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Conversation 470-003

TapeTape 470StartFriday, March 19, 1971 at 8:51 AMEndFriday, March 19, 1971 at 9:05 AMTape start time00:05:15Tape end time00:18:53ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Moorer, Thomas H. (Adm.)Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon and Admiral Thomas H. Moorer discussed the ongoing withdrawal of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces from the Lam Son 719 operation in Laos. The President expressed frustration with media narratives framing the operation as a failure and emphasized the need to pivot public focus toward significant North Vietnamese casualties. To counter negative press accounts, the administration sought to better highlight the operation's strategic objectives and utilize eyewitness accounts from pilots to convey the military success of the mission.

Lam Son 719Vietnam WarARVN withdrawalMedia relationsMilitary intelligencePublic relations
AudioNARA Description

On March 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:51 am to 9:05 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 470-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 470-3

Date: March 19, 1971
Time: 8:51 am - 9:05 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Admiral Thomas H. Moorer

     Laos operation (Lam Son)
          -Military situation
                -Timing of withdrawal
                -White House news summary
                -Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] withdrawal
                      -Media interpretation

                              -Administration response
                                  -North Vietnamese losses
                                  -Press accounts
                                  -Interviews with pilots
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 Do not cite this transcript as authoritative.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.

Yeah.
Okay.
Good morning.
Yeah.
All right.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
But he plans to, when you talk about April 5th, that he plans to be substantially out by then, or, and then just have to raise that with that, or what is the situation there?
Yeah, what about the 1st of April?
Direct assembly place enabled.
I'm just looking for a new song.
I need to call him.
Thank you, sir.
He gives us quite a bang.
He does a song called The Name of Brady.
Yeah.
I don't know what the general thing is.
Really, we know what is and what happens.
At this point, the matter is figuring out how to interpret it.
And, uh, I think, you know, the press expertly makes the appearance that this is a defeat or something like that.
Well, actually, uh, hey, they just haven't, they just don't apply the point that we have made all along that they were going in there for this purpose.
They, they emphasize the heaviness of Vietnamese losses.
Can we get out anything on the North Vietnamese losses?
Yeah, of course I was in the newspaper, yeah.
And they needed us.
They didn't show more understanding.
Well, that's what we want.
Continue on some other ratings for that report.
In-laws.
But it's just these individual pilots, crewmen, they get an interview that make it, who's trying to put out the... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, thank you.
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