On May 9, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:55 pm to 6:13 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 722-014 of the White House Tapes.
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 Do not cite this transcript as authoritative.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.
He's very willing to take it on in his press conference tomorrow.
And that'll be our best good man, because that'll get attention.
See, Laird was a Republican congressman during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
He strongly supported President Kennedy.
I should mention that I did, too.
He will?
He appointed U.S.
Governor Kennedy for governor.
Yeah.
And, God, remember Tommy Keeble ran out in his jumpsuit and climbed on his airplane and flew back to support Kennedy in the Senate and all that kind of stuff?
That, uh...
We've had a bad vote in the Senate in the Democratic Congress.
They voted the other way, so we've got to take them on and hit them.
How bad was the vote?
There were three different votes, so I'm not sure.
When they finally boiled down, they went a very heavy vote to go for the Cooper Chase thing, 35 to 8 or something like that.
But earlier, it was much closer, like 21 to 14 or 20.
different kind of thing on that, on the, what is the Cooper case on that, just bug out, cut out puns.
Well, and so we're moving to counteract that.
We're taking all our campaign organization types, the ones that Virginia telegrams to begin with, moving them to attacks
from the districts or states on the Senators with the, you know, maximum efficiency we could get on that.
And we'll move that from their areas.
We've got a lot of people ginned up.
We've got a resource rolling now that we want to keep in action.
That seems like the best thing for it to do at this point is to hit the bad guys.
That would keep on bolstering the good guys.
They aren't going to need as much as the bad guys need in an attack.
I guess they just weren't able to get enough support from the center.
No.
And Allen, in the caucus, tried to get a resolution condemning the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam.
And Cranston moved to change the word invasion to encourage them.
Encourage them.
And that asked...
So Alan said, fuck you, I withdraw the resolution and walked out of the caucus.
So I think we've got Alan set to take on, which would also be good.
If Laird does this tomorrow, which he's going to do, then we'll move to get Connolly on Thursday.
It'd be better not to double.
Well, I think it's predictable that the Democratic senators are going to do this.
What do you think, Alan?
It's unbelievable.
I mean, it's unconscionable, but also predictable in this election year.
Well, you know, if they really put us to it, we've tried everything.
If this thing works, they should be crucified.
The Russians apparently have ordered their ships to stay in port.
In Hanover?
In Hanover.
Why isn't it done yet?
so we can't blow up the docks.
Well, I've never been all that sure that we should blow up the docks, because if we do, we're really taking away an asset.
As long as the harbor is mine, they can't go in anyway, so it doesn't make any difference.
I don't know if all the docks and ships are there or anything.
I'd leave it alone.
We're going tonight after that railway bridge in Hanoi.
Tonight we're taking out the POL around Hanoi.
and the railway bridge and the marshalling guards.
They think they got about a thousand trucks in the strike the other day.
And we're just going to grind them down now.
Tomorrow we go after the Haiphong P.O.L.
and other railway marshalling guards.
The closest vote was finally on the 14th.
You said it was on a guy named Tiger.
That's your name and close to that.
They're going to cut off all funds for the end of the year.
Four months.
Cooper Church is four months.
Yeah, they changed it to the four months to fit your timetable.
Four months from the day, four months from the release of prisoners.
Well, the POWs won't even not cease firing now.
No, they won't be sending them out.
It's only a psychological thing.
Misfortune as far as, I mean, it looks like the Senate voted against this.
It is the one that's going to have any substantive effect because they've got to let the prisoners out for it to have any, well, it would be hard for us to beat it on the floor.
No, yeah, but they're pushing a filibuster.
Well, God damn it, why not?
Just filibuster and put a rifle sword on them.
We don't plan to take them long again.
Good, that's
I will muster a question.
And that's why we're hitting these senators.
We've got some walkers.
We've got to work on them.
We think... Well, if they could have the word cease firing to us, I mean, we're in pretty good shape.
Well, we don't know who the absentees were in the caucus.
We think we have 16 Democratic senators with us.
And if we do, we're all right.
You can't get all the Republicans because you've got Case gone.
You know what I mean?
You've got Javits gone.
If you don't, with 16 Democrats, with 16 Democrats.
Well, that's the way the panel goes.
You've got to really leave it all out and realize it.
We'd have had this dam boat just the same if we hadn't done this.
Well, sure.
Plus, you have now.
You have now.
But now you have a hell of a lot of people with you.
And we wouldn't have strongly with you who were wavering before.
You have a complete switch of the POW lives.
You have a complete switch of the hearts.
You have a complete switch of the lives.
And what else can they do?
I mean, this is super, you know, and that, it's all these things that we've got to, you know, it's ongoing for us now.
Well, it's basically a media story, the media who attacked the Senate.
The Senate voted today, this and that, and Mr. Ryan put in a petition to impeach the president.
It doesn't make any difference if we crack these facets now.
That's correct.
That's the point.
The only difference is what occurred in the beginning of the Russians.
No.
I think the freedom is pretty sophisticated.
Each senior goes through this now three times.
I've got the advance information on the poll that they're running tonight.
which is something like 70% support and 15% oppose, and 15 have decided that that's not the straight-line question.
Do you survive together?
I don't think they make their decision on that basis.
Well, they might make their decision on the basis of the thing that I was thinking.
They might make their decision on the basis of whether I'm going to be around or not.
I think Hanoi will make the decision on that basis.
I think the Soviet Union has one problem only, which is how can they...
maintain their communist virginity in the face of this challenge.
They'd like to get out of it.
