Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 715 › Conversation 715-006
Nixon alone in the Oval Office on Vietnam War and Vietnamization
Wednesday, April 26, 1972 · 10:00 PM–11:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 24 min
AI Summary
President Nixon delivered a televised "Address to the Nation on Vietnam" from the Oval Office to brief the public on the ongoing conflict and U.S. strategy. During the speech, he condemned the North Vietnamese invasion, announced the continued withdrawal of 20,000 American troops, and reaffirmed his commitment to the Vietnamization program while resuming Paris peace talks. Following the broadcast, the President engaged in casual conversation with the press and television crew, distributing gifts such as cufflinks and pens.
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military situation in Vietnam, the decisions I have made with regard to the role of the United States in the conflict, and the efforts we are making to bring peace to the negotiating table.
Let me begin briefly by revealing what the situation was on my office and what we have done since then to end American involvement in the war and to bring peace to the long-suffering people.
generous speech channels in both public and private
who resigned.
I had always answered to this offer was a refusal even to discuss our proposals and at the same time a huge escalation of their military activities on the battlefield.
Last October, the same month when we made this peace offer to Hamlet, our intelligence reports began to indicate that the enemy was building up for a major attack.
has now been circulated.
What we are witnessing here, what is being brutally conflicted upon the people of South Vietnam, is a clear case of naked and unprovoked aggression across an international order.
There is only one word for it, invasion.
To support this defensive effort by the South Vietnamese, I have ordered attacks on enemy military targets in both North and South Vietnam by the air and naval forces of the United States.
I have here at my desk a report.
I received it this morning from General Edwards.
He gives the following evaluation of the situation.
will be one of the South Vietnamese.
But his conclusion is that if we continue to provide air and sea
advisors in Washington, I have three decisions to announce tonight.
First, I have decided that Vietnamization has proved itself sufficient, that we can continue our program of withdrawing American forces without detriment to our overall goal of ensuring South Vietnam's survival as an independent country.
And, consequently, I have announced tonight that over the next two months, 20,000 more Americans will be brought home from Vietnam.
This decision has the full approval of President Hsu
from the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong elements.
But to get on with the constructive business of making peace, we are resuming the Paris talks with the firm expectation that productive talks leading to rapid progress will follow through all available channels.
As far as we are concerned, the first order of business
to halt his invasion of South Vietnam and to return
to the negotiating table.
They sold that package to the United States once before, in 1968, and we're not going to buy it again in 1972.
Now let's look at the record.
By July 1, we will have withdrawn over 90% of our forces that were in Vietnam.
we have already exceedingly generous terms for peace.
The only thing we have refused to do is to exceed the enemy's demand to overthrow the law that constituted government of South Vietnam and to impose a communist dictatorship in its place.
As you will recall, I have warned on a number of occasions
Second, to prevent a continuation of our withdrawal program.
And third, to prevent the imposition of a communist regime on the people of South Vietnam against their will.
And they will not stop until the invasion stops.
The communists have failed in their efforts to win over the people of South Vietnam.
And General Abrams believes that they will fail in their efforts to conquer South Vietnam military.
Their one remaining hope is to win the Congress of the United States among the people of the United States the victory they cannot win among the people of South Vietnam
or in the battlefield in South Vietnam.
The great question, then, is how we, the American people, will respond to this final challenge.
Let us look what the stakes are, not just for South Vietnam, but for the United States and for the cause of peace in the world.
If one country
and succeed in confrontation, other countries will be encouraged to do exactly the same thing in the Middle East, in Europe, and in other international state responses.
If the Communists win militarily in Vietnam, the risk of war in other parts of the world would be enormously increased.
But if, on the other hand, Communist aggression fails in Vietnam,
It will be discouraged elsewhere, and the chance for peace will be increased.
We are not trying to conquer North Vietnam or any other country in this world.
We want no territory.
We seek no basis.
We have offered the most generous peace terms.
Peace will monitor
But we will not be defeated.
And we will never surrender our friends to communist aggression.
We have come a long way in this conflict.
The South Vietnamese have made great progress.
They are now bearing the brunt of the battle.
And we can now see the day when no more Americans will be involved in our own.
But as we come to the end of this long and difficult
we must not fall.
For all that we have wrestled, all that we have gained over the years, now hangs in the balance during the coming weeks and months.
If we now let down our friends, we shall surely be letting down our selves and our future as well.
If we now resist, future generations
will thank her for her courage and her faith in this time of testing.
That is why I say to you tonight, let us bring our men home to Vietnam.
Let us end the war in Vietnam.
But let us end it in such a way that the younger brothers and the sons of the brave men who have fought in Vietnam will not have to fight again in some other Vietnam at some time in the future.
Any man who sits here in this office feels a profound sense of obligation to future generations.
No man who sits here has the right to take any action which would advocate America's great traditional world leadership or weaken respect for the office of President of the United States.
Earlier this year,
In the 18 countries I have visited as President, I have found great respect for the office of President of the United States.
And I have reason to expect, based on Dr. Kirsten Dutcher's work, that I shall find that same respect for the office I hold when I visit Moscow.
I do not know who will be in this office in the years ahead.
on journeys for peace.
Yet the United States betrays the millions of people who have relied on us in Vietnam.
The President of the United States, whoever he is, will not deserve nor receive the respect which is essential if the United States is to continue to play the great role we are
helping to build a new structure of peace in the world.
It would amount to a renunciation of our morality, an abdication of our leadership among nations, and an invitation for the mighty to prey on the weak all around the world.
It would be to deny peace a chance.
Peace deserves to happen.
This we shall never do.
Therefore, unite as a nation in a firm and wise policy of real peace.
Not the peace of surrender, but peace of honor.
Not just peace in our time, but peace for generations to come.
See you later.
Take care, Steve.
yeah yeah yeah
I didn't even put my name on it.
I said, let's get in.
I said, I don't care.
The last time you gave me an interview, I'm not done.
The last time I gave you an interview,
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Okay.
From space.
Here we go.
Here we go.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On April 26, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 pm and 11:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 715-006 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 715-006
Date: April 26, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:00 pm and 11:59 pm
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
Location: Oval Office
The President delivered his "Address to the Nation on Vietnam." Members of the press, Ronald
L. Ziegler, the White House photographer, and television crew were present during the speech.
The recording began at an unknown time while the address was in progress.
[A transcript of the speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents of the US, Richard M.
Nixon, 1972, pp. 550-554.]
[End of speech]
Basketball
-Wilt Chamberlain
-Scores in a game
-Milwaukee Bucks
-Players
-Height
-Grace
Presidential seal
Presidential gifts to television crew
-Cuff links
-Non-political nature
-Pen
-Golf balls
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
The President left at 10:22 pm.
[General conversation]
The press and television crew left at an unknown time before 11:59 pm.Also recorded on April 27, 1972
- 023-091 7:10 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:10 pm and 7:37 pm.
- 023-092 7:37 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:37 pm.
- 023-093 7:37 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:37 pm and 8:20 pm.
- 333-041 7:37 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 7:37 pm.
- 333-042 7:37 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:37 pm and 8:20 pm.
- 333-043 7:37 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:37 pm and 8:20 pm.
- 023-094 8:20 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:20 pm to 8:25 pm.
- 333-044 8:20 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:20 pm to 8:25 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 715-006, April 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/715-006 (accessed October 24, 2026).