Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-013

Nixon & Haig on Vietnam War and Military morale

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 9:48 AM–9:50 AM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation725-013 on Tape 725 (tape position 01:52:06–01:57:39)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 9:48 AMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 9:50 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discussed the positive reception among military cadets at West Point to the President's recent speech announcing a naval blockade in Vietnam. Haig reported that the cadets were enthusiastic and buoyed by the administration's decisive stance against the conflict. The two also coordinated administrative details regarding upcoming announcements and meeting logistics for later that day.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 100.2 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 01:52:06 into the tape and ends around 01:57:39.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
1:52:14I mean, you need the guys for assistance.
1:52:18First, this is the most enthusiastic gung-ho that they ever saw.
1:52:21Everybody was ready to say, thank God we're doing something.
1:52:24These guys, these bearded wolves, bearded wolves, now they're scared in the name of these things.
1:52:31It was terrific.
1:52:32These were the best that I've listened to in a long time.
1:52:34That's right.
1:52:35Well, let's say that.
1:52:36As you were speaking, they all knew from the beginning of the speech the way it was going to come out that they knew you were going to take strong action.
1:52:43And he just sat there, and the minute he was asked, he said, the barracks just exploded all over the whole campus.
1:52:48In fact, they exploded the cheering, yes.
1:52:53And the cheering went on until 3 o'clock in the morning.
1:52:56The kids, nobody went to bed.
1:52:57They all just had total rejoicing.
1:53:02That's great.
1:53:03Yes, sir.
1:53:03Because they liked the actions of the strongmen.
1:53:07They liked the speech, and they liked the decisive action.
1:53:13You know, these kids, that's been a hell of a problem for them over the years, to keep their morale up.
1:53:17They knew what the...
1:53:18I wonder whether the United States is still going to face up to its problem or whether they're going to crawl.
1:53:28That's right.
1:53:28So, it was a very... Oh, hell, he was just elated.
1:53:31That's where we're doing the whole thing.
1:53:37Good.
1:53:37All right.
1:53:39I'm going to get this back up in a minute.
1:53:41Yes, sir.
1:57:21Could I ask you this?
1:57:22There's one thought.
1:57:24You give Bill Rogers a call to tip him off and say that the president will announce him at the conclusion.
1:57:29That would be very thoughtful.
1:57:31If he, Bill, would make the first statement and send him off to the secretary, would you be sorry to see him go?
1:57:35He's probably a job to be done.
1:57:39Just tell him, tell him that you're not passing this to anybody else because we don't know how the others handled it.
1:57:45The rest of us like him to take the lead and then if others want to say something, fine.
1:57:50The meeting will be recorded.
1:57:52The other thing is with regard to this thing, when would you think that I could go to a creation meeting?
1:57:58It can't be right at lunch hour.
1:57:59But we've got to go when the crowds are out here.
1:58:01Right after the announcement.
1:58:02But after they get out, walk over with the three of them.

NARA Description

On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:48 am to 9:50 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 725-13

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: 9:48 am - 9:50 am
Location: Oval Office

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

       Vietnam
           -President's previous speech on the blockade
                 -West Point
                       -Haig's son's [Brian Haig’s] report
                            -President's retelling to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                 -[Dwight] David Eisenhower II's report
                       -USS Albany
                 -West Point
                       -Response
                            -Duration
                            -Reasons

       President's schedule
           -Forthcoming meeting with Henry A. Kissinger

Haig left.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

  • 024-141 9:47 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:47 am.
  • 725-012 9:47 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 9:47 am.
  • 024-142 9:50 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 9:56 am.
  • 725-014 9:50 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 9:52 am.
  • 725-015 9:50 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 9:56 am.
  • 725-016 9:50 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 9:57 am.
  • 024-143 9:56 AM · 25 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 9:56 am to 9:57 am.
  • 024-144 9:57 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 9:57 am to 9:59 am.

All 113 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 725-013, May 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/725-013 (accessed October 9, 2026).