They don't want to confront us over this.
And I think what they'll do.
Good.
How did you get along today, this afternoon?
Have you been pretty busy with people?
I've had a WhatsApp meeting.
I didn't do any briefings, but I'll do tomorrow.
Right.
good reactions to the morning briefing.
Good, good.
So you didn't have to do anything anymore?
And a lot of it was hyped around the government.
I don't know how the briefing went this afternoon.
They said very well.
They said Laird just did a superb job.
I cracked him on the wing when I called home.
I said Bill was all right, but he went and he droned on for 45 minutes and just wiped everybody out.
He went on for 45 minutes?
Usually he's very brave.
They also said this man at the border did very well.
He's got a thing about minds.
He'll get it started on minds.
He starts slobbering.
He gets almost sexual about it.
I love it.
We've got everything right where we want it right now.
It's better.
Well, all these troubles will start when the Russians cancel the summit.
You need to get another psychological...
It isn't going to be as bad... That's not going to be as bad as you think because it's heavily discounted.
Okay.
Well, you say our real trouble starts in Rio.
It's... We have to realize it's not only happening this summer, but it's...
But we are... We...
We thoroughly expect it.
In other words, we have no doubts about that.
The North Vietnamese, they're beginning now to crank up the attack on the way.
If we can knock that one, if we can defeat that, I think...
I think, well, he's now...
Finally, Abrams is doing what the President has been wanting.
Because he's got 30 P-52s he's using like tactical air.
He doesn't give them targets, he just keeps them
And they can't go in when something develops.
They're now systematically leveling the area between, on the north of Hawaii, right up back to the DMZ.
They threw in 10,000 rounds of artillery to our people.
That's great.
Yesterday.
And 30 B-52 strikes.
Now, if there's any living thing left in there, it's just hard to imagine.
Where does he go?
Looking at the situation with regard to the cancellation of the summit, is there anything you think we can do, Bob, to handle it, to handle the problem?
No, I think you just say that that's, it's, you, that's positioned exactly right now.
It's on the Russians' hands if they cancel the summit.
You, you stated your position.
You stated it very well.
You moved from East.
I don't think you're going to have a problem.
They'll give the screeners some more to screen.
The goddamn Chinese put out a statement today saying that
It's a challenge to Moscow.
They're trying to work us on it.
Well, they know.
They can see the speech didn't mention them.
Well, what they put out was the speech didn't mention them because they know it has too many good appeals to them, and we solved this in Moscow.
Good luck.
But anyway, Henry, I was hard to realize, almost the day it's been.
I must say, the senators are just about to participate today.
I must say, too, that I am getting a little tired of having these goddamn seances with Mansfield and never having him before us.
What do you think?
I don't know.
Or do you agree?
I agree.
We all just have fun with these kinds of things.
We've seen what happens once again.
I've discussed that now.
We'll love each other.
We don't care what the goddamn vote is.
They can't come all the way back.
They'll never get a butt cut off from the House.
Not in the book election, anyway.
In the election.
That's right.
But before the election, we've unbroken these masters one way or the other.
But you agree?
I don't see how they can.
They will now attack, extremely tough with our money.
They've got to.
They want to see whether they can track it.
That's why it's so important for us to have an extreme tough.
Oh, could I suggest one other thing, too?
Should the Russians move on Thursday?
I then think that our best reaction to that, in addition to a statement, is for Abrams to divert a hell of a strike the very next day.
What do you think?
I think we should not hear anything particularly today.
They have a lot of options.
They can cancel.
From some point of view, just canceling is somebody's disordered option, and they keep everything else going.
And supposing we get sold, and all the other things, anyway.
Hold the statement of principles for a later occasion.
They can cancel.
They can postpone.
They can cancel.
They can postpone.
They can cut all relations with us.
I mean, I could draw them back, but they could just knock off on the co-chairs.
The president, they'll be back.
They've got to be back.
We've got to lead spirits up and down and they'll be back.
The next interesting question is whether or not you've had the first visit to China.
Is that an announcement?
Just let it play.
Was that going to be more than equal?
Well, we just play it.
If it isn't, that's all I do.
My own view is this.
I think we have seen the issue clearly.
I mean, we like to keep the Chinese game going.
We like to keep the Russian game going.
But if we get stocked in Vietnam, both games will collapse at this point.
No question.
What would be a good move is...
If the Russians postpone the summit at Aranda and Peking again, that would sort of put it further.
After this thing settles down in two or three weeks, we can ask the Chinese again.
But if the Russian summit goes through, then certainly the Peking will go through.
If the Russian summit gets postponed, then I'm just asking whether there's still some sense in going.
But if I put it on the basis that it's canceled, we're still willing to come.
But we don't want to cause any embarrassment to them.
We just might have a number of things we can talk about.
But we've got a lot of money in the bank.
It was really a devilish statement.
Put out as a commentator's argument is that, of course, this makes Hanoi much more dependent on China.
And it not depends on whether Russia will accept it.
If Russia accepts the blockade, of course, China will, of course, very soon be in ship more supplies.
Do they mean that the Russians should try to run it?
Well, they can afford to be tough in Russia's expense.
They're very funny.
Of course, they want to bust something.
A lot of people here do, too.
Incidentally, don't worry a bit about any of the, not only the Senate, but any of the commentaries, columnists, and the rest.
I'm drawing the sword.
I'm really talking about this.
But the reason we're calm is that we've done the right thing.
It's not that I ran it.
And it is out to others who have fallen first.
We're going to see it through.
All right.
Thank you.