{"conversationCode":"468-003","tapeNumber":468,"conversationNumber":3,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-468-003","startDateTime":"1971-03-16T13:57:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-03-16T14:05:00.000Z","startDate":"16-Mar-1971","startTime":"8:57 AM","endDate":"16-Mar-1971","endTime":"9:05 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Moorer, Thomas H. (Adm.);","description":"On March 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:57 am to 9:05 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 468-003 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 468-3\n\nDate: March 16, 1971\nTime: 8:57 am - 9:05 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President talked with Admiral Thomas H. Moorer\n\n     Laos operation (Lam Son)\n          -Military situation\n                -Air strikes\n                      -Effect of weather\n                -Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]\n                      -Duration of operation\n                -Airplanes\n\n                -Morale\n                -Passes\n                     -Truck traffic\n                -ARVN morale\n                -Other military developments\n                     -Khe Sanh attack\n                -Passes\n                     -Weather","filename":["468-003.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:03:26","tapeEnd":"00:07:22","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Moorer, Thomas H. (Adm.)"],"prevCode":"468-002","nextCode":"468-004","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":23.41,"text":"There's still no opening in the weather in the north so that we can hit those trees and pass the check."},{"start":58.33,"end":71.82,"text":"I stole a lot of those."},{"start":80.36,"end":81.94,"text":"Pretty well."},{"start":82.48,"end":87.4,"text":"But at least the plant's still coming off where they installed the intermediate stove."},{"start":87.42,"end":90.21,"text":"It's up to hanging in there for three or four weeks now."},{"start":120.2,"end":132.06,"text":"We've got a new tank that goes to the aircraft."},{"start":132.08,"end":133.34,"text":"It's on our aircraft planes."},{"start":133.36,"end":133.92,"text":"About a half, seven minutes."},{"start":133.94,"end":136.28,"text":"I'll back up when these people listen to me."},{"start":136.3,"end":136.71,"text":"You're good?"},{"start":149.51,"end":162.37,"text":"a lot of other stuff in those passes, right?"},{"start":162.39,"end":167.04,"text":"Because they had such a... Well, I know of many people talking about the fact that the truck traffic is heavy."},{"start":168.14,"end":173.91,"text":"Of course, they've got to get to where they're at."},{"start":173.93,"end":175.17,"text":"The question is how heavy it is down below."},{"start":175.19,"end":175.41,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":175.43,"end":175.55,"text":"The..."},{"start":175.57,"end":177.05,"text":"The morale of the Vietnamese is very good."},{"start":185.3,"end":199.74,"text":"The case on attack, and it was built up, but apparently it was not serious in terms of damage."},{"start":199.75,"end":200.14,"text":"Sure."},{"start":201.06,"end":201.74,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":201.76,"end":201.96,"text":"All right."},{"start":203.24,"end":205.26,"text":"Yeah, that's right."},{"start":205.28,"end":210.31,"text":"Well, keep your eye on those passes."},{"start":210.86,"end":216.45,"text":"Every day I try to get her to record that weather a little bit."},{"start":216.47,"end":219.38,"text":"Once you've got these, it takes you two days to have the weather clear before you start it."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Admiral Thomas H. Moorer discussed the status of Operation Lam Son 719, focusing on the tactical challenges posed by poor weather conditions affecting U.S. air support for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Moorer provided updates on North Vietnamese truck traffic in the mountain passes and characterized the ARVN's morale as strong despite recent enemy activity near Khe Sanh. The President emphasized the strategic importance of monitoring the weather to clear the way for continued airstrikes against enemy supply routes.","topics":["Operation Lam Son 719","Vietnam War","ARVN","Air strikes","Military logistics","Khe Sanh"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T21:22:35.607Z"},"topicSlugs":["operation-lam-son-719","vietnam-war","arvn","air-strikes","military-logistics","khe-sanh"],"audioDurationSec":227,"audioFiles":[{"file":"468-003.mp3","bytes":5453112,"durationSec":227.14,"bitrate":192065,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:48.988Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/468-003.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/468-003","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/468/conversation-468-003","catalogNaId":417176181,"catalogUrl":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417176181","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}