Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 806 › Conversation 806-001

Nixon & Haig on Vietnam War and 1972 Election

Monday, October 23, 1972 · 11:20 PM–11:35 PM ET · Oval Office · 11 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation806-001 on Tape 806StartMonday, October 23, 1972 at 11:20 PMEndMonday, October 23, 1972 at 11:35 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 806-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig met to discuss the status of Vietnam peace negotiations and the strategic timing of an announcement regarding a potential ceasefire. They assessed the volatile behavior of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu and determined that the administration should publicly emphasize the progress made in negotiations without finalizing a settlement before the 1972 election to avoid political complications. The President also reviewed positive feedback regarding his recent trip to New York and reaffirmed the necessity of maintaining pressure on North Vietnam to secure a favorable agreement.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Uh, no, sir, we've got a, uh, sort of friendly, uh, from the North Theater, right?
Right, and there we, there we, we hit the song.
I decided I can't do anything for the election, so, so, I had to, I had to wait on the bus, and I couldn't handle it.
I heard a song, like, uh, an international bomb, which is sort of, I don't know, maybe that, that sort of, you know,
He's got to go down the route that they want him through.
I think they want to settle down.
They've had it.
They've had it.
And he feels better.
Yes, he's tired.
But I think he feels very good.
And we should talk briefly tonight.
We see Rogers from RM10.
Were you able to reassure the one, Rogers, that he was all right?
Yes.
He's been very good all through this.
And Blair's been excellent.
where it's been away from this man and it's been held.
I have very... Of course, the wisdom is nobody knows what the hell's in that flag.
It's a cheap thing to find here.
That's why.
Because in any region, all of them, this is your art, this is your art, the other region, all that stuff.
They're the only ones that have believed it.
No, I think we're in really good shape.
Henry had a hell
He's a paranoia of the first order.
Sure.
After the election, some of you listen.
After the election, I feel it now, don't you?
What else can you say?
We've got a good arrangement.
We've got the means to do it.
We're just going to have to get the hell out of there.
We've done all that has to be done.
If he can't cut it, we're going to be in there with all that equipment and got him.
He wasn't worth saving in the first place.
He'll come, all right, because they're on their knees.
And I think they do want to settle.
Dad, I had no doubt about it.
Well, I'm going to tell you some of the atrocious charges he made.
He made some really atrocious charges.
But he covered that in his .
We were building up the American press against him .
He must not be completely straight.
I wonder if Bunker's lost his .
Apparently, .
No, although he may have held a trunk.
Bunker, I think, about the time of the elections last October, he lost his patience with Chew, and Chew just cut him off.
What?
The last one?
Yes, when he, you know, he rigged that goddamn thing and didn't even have a vote.
That disturbed Bunker a great deal.
But we'll make this point briefly.
Oh, I think so.
Now, Henry's all right.
In fact, I think he's a little relieved.
I'm personally relieved that we don't have to do this before the election, because it's going to be messy.
And it just, it couldn't help him.
It could only hurt him.
Right now, we want to hurt him.
We just want to keep him in the news and buzzed up.
That's easy.
It's two weeks.
I think we're going to let Henry get out.
When we hear back from the North Vietnamese,
substantively and do a little press background or just, not only substance, just on what's been going on.
We've made progress.
We've done some things to settle.
You've got to talk about it.
You've got to use the word progress.
Right.
So, you know, we have, we've made incredible progress.
My God.
We have.
Why isn't it that he said we don't want to ever say it?
You don't want anybody else to say it, but he's got to say it.
No, we can say it now.
He can.
I would say now it's, what about the elections?
I believe that we're making progress regarding the election.
I think if we get to it Wednesday, Tuesday of next week, the more time we bide between now and then, the better.
This will be a fat of three weeks.
I think I'll do it.
Maybe you're going to have to tell it to him.
But if not, maybe not.
Well, Henry had to leave it a little.
He had to smooth it over a little bit before he left.
So he had to smooth it over a little bit this morning before he left.
On the other hand, he left it pretty threatening.
They're behind him unless he makes it impossible for us to continue to support him.
I think the guy's sick.
He's a mental case.
And very insecure.
It has to be that.
I think he's personally insecure within his own group.
Jesus Christ is going to take his place.
He'll reflect on the whole thing.
No, he'll survive.
I think we've given him enough to chew on now.
He knows we're determined to do this.
If he really thinks about it, he's got a pretty damn good deal.
And it'll take a few weeks, and he'll start posturing for this.
Well, he seems to be leaving something on the Saigon.
He's expecting a ceasefire.
That may be for his domestic vision.
I don't know.
And, of course, they're planning like hell for a ceasefire in South Vietnam.
He's forcing it.
So they're going to fire him.
They're planning for a ceasefire.
down in the military.
They had a rousing crowd up there in New York.
They were kind of dang good press officers.
An overflow crowd held up the motorcade.
That's a good report.
Even the press, they counted.
They had four of them.
And then he counted all the cities up and the towns.
The Post would probably say it's 150 times maybe 75.
Yeah, they're saying 450 on the news tonight.
It was, at least.
It's done.
This actually has turned out very well.
It's been good, solid, steady.
progress in search of peace.
No one doubts that you have made a re-election.
That's for sure.
That's for sure.
Let's say the main thing is that they would say, no, we made an offer and we have refused to accept it.
But that puts them in a position where I can say, where I will say, they have reneged and they want advances in the communist government.
Who are they going to believe?
Are they going to believe them or us?
I don't think they're going to do it.
I mean, I may be wrong, but I don't think they're going to do it.
They'll leave a little bit of anti-tube stuff, but...
I thought you'd done that.
I did.
He's doing it again.
It was good that you did it, but I didn't.
I just can't be in there gassing around the ambassador.
That's what I think.
It's just a big game, and they know it.
They know we're trying.
They know they're quiet.
It embarrasses us.
It embarrasses the image, and it is delayed.
We're meeting with me privately.
Why don't you go back?
Yes.
Wait.

