Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-035

Nixon, MacGregor & Hoopes on Vietnam War and Congressional relations

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 4:58 PM–5:05 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); MacGregor, Clark; Hoopes, David C.; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation725-035 on Tape 725 (tape position 04:17:57–04:23:56)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 4:58 PMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 5:05 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-035 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Clark MacGregor to discuss congressional reactions to the Vietnam War, specifically focusing on opposition to the blockade of Haiphong harbor and concerns regarding Senate negotiations with the National Liberation Front. They reviewed recent Harris Poll data indicating public support for the President’s policies despite negative media coverage and critical Senate maneuvers. The conversation also touched upon the assassination attempt on George Wallace, the management of the Black Lung bill, and upcoming changes in the Treasury Department.

Audio

Download MP3 · 8.3 MB

This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 04:17:57 – 04:23:56

part C, 13:41

725a.mp3

725b.mp3

725c.mp3

NARA Description

On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Clark MacGregor, David C. Hoopes, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:58 pm and 5:05 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-035 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 725-35

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:58 pm and 5:05 pm.
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Clark MacGregor; this recording began at an
unknown time while the meeting was in progress.

      Congress
         -Pressures on delegations
         -Polls
               -Louis P. Harris poll
                    -Copy from MacGregor to Senators
                    -Results on Haiphong harbor mining
         -Robert A. Taft, Jr.

                -Meeting with MacGregor
          -Final vote
          -Lowell P. Weicker
                -Meeting with Henry A. Kissinger
          -Press reports
                -White House news summary
                -Tone
          -Foreign policy
                -Ability
                -Specter of Senate negotiations with Madame Nguyen Thi
                 Binh
                -Michael J. Mansfield
                      -Proposed U.S. agreement with National Liberation
                        Front [NLF]
                      -North Vietnam takeover of Cambodia, Laos, and
                        South Vietnam
          -Today's vote
                -Lack of understanding
                      -Weicker
          -Frank F. Church amendment vote
          -Today's vote
                -Breakdown
                -Action by President

David Hoopes entered at 5:03 pm.

      President's schedule
          -Meeting with unknown person(s)

Show the rest of the log (51 more lines)

                -Invitation
                      -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
          -Possible meeting with Senator Robert C. Byrd
                -Black lung bill
                      -Recommendations on possible veto
                      -MacGregor’s view

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:03 pm.

          -Ray C. Bliss
          -Boat trip with John Cardinal Krol
               -Other
               -Time

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:05 pm.

      John B. Connally
          -Resignation as Secretary of Treasury
          -George P. Shultz

      George C. Wallace
         -Shooting
               -President's actions
                     -Contrasted with Hubert H. Humphrey's actions
                     -Call to Cornelia Wallace
                     -Increased Secret Service protection
                           -Edward M. Kennedy
                           -Shirley Chisholm
                           -Others
                     -Offer of Presidential suite at Bethesda Naval
                       Hospital
                     -Call to Mrs. Wallace
                           -Evaluated
                     -Contrasted with Humphrey
                     -Meeting with doctor

      Vietnam
          -President's decision to blockade
                      -The President’s view
                      -Support

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:03 pm.

      Material for President's signature
         -Hoopes

      Vietnam
          -North Vietnam
               -Reason for cease-fire proposal

MacGregor, Hoopes, and Bull left at 5:05 pm.

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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

This morning, their pressure, the pressures they got in terms of personal business from delegations in the United States was absolutely unbelievable.

And I said, well, it was a pressure to tell the press, but what about the people?

Good God, the polls and so forth, you know that.

Well, that isn't the way, that isn't the attitude of the country.

They're just hearing from the raps.

I gave to each of the senators that I was worried about a copy of the Harris Poll in case he'd miss it.

Because the curveball was very significant.

Two and a half to one.

But on the hardest question, too.

The money and the money.

That's right.

Didn't it say it didn't put the piece in full length on?

No.

Well, I say, yeah.

I will.

We've done our best.

I will visit with Bob.

Oh, yeah.

Why not?

No.

Well, here's what Harriet did about us, President.

There's been a whole series of feature stories.

I haven't read time because we haven't had time.

I read the news summary of what time it is we get to say it.

And the bureaucratic problem about the Senate's spineless and its, you know, they're basically foreign policy.

How the hell can they?

How can the Senate negotiate with Matt and Bill to ask

Asking to put in a gentleman on the side of this, he asked for the United States to enter into an agreement with the NLF.

For what?

Well, Mr. President, I need to keep working with you because they're getting out of the point of being absolutely ridiculous.

By then, we will have completed the management of the call for an agreement for a verified ceasefire between the United States forces and the NLF.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

024-152 1:22 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:22 pm and 3:50 pm.
024-153 3:50 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 3:50 pm to 3:58 pm.
024-154 3:58 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:58 pm and 3:59 pm.
024-155 3:59 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 3:59 pm to 4:10 pm.
725-036 5:05 PM · 30 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John N. Mitchell, Ray C. Bliss, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:05 pm to 5:40 pm.
725-037 5:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:43 pm.
725-038 5:43 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John Cardinal Krol, Stephen B. Bull, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:43 pm to 5:54 pm.
725-043 5:54 PM · 15 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:54 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 74 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Nixon phone call with Colson on 1972 election and Senate confirmation process May 17, 1972 · 8 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Butterfield on Foreign policy and Cabinet meeting January 20, 1972 · 18 min
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Vice Presidential speculation May 18, 1972 · 6 min
Nixon, Edwards & Delchamps on Tennessee Tombigbee River project March 22, 1973 · 13 min
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Vietnam War and Clark MacGregor April 20, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Colson on Congressional relations and Vietnam War April 16, 1971 · 5 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 725-035, 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/725-035 (accessed November 2, 2026).