Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 718 › Conversation 718-001

Nixon & Haldeman on J. Edgar Hoover and Vietnam War

Wednesday, May 3, 1972 · 7:58 AM–8:09 AM ET · Oval Office · 11 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation718-001 on Tape 718 (tape position 00:02:42–00:13:27)StartWednesday, May 3, 1972 at 7:58 AMEndWednesday, May 3, 1972 at 8:09 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 718-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to review media coverage of the late J. Edgar Hoover’s funeral and discuss the administration's public relations strategy regarding the Vietnam War. They analyzed the recent fall of Quang Tri and the domestic impact of potentially canceling the upcoming Soviet Summit in response to North Vietnamese aggression. The President decided to cancel an appearance at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis to maintain flexibility during this period of geopolitical tension.

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Position in tape: 00:02:42 – 00:13:27

part A, 2:32

718a.mp3
718b.mp3

NARA Description

On May 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:58 am to 8:09 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 718-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 718-1

Date: May 3, 1972
Time: 7:58 am - 8:09 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Nelson A. Rockefeller
          -Public appearance
               -Time

     Adm. Thomas H. Moorer

     J. Edgar Hoover
          -Funeral
                -Time
                -Length
                -President's eulogy
                      -Length
                -Prayers
                      -Rev. Edward G. Latch
                      -Rev. Edward L.R. Elson
                -Cemetery
                -Television coverage
                      -Response of Elson
          -President's remarks
                -Network stories
                      -Parts covered
                      -Dr. Benjamin (McLane) Spock’s remarks
                      -John W. Chancellor’s remarks
                            -President's eulogy
                            -The President’s May 3, 1972 statement
                                  -Federal Bureau of Investigations [FBI]
          -Flags
                -FBI
          -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] special

Vietnam
     -North Vietnamese offensive
          -Loss of Quang Tri
               -Evaluated
                    -Press reports
                          -New York Times
                          -General press accounts
Show the rest of the log (43 more lines)
                          -Words used
                          -Assessment of loss

President's dinner
     -Henry A. Kissinger's location
            -Press speculation
            -National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC] news report
                 -Sequoia cruise with President and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

Vietnam
     -US actions
          -Soviet Summit
               -Possible US announcement
                     -Cancellation instead of bombing
                          -Kissinger’s view
               -Effect on polls
               -Accomplishments
               -Cancellation risks
               -Value of cancellation
               -Cancellation
                     -Problems
     -Bombing
          -Domestic impact
     -Soviet Summit
          -Cancellation
               -Impact on the President's Vietnam policy
                     -“Doves”
                     -Congress
          -Support

                     -“Hawks”
                         -Harry S. Dent
          -Bombing
              -Impact on Summit
                   -Kissinger

     President's schedule
          -Annapolis appearance
                 -Cancellation
                      -The President’s view
                            -Timing of the Soviet Summit

Haldeman left at 8:09 am.