NARA Description

On October 23, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:20 pm and 11:35 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 806-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 806-1

Date: October 23, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:20 pm and 11:35 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

        Henry A. Kissinger
           -Telephone conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin

        Vietnam negotiations
            -North Vietnamese
                -Note
                    -Tone
                -Possible settlement of war
                    -Timing
                         -1972 election
                              -Bombing
                                  -Kissinger

        Kissinger

        Vietnam negotiations
            -William P. Rogers
                 -Haig’s briefing
            -Melvin R. Laird
                 -Attitude during negotiations
            -Bureaucracy
            -Nguyen Van Thieu
                 -Kissinger
                 -Attitude after 1972 election
                 -Military equipment
            -Settlement
                 -North Vietnam
            -Thieu
                 -Pressures
                      -The President’s conversation with Rogers
                          -South Korea, Taiwan, Republic of China
                 -Charges

              -Kissinger’s memorandum
                   -The President’s trip to Peking and Moscow
                   -US press
         -Ellsworth F. Bunker
              -Influence
         -Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
         -Bunker
              -October elections
                   -Rigging
    -Settlement
         -Kissinger
         -Timing
              -1972 election
              -Strategy for press coverage
         -Press coverage
              -Kissinger
                   -Nature of press release
                       -1972 election
                   -Meeting
                       -Timing
         -Thieu
              -Possible meeting with the President
              -Kissinger
              -US support
              -Haig’s view
              -Possible leak from Saigon
                   -Cease-fire
              -Cease-fire

New York visit by the President
   -Crowd estimates
       -Press coverage
           -Washington Post
           -New York Times

George S. McGovern's position on the Vietnam War

Vietnam negotiations
    -Settlement
         -Progress
         -US offers

                    -Response
                         -Communist government in South Vietnam
                -Bombing
                    -1972 election
                -North Vietnamese strategy
                    -Thieu
                -Thieu
                    -Kissinger
            -US-Soviet Union relations
                -Dobrynin
                    -Meeting with Kissinger
                    -Meeting with Haig
                    -The President’s schedule
                -Soviet objectives
                    -Settlement
                         -Delay
                -Handling of Dobrynin visit
                    -Haig’s schedule

Haig left at an unknown time before 11:35 pm.

Also recorded on October 24, 1972

  • 806-002 11:35 PM · 28 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:35 pm on October 23, 1972 to 12:05 am on October 24, 1972.
  • 032-010 12:05 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:05 am and 12:10 am.
  • 032-011 12:10 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 12:10 am to 12:17 am.
  • 032-012 12:17 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:17 am and 12:18 am.
  • 032-013 12:17 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 12:17 am to 12:29 am.
  • 806-003 8:45 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:45 am and 8:49 am.
  • 806-004 8:49 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:49 am and 8:58 am.
  • 806-005 8:58 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Dwight L. Chapin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:58 am to 8:59 am.

All 60 conversations from October 24, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 806-001, October 24, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/806-001 (accessed October 9, 2026).