we heard in Washington were so loud that, at times, they seemed to be the majority.
But across America, the overwhelming majority stood firm against those who advocated peace at any cost, even if the price would have been defeated at the elimination of the United States.
Because you stood firm for doing what was right, Colonel McKnight was able to say for his fellow POWs when he returned home, thank you for bringing us home on our feet
instead of on our knees.
Let us turn now to some of our problems at home.
Tonight, I ask your support of an unpack.
We can be thankful that this is not a battle of war and war.
But a battle we must win if we are to build a new prosperity without war and without inflation.
What I refer to as the battle of the budget.
Not just the battle of the federal budget, but even more important, the battle of your budget.
The family budget of everyone.
one of the most terrible costs of war, inflation.
The cost of living has skyrocketed during every war we've been engaged in.
We recognize this name from four years ago when we've taken strong action to deal with it.
As a result of our policies, we have cut the rate of inflation in half since it reached its peak
They are where the inflation is the lowest of any major industrial nation in the world.
But these positive statistics are a small comfort to a man trying to make a full-time living.
And they're no comfort at all to a housewife who sees meat prices soaring every time she goes to the market.
The major wheat spot on our way to inflation is in the area of meat prices.
I have taken action to increase import from abroad and production at home.
This will increase the supply of meat.
will help break down prices later this year.
But what we need is action that will stop the rise in meat prices now.
That is why I have today ordered the Costa Rica Council to impose a ceiling on prices of meat, pork, and lamb.
That ceiling will remain in effect as long as necessary to do the job.
Meat prices must not go higher.
And with the help of the housewife and the farmer, they can and should go down.
This ceiling will help in our family-based inflation, but it is not a permanent solution.
We must act on all fronts, and here is where the federal funding comes in.
I have submitted to Congress for the next year the largest budget in our district, $268 billion.
If not, I have requested that this budget for domestic programs in such fields as health, housing, education, and aid to the elderly.
The handicap report is twice as big
as they amount to my first budget four years ago.
However, some members of Congress believe the budget in these areas should be even higher.
If I were to approve the increases in my budget that have been proposed in the Congress, it would mean a 15% increase in your taxes or an increase in your prices for every hour.
That is why I shall be told the bills which would break the federal budget which I have
I do not believe those increased prices or taxes would break the family budget of millions of Americans.
This is not a battle between Congress and the President.
It is your battle.
It is your money and your prices and your taxes I am trying to save.
Twenty-five years ago at the Russian Congress, when I met President Truman in his office, I remember he had a sign on the desk.
It read, The box stops here.
That meant, of course, the president can't pass the buck to anyone else when a tough decision has to be made.
It also means that your buck stops here.
If I do not act to stop the spending increases that Congress sends to my desk, you will have to pay for them.
I admit there's an honest difference of opinion on the matter of the federal budget.
If you're willing to pay the higher taxes or prices that will result if we increase federal spending over my budget and some of Congress' proposed
You should ask your congressmen and your senators to override my emails.
But if you want to stop the rise in taxes and prices, then I have a suggestion.
I remember when I was a congressman and senator, I always seemed to hear from those who wanted government to spend more.
And I seldom heard from the people who had to pay the bill, the taxpayers.
If your congressman or senator has the courage to vote against more spending,
so that you won't have to pay higher prices or taxes.
Winning the battle to pull down the federal budget is essential if we are to achieve our goal of a new prosperity.
Prosperity without war and without inflation.
I ask tonight for your support in helping to achieve this industry and this battle to help you win this vital and important battle.
We have made great progress for our goal of a generation of peace for America and the world.
The war will be acknowledged today.
After 20 years of hostility and confrontation, we have opened a destructive new relationship with the People's Republic of China, where one fourth of all the people
We negotiated last year with the Soviet Union a number of important agreement agreements, including an agreement which takes a major step in limiting nuclear arms.
There are some who say that if you have all this progress to our peace, why not cut our defense funding?
Well, that's a little fast.
Our defense budget today takes the lowest percentage of our gross national product in 20 years.
And there's nothing I would like better than to be able to reduce it further.
But we must never forget
that we would not have made the progress or lasting peace that we have made in this past year unless we had had the military strength that commanded respect.
This year, we have begun a new negotiation with the Soviet Union for further limitations of nuclear arms.
We should be participating later in the year in negotiations for mutual reduction of horses and guns.
If prior to these negotiations, we unilaterally reduce our defense money,
or reduce our forces in Europe, any chance for successful negotiations for mutual reduction of forces or limitation of arms will be destroyed.
There is one unbreakable rule with our national forces.
You can't get something in a negotiation unless you have something to give.
If we cut our defenses before negotiations begin, any incentive other nations would have to cut theirs would be complete.
If the United States reduces its defenses and others do not, it increases the danger of war.
It is only a mutual reduction of forces that will reduce the danger of war.
We must retain and maintain our strength until we get agreements under which other nations will join us in reducing the burden of our forces.
What is at stake is whether the United States shall become the second strongest nation in the world.
If that day should ever come,
chances for building a new structure of peace in the world would be irreparably damaged and free nations everywhere would be living in mortification.
A strong United States is not a threat to peace.
It is the free world's indispensable guardian of peace and freedom.
I ask for your support tonight for keeping the strength which enabled us to make such great progress toward world peace in this past year and which is indispensable as we continue our bold new nations to make for peace
We are the strongest and most prosperous nation in the world today.
Because of our strength, America has the magnificent amount
play the leading role in bringing down the walls of hostility which divide the people of the world, in reducing the burden of our lives and the world, of building the structure of life and peace in the world.
And because of our work, we have the means to move forward at home on exciting new programs for progress, which will provide better environment, education, housing, and health care for all families, and which will enable us to be more generous to the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and the disadvantaged,
these are goals worthy of a great people.
Let us, therefore, put aside those modest differences about the world which are divided, and dedicate ourselves to meet the great challenges of peace which can be advanced.
But as we do, let us not overlook a third element, more important than military minor economic power, which is essential for greatness in a nation.
The pages of history are strewn with the wreckage of nations which fell by the wayside
heightened their strength to love, because their people became soft and self-indulgent and lost the character and spirit which had led to their death.
As I speak to you tonight, I am confident this will not happen to America.
My confidence has been increased by the fact that a war which cost America so much in lives, money, and division and war has, as it is, provided an opportunity for millions of Americans
to see again the character and spirit which made around him a great nation.
A few days ago, this real life, I talked to a man who had spent almost eight years in a communist prison cell.
For over four years, he was in solitary confinement.
He never spoke to another person in those four years except himself.
He lived two meals a day, a piece of bread, and a special snack.
All he was given to read was confidence from God.
All he could hear and read was confidence from God.
I asked him, how was he able to survive?
Still come home, standing tall and proud, still living there.
He paused a long time before he asked me.
And he said, it is an easy thing to answer.
I am not very good at words.
What I can say is,
that it was faith, faith in God, faith in my God, who suffered so much for America to have such a day.
Let us, who have received the life of America, renew our faith, our faith in God, our faith in America, and our faith in ourselves.
If we meet the great challenges of peace, and why have we?
With this kind of faith, it will one day be written that this was America's final job.