Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 438-022
Date: Thursday, May 17, 1973 at 4:08 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; Woods, Rose Mary
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/438-022

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello?
[0:06] Yeah.
[0:16] Yeah.
[0:29] I want to think about this now.
[0:41] He called you.
[0:48] What has happened?
[0:49] He's kind of a devil.
[0:51] He's a very good devil.
[0:54] What's this he called you?
[0:57] He crashed me.
[0:59] What?
[0:59] I'm very upset about it.
[1:04] It's all real issues that are coming into this thing.
[1:10] It really is.
[1:11] It's all war peace issues.
[1:13] You know, I just had Ron in tonight.
[1:16] I said, by God, we're going to get this thing put in that context.
[1:20] We're not going to take this line down.
[1:24] They want to fight the war peace issue.
[1:26] We'll fight it.
[1:27] Let them be for the radicals and the Ellsbergs and the rest.
[1:30] That's exactly right.
[1:33] And, uh, so when I was about three and a half years old, we had this announcement.
[1:38] And, uh, Harry was called by Jake Davison and a whole list of Congressmen, senators, that wanted to write a very strong letter to the Republicans.
[1:56] and i think they will call me but god this is work the president of my dad is right for christ's sake i ordered it ordered to protect henry kissinger and the national security wasn't henry kissinger that is the whole purpose of this that without what this that believes in this area
[2:25] would have perfumed, that's what I want to get to this speech.
[2:31] In another way, would have perfumed the great, uh, partner in the main purpose of society.
[2:40] We couldn't have done it, Chuck.
[2:41] We couldn't have done it.
[2:42] We couldn't have done it.
[2:44] If our position is to give out an advantage to the enemy, not to have a balance, but all this is a balance.
[2:52] That's exactly right.
[2:53] What do we want?
[2:55] And that's the way this thing will turn.
[2:59] That's the way this battle is going to turn.
[3:03] They've got to do it themselves.
[3:06] They're emotional, under control.
[3:10] And that's fine, because we're on a strong ground there.
[3:19] A little bit of irony.
[3:25] I didn't touch him.
[3:26] He was really big on that.
[3:27] He got mad at me.
[3:30] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:33] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:37] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:38] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:42] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:42] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:43] I don't think he was mad at me.
[3:44] We have a reminder that he had told me at some time that he had reassured the President that several
[4:15] You should say that several occasions.
[4:21] One day was not called, but the president asked, and that's the point I have to tell him.
[4:27] If we held over until Monday, I would have seen him Saturday.
[4:30] We would have had to do it.
[4:33] You know, they should be apologetic about that.
[4:36] You know what I mean?
[4:37] I don't even stand to think that way.
[4:42] Yeah, let's say, of course, Ellicott was involved in that.
[4:48] It affected the CIA.
[4:51] Our operations abroad.
[4:52] Our relations with foreign countries.
[4:54] That's what it was.
[4:56] That's what it was.
[4:58] That's what it was.
[5:02] That's what it was.
[5:03] That's what it was.
[5:04] That's what it was.
[5:05] That's what it was.
[5:07] Absolutely.
[5:35] You can't rob a guy and put him under attack.
[5:42] No.
[5:44] Robbers would tend to do that often.
[5:47] Well, I had a call from Sonny.
[5:51] He said he was getting better and better.
[5:53] He's getting back right away.
[5:54] He's a good man, Sonny.
[5:55] Yeah, he is.
[5:55] Tell Rush to do it.
[5:57] I don't understand the case at all costs now.
[5:59] You see, don't let these bastards get too much blood out.
[6:03] Don't let them get too much blood.
[6:05] You're butchering people a lot less worthy than Bill Casey, you know, around such a place.
[6:18] You know that.
[6:22] I don't like that.
[6:24] I don't like that.
[6:26] I don't understand what you're doing.
[6:28] Yesterday was something I can't believe.
[6:29] It was either I or somebody else.
[6:30] So, I mean, Bradford, you know, they're saving this.
[6:32] That's natural.
[6:32] It's true.
[6:37] I don't believe we should directly
[7:08] They call it Cambodian in this word reason.
[7:11] That is, this is a little bit of an issue.
[7:13] In other words, it indicates that, well, we've got to stand for Cambodia because we know Cambodia is going to lose.
[7:19] Cambodia is going to go, and this will be known as the Cambodia dispute.
[7:23] That's my problem with that.
[7:25] I mean, I saw some letters in there.
[7:26] You know that.
[7:29] I would just leave it out of that.
[7:31] The second thing is, I do not think I would probably take on the House in the Senate.
[7:37] The way I would write the speech if I had an extension of it.
[7:41] And I made this in the same way that I made the speech when I went down to these Tennessee places in Murray and Meridian.
[7:49] Basically, what you get to is this.
[7:53] If we had made enormous progress for a case in the last year, I would write the next one.
[8:02] How do we make that progress?
