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Conversation 005-050

TapeTape 5StartSunday, June 13, 1971 at 12:18 PMEndSunday, June 13, 1971 at 12:42 PMTape start time01:24:33Tape end time01:26:52ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;  Nixon, Richard M. (President);  Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Recording deviceWhite House Telephone
AudioNARA Description

On June 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:18 pm and 12:42 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-050 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 5-50

Date: June 13, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:18 pm and 12:42 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 256-31F]

     Vietnam War
          -Weekly casualty figures
          -Pentagon Papers
               -New York Times expose
               -Leak
               -Robert S. McNamara, Clark M. Clifford
               -Administration response
               -Possible time of theft
               -Hatfield-Mansfield Amendment
               -Reflection on John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson
               -Effect

[The conversation was cut off at an unknown time before 12:42 pm]
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 Do not cite this transcript as authoritative.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.

Hello.
General Haig, sir.
Hello.
Yes, sir.
Hi, Al.
What about the casualties last week?
You got the figure yet?
No, sir, but I think it's going to be quite low.
It should be as last week or better.
Yeah, it should be less than 20.
20, I would think, yeah.
When do you get that?
Do you, would you know?
We don't get it officially until Monday afternoon, but we can get a reading on it.
Right, well, Monday afternoon, officially.
Well, let's wait till then.
Fine.
Okay.
Nothing else of interest in the world?
Yes, sir.
Very significant, this goddamn New York Times expose of the most highly classified documents of the war.
Oh, that.
I see.
I didn't read the story, but you mean that was leaked out of the Pentagon?
Sir, the whole study that was done for McNamara and then carried on after McNamara left by Clifford and the peaceniks over there, this is a devastating security breach of
of the greatest magnitude of anything I've ever seen.
Well, what's being done about it then?
I mean, I didn't... Did we know this was coming out?
No, we did not, sir.
Yeah.
There are just a few copies of this.
But what about the... Volume report.
But what about the... Let me ask you this, though.
What about Laird?
What's he going to do about it?
Now, I'd just start right at the top and fire some people.
I mean, whatever department it came out of, I'd fire the top guy.
Well, I'm sure it came from defense, and I'm sure it was stolen at the time of the turnover of the administration.
Oh, it's two years old then.
I'm sure it is, and they've been holding it for a juicy time, and I think they've thrown it out to affect Hatfield McGovern.
That's my own estimate.
But it's something that is a mixed bag.
It's a tough attack on Kennedy.
It shows that the genesis of the war really occurred.
Yeah, that's Clifford.
I see.
And it's brutal on President Johnson.
They're going to end up in a massive gut fight in the Democratic Party on this thing.
Are they?
But also massive against the war.
Against the war.
But it's a Pentagon study, huh?
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