Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 806-001
Date: Monday, October 23, 1972 at 11:20 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/806-001

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:34] Uh, no, sir, we've got a, uh, sort of friendly, uh, from the North Theater, right?
[0:38] Right, and there we, there we, we hit the song.
[0:40] 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.
[0:48] I heard a song, like, uh, an international bomb, which is sort of, I don't know, maybe that, that sort of, you know,
[1:03] He's got to go down the route that they want him through.
[1:07] I think they want to settle down.
[1:09] They've had it.
[1:14] They've had it.
[1:14] And he feels better.
[1:16] Yes, he's tired.
[1:17] But I think he feels very good.
[1:19] And we should talk briefly tonight.
[1:22] We see Rogers from RM10.
[1:23] Were you able to reassure the one, Rogers, that he was all right?
[1:27] Yes.
[1:27] He's been very good all through this.
[1:31] And Blair's been excellent.
[1:33] where it's been away from this man and it's been held.
[1:37] I have very... Of course, the wisdom is nobody knows what the hell's in that flag.
[1:41] It's a cheap thing to find here.
[1:42] That's why.
[1:43] Because in any region, all of them, this is your art, this is your art, the other region, all that stuff.
[1:49] They're the only ones that have believed it.
[1:57] No, I think we're in really good shape.
[1:59] Henry had a hell
[2:03] He's a paranoia of the first order.
[2:05] Sure.
[2:06] After the election, some of you listen.
[2:12] After the election, I feel it now, don't you?
[2:17] What else can you say?
[2:19] We've got a good arrangement.
[2:21] We've got the means to do it.
[2:22] We're just going to have to get the hell out of there.
[2:27] We've done all that has to be done.
[2:28] If he can't cut it, we're going to be in there with all that equipment and got him.
[2:32] He wasn't worth saving in the first place.
[2:36] He'll come, all right, because they're on their knees.
[2:40] And I think they do want to settle.
[2:44] Dad, I had no doubt about it.
[2:51] Well, I'm going to tell you some of the atrocious charges he made.
[3:00] He made some really atrocious charges.
[3:03] But he covered that in his .
[3:07] We were building up the American press against him .
[3:11] He must not be completely straight.
[3:22] I wonder if Bunker's lost his .
[3:26] Apparently, .
[3:29] No, although he may have held a trunk.
[3:34] Bunker, I think, about the time of the elections last October, he lost his patience with Chew, and Chew just cut him off.
[3:49] What?
[3:49] The last one?
[3:50] Yes, when he, you know, he rigged that goddamn thing and didn't even have a vote.
[3:54] That disturbed Bunker a great deal.
[3:59] But we'll make this point briefly.
[4:02] Oh, I think so.
[4:04] Now, Henry's all right.
[4:05] In fact, I think he's a little relieved.
[4:08] I'm personally relieved that we don't have to do this before the election, because it's going to be messy.
[4:13] And it just, it couldn't help him.
[4:16] It could only hurt him.
[4:19] Right now, we want to hurt him.
[4:21] We just want to keep him in the news and buzzed up.
[4:25] That's easy.
[4:26] It's two weeks.
[4:28] I think we're going to let Henry get out.
[4:30] When we hear back from the North Vietnamese,
[4:34] substantively and do a little press background or just, not only substance, just on what's been going on.
[4:40] We've made progress.
[4:42] We've done some things to settle.
[4:43] You've got to talk about it.
[4:44] You've got to use the word progress.
[4:46] Right.
[4:47] So, you know, we have, we've made incredible progress.
[4:50] My God.
[4:51] We have.
[4:51] Why isn't it that he said we don't want to ever say it?
[4:54] You don't want anybody else to say it, but he's got to say it.
[4:57] No, we can say it now.
[4:59] He can.
[4:59] I would say now it's, what about the elections?
[5:06] I believe that we're making progress regarding the election.
[5:18] I think if we get to it Wednesday, Tuesday of next week, the more time we bide between now and then, the better.
[5:32] This will be a fat of three weeks.
[5:43] I think I'll do it.
[5:43] Maybe you're going to have to tell it to him.
[5:48] But if not, maybe not.
[5:52] Well, Henry had to leave it a little.
[5:54] He had to smooth it over a little bit before he left.
[5:58] So he had to smooth it over a little bit this morning before he left.
[6:04] On the other hand, he left it pretty threatening.
[6:08] They're behind him unless he makes it impossible for us to continue to support him.
[6:14] I think the guy's sick.
[6:18] He's a mental case.
[6:21] And very insecure.
[6:22] It has to be that.
[6:23] I think he's personally insecure within his own group.
[6:28] Jesus Christ is going to take his place.
[6:31] He'll reflect on the whole thing.
[6:36] No, he'll survive.
[6:36] I think we've given him enough to chew on now.
[6:40] He knows we're determined to do this.
[6:42] If he really thinks about it, he's got a pretty damn good deal.
[6:47] And it'll take a few weeks, and he'll start posturing for this.
[6:51] Well, he seems to be leaving something on the Saigon.
[6:54] He's expecting a ceasefire.
[6:55] That may be for his domestic vision.
[6:57] I don't know.
[7:00] And, of course, they're planning like hell for a ceasefire in South Vietnam.
[7:05] He's forcing it.
[7:06] So they're going to fire him.
[7:09] They're planning for a ceasefire.
[7:11] down in the military.
[7:18] They had a rousing crowd up there in New York.
[7:20] They were kind of dang good press officers.
[7:24] An overflow crowd held up the motorcade.
[7:29] That's a good report.
[7:30] Even the press, they counted.
[7:38] They had four of them.
[7:41] And then he counted all the cities up and the towns.
[7:43] The Post would probably say it's 150 times maybe 75.
[7:51] Yeah, they're saying 450 on the news tonight.
[7:54] It was, at least.
[7:56] It's done.
[8:14] This actually has turned out very well.
[8:28] It's been good, solid, steady.
[8:41] progress in search of peace.
[8:42] No one doubts that you have made a re-election.
[8:47] That's for sure.
[8:48] That's for sure.
[8:49] Let's say the main thing is that they would say, no, we made an offer and we have refused to accept it.
[8:57] 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.
[9:06] Who are they going to believe?
[9:08] Are they going to believe them or us?
[9:17] I don't think they're going to do it.
[9:20] I mean, I may be wrong, but I don't think they're going to do it.
[9:29] They'll leave a little bit of anti-tube stuff, but...
[9:55] I thought you'd done that.
[9:57] I did.
[9:58] He's doing it again.
[9:58] It was good that you did it, but I didn't.
[10:05] I just can't be in there gassing around the ambassador.
[10:10] That's what I think.
[10:11] It's just a big game, and they know it.
[10:15] They know we're trying.
[10:17] They know they're quiet.
[10:18] It embarrasses us.
[10:20] It embarrasses the image, and it is delayed.
[10:32] We're meeting with me privately.
[10:36] Why don't you go back?
[10:38] Yes.
[10:38] Wait.