[8:03] We made a project that was really strong.
[8:06] Now,
[8:06] We can make it a greater project, and our goal must be the next.
[8:12] But we cannot do so if the war negotiations begin.
[8:18] We give away our old country.
[8:21] And that is a strong America.
[8:24] Use America.
[8:26] The United States must not become the second strongest nation.
[8:28] We're alive.
[8:29] That's what the country likes to give them.
[8:34] Now, the point is that, say, for example, very important negotiations are going on.
[8:52] We are ready for them, but we must let them all in.
[8:56] Very important negotiations for the limitation of course in Europe for that reason.
[9:00] We are back in 25 years of this stand we've been fighting.
[9:05] We are ready.
[9:06] But we will cancel the limitations unless we retain our strength until later.
[9:13] And we have a peace agreement in Vietnam.
[9:17] And that peace agreement in Vietnam will not be worth peace.
[9:21] The paper is written on it.
[9:26] We have enforced violations.
[9:28] And unless we have the strength to enforce the violations, we will.
[9:33] But the MIAs, they have not complied with the provisions for the county for MIAs.
[9:39] They have not complied with their agreement to withdraw from Cambodia.
[9:43] We, therefore, are insisting they do this.
[9:47] And the purpose of this is not to get the United States involved in more war.
[9:52] But, after this 12 years of agitation, of war, which led to the defeat, it came to peace.
[10:02] And then, the idea being that what you come up with is basically just a strong human existence.
[10:11] That unilateral disarmament, unilateral reduction of armament,
[10:17] and it will run a massive risk of war in our time.
[10:29] It will run a massive risk of war in our time.
[10:37] That it will fall over the world.
[10:40] The greatest guarantee is a strong resident
[10:46] United States of America.
[10:50] Let us be party critical.
[10:52] Now that's the kind of disabuse that already came out.
[10:56] That's good.
[10:57] How does that sound to you?
[10:59] That's good.
[11:00] I can feel it.
[11:02] That's a great one.
[11:03] I think that's better than getting into the Cambodian issue.
[11:06] I think it's better to get back to a country where they all are shitting on the ground.
[11:09] There's the layout.
[11:11] I don't think we're going to do crap on that, but let's tell them.
[11:14] Everybody knows what we're talking about.
[11:16] ... ... ... ... ... ...
[11:43] That takes a little bit of time.
[11:47] You're crazy enough to do something like that.
[11:52] I said that to everybody.
[11:57] I said that to everybody.
[11:58] I said that to everybody.
[11:59] I said that to everybody.
[12:01] I said that to everybody.
[12:06] I said that to everybody.
[12:08] I said that to everybody.
[12:09] I said that to everybody.
[12:10] I said that to everybody.
[12:10] I said that to everybody.
[12:11] I don't want money for your possible growth of life, but I want to give it to you.
[12:18] That's it.
[12:19] That's it.
[12:19] That's it all.
[12:21] It is.
[12:22] We're not down there yet.
[12:23] We've got equity in our hands.
[12:26] We've got to remember to stop here.
[12:30] They're going to give that to us if they start to win that money.
[12:42] I just heard this so often.
[13:06] This sort of thing has a wrench that has to come from the left.
[13:14] Now that was a deliberate plan.
[13:18] A deliberate thing for the purpose of doing something.
[13:26] I don't know.
[13:27] I don't know.
[13:27] I don't know.
[13:36] I don't want to do my own justice.
[13:43] I want to find out, did he report it?
[13:50] How does it know if he reported it?
[13:53] If he didn't report it, this son of a bitch is guilty of something.
[14:02] And then, now, the story has to get out.
[14:08] Hey man, you see that's a beautiful story for a Jack Gavish R.O.
[14:12] You're gonna buy her a shirt.
[14:16] Anyway, uh, anyway, let's look for the Elspur, too.
[14:18] No, not this photo.
[14:20] It's close by the car.
[14:20] I don't see where that is.
[14:21] I don't see where that is.
[14:22] I don't see where that is.
[14:23] I don't see where that is.
[14:25] I don't see where that is.
[14:27] I don't see where that is.
[14:28] I don't see where that is.
[14:29] I don't see where that is.
[14:31] I don't see where that is.
[14:35] I don't see where that is.
[14:38] I think so.
[14:44] I think we can use around here in Canada.
[14:51] I'm just smart.
[14:55] Now there's another way.
[14:57] Non-technical equipment.
[15:24] We're ready for it now.
[15:30] Right.
[15:30] FBI director.
[15:35] Right.
[15:35] That's great.
[15:35] We've got everything.
[15:37] Lots of questions.
[15:39] We're focused on that.
[15:43] Just here, here.
[15:46] We're just talking.
[15:48] We're just talking.
[15:50] Yeah.
[15:55] He wanted to play the game, it looked like he was a heavy buster in here.
[16:05] I mean, you really get in there.
[16:08] He gave some counsel very briefly, except for quick.
