Nixon & Haldeman on J. Edgar Hoover and Vietnam War

2:42Yes, sir.
2:48All right.
2:59It will be approximately a half hour service and they're figuring on you for 10 minutes.
3:18Lash will do the opening prayer and
3:29The networks have demanded the opportunity to cover it.
3:57position was that they don't permit it in this church because it was a regular person who considered lifting this rule.
4:07And they asked informally if he would object to coverage, and we said that that was up to the church.
4:26Your clip ran on all the networks.
4:29That's the one that came out the way it should have.
4:32It was the leading story on every network.
4:36And your full film clip ran on all of them.
4:41It was very good stuff.
4:46He, of course, just dominates the news with all kinds of eulogies.
4:51Fortunately, Benjamin Spock comes out and says his death is a great blessing to America and a good thing to get rid of him.
5:00But like John Chancellor said, there were dozens of statements of sorrow and tribute that the most significant came for the Jewish reason.
5:09The President will deliver the eulogy at National Presbyterian Thursday, but he may have spoken the epitaph Tuesday.
5:16The FBI is his eternal line.
5:27carry the U.S. flights at half-mast, and the flight with the FBI will always fly high, despite the vicious attempts.
5:34Good.
5:34Not a lot of film with Luther, and I'm quick.
5:36I can see he has to write an hour special on it.
5:39But with all the cops, it's a good thing to have that.
5:41It's a good thing to have that.
5:52The general press is really playing it pretty well.
6:01How are they playing it?
6:05They're playing it as a loss, but only, you know, they're not playing it as if the war was over.
6:13They say the first provincial capital to fall in the month-long siege.
6:18They say they're out of panic.
6:21Pessimism in Saigon at the other times, we... Yeah, and there's some of that.
6:25There is much.
6:26You don't get... You don't?
6:27No.
6:28You really don't.
6:28It's amazing.
6:30They say that Kwamtree was a major defeat, but the third...
6:32The third was to take a hold of other areas, the other battles to fight.
6:36And I...
6:37It's good.
6:38You can't take her over Kwamtree, and they should try.
6:41We've prepared it.
6:42And we've said it.
6:43The parties to Saigon are making that point.
6:46But I have said it every time.
6:47Sure.
6:47We're going to sour some losses.
6:49Sure.
6:52Your dinner last night was an absolute masterpiece.
6:56Well, 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.
7:05And they went up, a couple of them went on the air with, you know, where is Kissinger?
7:08He must be in Paris.
7:10And right after they went off the air,
7:14One network, the other hadn't gone on yet.
7:16NBC had been on right after it came off the air.
7:21It was announced that President Glenn, you know, they had seen your motorcade and asked what was happening.
7:28And Jerry said, yes, the President's coming for dinner on the display.
7:32And that's all he said.
7:33And they said, all right, well, who was with him?
7:36And he said, let me check.
7:37He said, Dr. Kissinger and General Haig.
7:42And it just completely...
7:45They didn't know where they were.
7:48And then it doesn't, they're not starting to figure out where they are.
7:52Now, that's the end of your conclusion at this point.
8:15And not bombing?
8:17We're going to bomb after that.
8:23I tend to agree with it, certainly, last night.
8:26However, I want to see this pulled.
8:28I mean, here's the whole point.
8:29Why that?
8:30If going, if not going to the summit is going to be a plus, then it's worth doing it.
8:36I mean, my point is that if
8:39People still want you to go, despite the things in South Vietnam.
8:41You see what I mean?
8:43And what we accomplished on the road.
8:47Henry is obviously very dissapointed with what happened and he's looking into things and he can't go.
8:51And he's buying the argument that we can't go.
8:57We're in this position.
9:01On the other hand,
9:02There is a counter argument, which is that not going is going to be played as the collapse of the Nixon foreign policy.
9:11Well, the fight is, as I was writing last night, the fight is what we get from cancer.
9:26canceling the summit certainly loses the does.
9:30It hardens the opposition on the board, the Congress, strengthens the hawk, bears the weight of Obama.
9:38But the key is, what happens then?
9:44I mean, if they lose, if canceling the summit, then we go out and bomb, and then we win the war.
9:54And that's the key to winning the war, and we'll do it in a minute.
9:58But the key question is, are they ready?
9:59That canceling the summit, of course, would have an immediate reaction, very courageous, and to do the right thing, to do a good one.
10:09That's not the question.
10:10I was all fixed with it.
10:11But on the other hand, in the final analysis, what really matters is the failure of a successful policy.
10:16Yeah.
10:17It's the failure of a successful policy.
10:20I was, I tried it out on that.
10:27And last night, I involved people.
10:34I'm .
10:34You don't hear it, but there may be other .
10:36As he had mentioned, he said, well, he said, you just can't imagine how much, what strength he's had, what courage he's had.
10:44He volunteered .
10:45He's a really great, really great around.
10:48It's been that way since before here.
10:53And not only do you know I'm a hell of a hawk, but he says, I think you ought to go and get help when you can.
11:04Isn't that serious?
11:05Yeah, if you can...
11:06The problem with that would be, okay, if you can do it still appearing to be in a position of strength by continuing the bonding hall, but if by continuing the bonding they cancel the summit, then you've got another problem.
11:19Maybe it doesn't matter.
11:22If they cancel, you can leap out.
11:24I'd like to put that
11:37Why don't we just drop the analyst thing?
11:59Well, I mean, the problem there is they don't have compulsory chapel.
12:04They have three chapels.
12:05This is the Protestant chapel.
12:09The chapel seats 2,000.
12:11There will be only 1,000 people.
12:12Could you do that?
12:23Yeah.
12:24We haven't announced that we're going or anything.
12:25No, I don't think we have.
12:27I think I could get out of it if I could.
12:29Let me see.
12:30I think you can.
12:31That, that'd be best because we're getting closer to things right now.
12:34Yeah, okay.
12:39Okay, we're there.
12:40Wait.
13:34I have not said anything to him about this.

Nixon & Haldeman on J. Edgar Hoover and Vietnam War

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on May 3, 1972

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