Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 491 › Conversation 491-020

Nixon & Laird on Anti-war demonstrations and Military assistance

Wednesday, May 5, 1971 · 10:27 AM–10:30 AM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Laird, Melvin R.Conversation491-020 on Tape 491 (tape position 03:12:50–03:18:14)StartWednesday, May 5, 1971 at 10:27 AMEndWednesday, May 5, 1971 at 10:30 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 491-020 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird discuss the successful handling of recent anti-war demonstrations in Washington, noting the effective performance of law enforcement and military personnel. They transition to discussing the timing of proposed military command changes, specifically regarding the Nixon Doctrine and military assistance programs in Latin America. Nixon decides to postpone a final decision on these structural reorganizations until he can consult with a select group of advisors, including Laird, Henry Kissinger, and David Packard, to ensure the policy does not signal an unwanted withdrawal from foreign commitments.

  • Anti-war demonstrations
  • Nixon Doctrine
  • Military assistance
  • Latin American policy
  • Executive reorganization
  • Domestic protest management

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
I want to see how your repair job came.
Fine.
Fine.
Why don't you hold me up?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
That's great.
That's the stuff.
Good, good.
Good.
I know, I know.
Well, as a matter of fact, the, uh, the, uh, if you noticed, they handled the military very well.
I'm, uh, I'm awfully glad.
Because, you know, we've got to give high marks to Mitchell and, uh, and the chief of police we just told you a good one.
He has been excellent.
He, he's used his strength, but he's used it with great effort.
The military that follows him have been just superb.
They've, uh, wasted a lot of time in our lead.
It's, uh,
He was the key man over there.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, well, we're going to see that all the people that participated get those notes.
They get some consultations and all that kind of thing.
When it's over, if they're going to Congress today, I hope they go into a few of our friends' offices.
They might stir up.
I think it's put them on a hell of a spot.
You know, some of those guys are really moaning that they got out front too early and endorsed the demonstration.
You see?
Don't you think?
Mutt, Mutt, Muskie and Teddy and the rest, because these people don't sit.
Well, they have to back away, but you know, for the average person now, he doesn't separate them.
It was just a demonstration, you know.
The one really that was affecting and against us was the Veterans Hunt because of that.
But since then, this group, God, was a horrible-looking bunch of people.
I'm telling you, they just look so bad that people there kind of just throw up their hands.
look all parts well anyway you take care of yourself and you've got a pretty day and get i know you are i'm going to i'm going to hold the i have a date back at the end today with the chief with mark and that's a thumbs up thing you know it's really apparently it's just a rich split on that between the chiefs and paid
And so I thought I'd wait until you got out and maybe you and David and Henry and Mark and I better crash around a little bit more on it.
I tell you the real problem I have with it at this time, I think that these recommendations, which I assume you would support his recommendation for getting rid of the command,
is the right long-range thing.
The problem I have right now is that the Latinos are all worried about whether we're paying attention to them, and also the military being about our opening.
Well, some of them aren't any good either, but they're being, as they are, some are ace of strength.
It's a question as to whether our timing is exactly the right thing right now.
That's really what we want to think about.
Try to do that, and
In fact, now I wouldn't have any problem on that.
I think the military assistance guys should be a force of our man, to be myself.
It's a hell of an important thing under the Nixon doctrine.
We cannot back away from this.
And frankly, if you want to move in that direction, I'll support it.
Yeah, yeah.
I will hold, I'm gonna hold this commissar up until you get back, all right?
There's no, you don't have to decide it this week, do we?
And you can tell both John Moore and Ian Spine had it there.
They were just great, but they, my God, they just disagreed.
And so I sat there and thought about it and said, well, I'll wait.
David's here, of course, and I'm listening now.
And there's the West Coast.
But it seems to me that this is something that you, just a small group, you...
I don't think we ought to get stated on it.
Basically, I think it should be you, Henry, and maybe Orr and Packard and myself.
Don't you think so?
And then let's talk about what it really gets down to is the foreign policy implication.
We get to Latin America at the present time, and as far as state is concerned, the reason I'm not taking this to Latin America is that they, Mel, don't really, I'm not speaking to Bill, but I'm referring to
Meyer and his group, they are really for military assistance out there, you know.
And I am.
Well, that's the point.
You see, I am for it, and I don't want this to appear to be a cutback, to appear to be a cutback in the military attitude.
I just don't think that's the right way of selling this.
Okay.
But we'll have a real plan next week sometime.
Okay.

NARA Description

On May 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:27 am and 10:30 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 491-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 491-20

Date: May 5, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:27 am and 10:30 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Melvin R. Laird.

[See Conversation No. 2-86]

Also recorded on May 5, 1971

  • 002-083 10:15 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:15 am and 10:30 am.
  • 002-084 10:15 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Harry F. Byrd, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:15 am and 10:30 am.
  • 002-085 10:15 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:15 am and 10:30 am.
  • 491-015 10:15 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:15 am and 10:27 am.
  • 002-086 10:27 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:27 am and 10:33 am.
  • 491-021 10:27 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:27 am and 10:30 am.
  • 491-022 10:27 AM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:27 am and 10:30 am.
  • 491-023 10:30 AM · 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Peter G. Peterson, and Peter M. Flanigan met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:30 am to 11:27 am.

All 77 conversations from May 5, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 491-020, May 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/491-020 (accessed October 12, 2026).