[16:14] And then, go down.
[16:18] Very close to Nick Kennedy, not to him.
[16:22] That's right.
[16:26] I understand that he doesn't care.
[16:33] All right, would you?
[16:36] I want you to do that.
[16:40] My request is that you won't do it.
[16:46] Who should the president?
[16:49] You can find out.
[16:50] You're right.
[16:52] We've got a very great conference.
[17:01] And we've got Elliot.
[17:04] Elliot's still got two names hanging out there.
[17:07] He's having a success debate with him.
[17:10] And look, he's going to pick one of these guys now.
[17:12] I mean, he's working on it.
[17:14] Yeah, I think he'll make it.
[17:15] All right.
[17:16] Let's go.
[17:17] Let's go.
[17:22] All these slingshields, like the docks that you read, remember that I have them over and over, an awful lot of them.
[17:38] You've got to sort of have a little group of them.
[17:43] You've got to tell them how bizarre they are.
[17:44] Before it breaks into dust, you have to ask very quickly, and ask very quickly, and ask very quickly, and ask very quickly, and ask very quickly, and ask very quickly, and ask very quickly,
[17:53] I just know that I've got to realize it.
[18:00] You know, we discussed it.
[18:03] I discussed it with him.
[18:05] Yeah.
[18:05] And he told me, the guys who told us, well, hell, I just went out there.
[18:11] I don't know what he was going to say to me.
[18:14] But he never said, you know, I said, you know, there's so many words to make a decision like that.
[18:19] Or if I was going to say, you know, all these things.
[18:20] All these things.
[18:21] Yeah.
[18:21] It's just, it's kind of an energy problem.
[18:24] I don't want to criticize him, but he's a little excited about that, because he thinks he made them to know that other people were doing everything.
[18:32] If they aren't that bad, then you know it.
[18:35] It's not his fucking name, because it doesn't matter.
[18:40] But I don't think it did matter.
[18:42] But anyway, it's been washed down.
[18:46] It's going to be something to the whole government.
[18:49] Another thing, we must not let the walkers
[18:54] that cause economic issues, so it is bigger than it needs to be, you know what I mean?
[19:00] So watch it carefully.
[19:02] In other words, watch it carefully, and if it is, just get our story, you know, we've got to, today was not today, of course.
[19:09] Maybe not tomorrow, but you know what I mean?
[19:12] The longer it gets hot, the safer it is.
[19:15] It's happening, but it's not in the system.
[19:17] It's not in the system.
[19:18] It's over.
[19:21] And quite frankly, it's still...
[19:24] I want you, if you're confident, to write a question.
[19:38] We're going to have to relax some of you.
[19:44] I have to say, you know nothing about this, but of course you're checking all the contacts.
[19:52] on or gone with regard to a grand jury investigation.
[19:59] There's one contact that was made apparently in the end of the conversation with my wife with regard to a grand jury in Maryland where you are not personally involved in the situation.
[20:15] And we just wanted that.
[20:18] And I just want you to be sure to be prepared because my wife
[20:21] I scared him a little bit the other day, but I want him to know that he's not going to have to put a shot across your body.
[20:31] I don't know if he did, but I personally don't want to ask, but I think all of us are going to have to do it.
[20:43] We're all going to have to do it.
[20:45] What I want you to recall is when I found his brother, he was a victim.
[20:47] He was a victim.
[20:47] He was a victim.
[20:48] He was a victim.
[20:49] He was a victim.
[20:50] I'm done.
[20:55] If I don't have a vice president, I just learned to fire my ass.
[21:00] That's what I do.
[21:03] I actually can't play this cool game without having to do it.
[21:08] You might do it, I'm sure you think it's a good idea.
[21:11] Seriously, I just, you know, I can work in that field.
[21:13] You can just say that we just wanted to know that we're trying to tell them, oh, my brother's just fighting like hell to avoid getting this stuff out.
[21:20] You can't tell what will come out, because they may ask for any conversations you have to do with grant jury specifications.
[21:32] We are wanting to be prepared in order to not answer that question.
[21:40] If that's in the written, if that's in the written,
[21:47] Now, what does it make my game?
[21:54] I wonder if some close party bullshit goes with these things.
[22:06] What the hell is going on here?
[22:07] Or should I really bust some big wood by the end?
[22:08] I guess it's the one.
[22:11] I don't know.
[22:21] I don't know if you know what else is going on in the United States right now.
[22:35] The U.S. Bank, the largest broker in the U.S.
[22:43] The U.S. Bank, the largest broker in the U.S.
[22:46] The U.S. Bank.
[22:47] The U.S. Bank.
[22:51] I don't think you could have gotten it out now, right now.
[23:21] I don't know.
[23:31] Yeah.
[23:47] Yeah.
[23:49] Yeah.
[24:12] Well, my point is that I don't want him to bring that up with you.
[24:22] I don't want to spaz him.
[24:38] Spaz him off.