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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The Rockefeller thing is on.
Rockefeller will probably be on at 2.30.
That would be it.
More?
Yes, sir.
Right.
It will be approximately a half hour service and they're figuring on you for 10 minutes.
Lash will do the opening prayer and
The networks have demanded the opportunity to cover it.
position was that they don't permit it in this church, but because it was a regular person, he would consider lifting this rule.
And they asked informally if he would object to coverage, and we said that that was up to the church.
Your clip ran on all the networks.
That's the one that came out.
It was the leading story on every network.
And your full film clip ran on all of them.
It was very good stuff.
He, of course, just dominates the news with all kinds of eulogies.
Fortunately, Benjamin Spock comes out and says his death is a great blessing to America and a good thing to get rid of it.
But like John Chancellor said, there were dozens of statements of sorrow and tribute that the most significant came from the Jews.
The President will deliver the eulogy at National Presbyterian Thursday, but he may have spoken the epitaph Tuesday.
The FBI is his eternal line.
carry the U.S. flights at half-mast, and the flight with the FBI will always fly high, despite the vicious attacks.
Good.
Not a lot of film of Luther, and I'm going back to CBS, ran an hour special on him.
Of all the cops.
It's a good thing to have that.
It's a good thing.
Kind of, we're out on the laundry.
Wiped out of a hungry tree.
Sure.
The general press is really playing it pretty well.
How are they playing it?
They're playing it as a loss, but only, you know, they're not playing it as if the war was over.
They say the first provincial capital to fall in the month-long siege.
They say they're out of panic.
Pessimism and Zygon at the other times, we... Yeah, and there's some of that, but there is much.
You don't get... You don't?
No, you really don't.
It's amazing.
They say the Kwamtree was a major defeat, but the third version was to take a hold of other areas, the other battles to fight.
And I...
It's good.
You can't paper over Kwamtree, and they shouldn't try.
We've prepared it.
And we've said it.
I think that's quite...
I have said it every time.
We're going to suffer some losses.
Sure.
Your dinner last night was an absolute masterpiece.
Well, they had discovered Henry wasn't around, but they couldn't find him yesterday, you know, and so they had started building up that Henry's gone.
And a couple of them went on the air with, you know, where is Kissinger?
He must be in Paris.
And right after they went off the air,
One network, the other hadn't gone on yet.
NBC had been on.
Right after they came off the air, it was announced that the president had gone.
They had seen your motorcade and asked what was happening.
And Jay said, yes, the president's gone for dinner on the display.
And that's all he said.
And they said, all right, well, who was with him?
And he said, let me check.
He said, Dr. Kissinger and General Haig.
And it just completely...
They didn't know where they were.
And then it doesn't, they're not starting to figure out where they are.
Now, that's the end of your conclusion at this point.
And not bombing?
We got bombed after that.
I tend to agree with it, certainly, last night.
However, I want to see this pulled.
I mean, here's the whole point.
Why that?
If not going to the summit is going to be a plus, then it's worth doing it.
I mean, my point is that if...
People still want you to go despite the things that's happening now.
You see what I mean?
It depends on what we accomplish on the road.
Henry is obviously prepared for this if anything happens and he's looking into things and he can't go.
And he's buying the argument that we can't go or this position.
On the other hand,
There is a counter-argument, which is that not going is going to be played as the collapse of the Nixon foreign policy.
Well, the fight is, as I was writing last night, the fight is what we get from cancer.
canceling the summit to certain loses or does, it hardens the opposition on the board, the Congress, strengthens the hawk, bears away from bombing.
But the key is, what happens then?
I mean, if you lose, if canceling the summit, then we go out and bomb, and then we win the war.
And that's the key to winning the war, and we'll do it in a minute.
But the key question is, are there going to be, that canceling the summit, of course, would have an immediate reaction, very courageous thing to do, the right thing to do, but not placing those politics with it.
But on the other hand, in the final analysis, what really matters is the failure of a successful policy.
Yeah.
It's the failure of a successful policy.
I was, I tried it out on that.
And then the last time I involved people, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't,
It's not like, you know, I'm a hell of a hawk, but he says, like, you ought to go and make up what you can.
I mean, seriously.
Yeah, if you can, the problem, that would be okay.
If you can do it still appearing to be in a position of strength by continuing the body and all, but if by continuing the body they cancel the summit, then you've got another problem.
Maybe it doesn't matter.
Well, I think if they cancel, you can leap out.
I'd like to put that.
Why don't we just drop the analyst thing?
I tell you, it's a...
Well, the problem there is they don't have a compulsory chapel.
They have three chapels.
This is the Protestant chapel.
The chapel seats 2,000.
There will be only 1,000 people.
Could you do that?
Yeah.
We haven't announced that we're going around.
No, I don't think we have.
I think I'd get out of it if I could.
Let me see.
I think you can.
That's because we're getting so close to the main track.
Yeah, okay.
Okay, we're there.
Wait.

Also recorded on May 3, 1972

  • 099-012 8:09 AM · 1 hr 53 min — Richard M. Nixon and Republican Congressional leaders, including Robert P. Griffin, Margaret Chase Smith, Peter H. Dominick, Gordon L. Allott, George D. Aiken, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, John B. Anderson, John J. Rhodes, Barber B. Conable, Jr., Samuel L. Devine, H. Allen Smith, Robert C. ("Bob") Wilson, Richard H. Poff, William S. Mailliard, William E. Timmons, Richard K. Cook, Thomas C. Korologos, Patrick J. Buchanan, Ronald L. Ziegler, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:09 am and 10:45 pm.
  • 718-013 8:09 AM · 31 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:09 am and 10:06 am.
  • 718-002 10:06 AM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:06 am to 10:19 am.
  • 718-003 10:19 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 10:20 am.
  • 718-004 10:20 AM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:20 am to 10:50 am.
  • 718-005 10:50 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:50 am and 10:54 am.
  • 718-006 10:54 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:54 am to 10:56 am.
  • 718-007 10:56 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:56 am and 10:59 am.

All 59 conversations from May 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 718-001, May 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/718-001 (accessed November 2, 2026).