Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 890 › Conversation 890-030

Nixon & Haig on Cambodia and Air operations

Friday, March 30, 1973 · 1:10 PM–1:22 PM ET · Oval Office · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation890-030 on Tape 890StartFriday, March 30, 1973 at 1:10 PMEndFriday, March 30, 1973 at 1:22 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 890-030 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss the escalating military situation in Cambodia and the need to justify continued U.S. air operations to a skeptical Congress. They emphasize that air strikes are necessary because enemy forces have violated established peace agreements. To better assess the crisis, the President instructs Haig to personally visit Cambodia and evaluate the situation on the ground.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 7% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Oh, no.
Oh, is that right?
I was just there.
You made a call.
I don't think it was wise that we probably didn't do that.
I don't know what you think.
What if your present evacuation allows yourself to be with the homeless community?
What about the television reports?
They seem to be going almost overboard in the direction.
and you get in there and it's not a hell and a half, I'm not, I don't know, it's just hard.
You've been analyzing, I don't know, what are you seeing?
And then what the hell is the South?
Those are good gods, they've got a hell of a good time.
Aren't they going a little fight with themselves?
The number of incidents is actually down some, it's not much.
That's what I meant, something that I just very slowly imagined.
Bill, you see the problem we've got out here that we mustn't get into is the sort of crisis mentality that Cambodia has started to bomb.
Well, we're bombing the hell out of them already.
We've got them, but are they getting anything out of the situation?
To what extent do you feel, do you feel right now that we ought to start hitting the heads of the 12th, like we might today, but maybe next week start hitting the 10th and the 11th?
I put a very strong warning in that speech last night, and we can't just ignore that.
I think strong warnings have gone, actually, private warnings have gotten that strong.
See, we've got this problem, you have to face it.
We've got to grow it and build it up with the goddamn Congress, and I'm going to want to struggle to do it in Cambodia.
Uh, now, uh... Well, in fact, I think you've got to do it on, per se, Cambodia, because they broke an agreement.
Exactly.
and that we are keeping an agreement and that they violated an agreement and we're therefore continuing that.
I think as long as air operations, the people will generally support it, too.
Yeah, except that before the POWs were out, the one problem that was rather symbolic, I think, was that
before they were out to choose some money and have some more.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's right.
But now, now again, at this point, we just have to take a damn hard look at what these guys are doing here.
You can't have a collapse like me, that's the point.
Your yourself can't have a collapse.
Well, as you know, we've met very often with Russians, and they claim they're pulling the string, and I know it.
Plus, it may be they're pulling the string in the pipeline, but they're pulling the string in the pipeline so full that it may affect you.
You mean a study?
Yeah, I know.
That won't come up.
We've got to get something.
We're going to have to line up our forces and the government.
We can't have any...
Now, one thing that's been mentioned is not going to start to do with it.
I might want you to go out there to Cambodia and take a look.
I don't know what the hell they're going to find out.
What can we do?
They can't.
They've got to get Mondo the hell out of there somewhere.
They can't really control it.
Yeah.
I get your point.
All right.
You can go out and look at both.
You might just visit all the areas.
That's what I think you're asking.
If you live in Crip, I think you should visit all of them.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Well, certainly if they are needing to be this kind of asshole.
So, Jack and I, we, uh, we, we, uh, we're all a bit of an aid in that kind of thing, I'm sure.
That's, that's, I don't know.
They wanted it.
They, they do want it.
It's got to be, they're going to get it.
That's as long as they're doing this.
And the other thing, too, is the term.
You know what I mean?
I'm not going to be talking about how last they did it.
If they're in violation, no way.
No way.
He also handled the
I guess what we've got to also realize now is that you'd be in a position that anything could come to something meaningful in our situation if we were able to do something there at all.
Hell yeah.
Yeah, Henry was saying he's
It's a matter of his mind.
I mean, he's an unbelievable reporter.
He says he thinks that there might be a big convention that's going to be held in April.
Hell, that's three weeks, two weeks away.
Yeah.
Jesus, I just...
So what do you want us to do, send our forces back in?
You want us to do a bomb?
Yeah.
As a matter of fact, I can give them a few days' smash.
As far as ceasefires are concerned, I don't know.
If they're ready, then they'd be great.
He takes the brunt of the effective action.
He's on air.
Yeah, I'm hoping it will be a problem with the therapist.
He's getting the government out.
He's got everybody on hand.
He won't have any advisors or anything.
Okay, I'll hang.

NARA Description

On March 30, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:10 pm and 1:22 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 890-030 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 890-30

Date: March 30, 1973
Time: Unknown between 1:10 pm and 1:22 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

[See Conversation No. 44-102]

Also recorded on March 30, 1973

  • 044-098 12:58 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:58 pm.
  • 044-099 12:58 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:58 pm.
  • 044-100 12:59 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:59 pm and 1:00 pm.
  • 890-027 12:59 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:59 pm to 1:00 pm.
  • 044-101 1:00 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:00 pm and 1:05 pm.
  • 890-028 1:05 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:05 pm to 1:10 pm.
  • 044-102 1:09 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:09 pm and 1:22 pm.
  • 890-029 1:10 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:10 pm and 1:22 pm.

All 60 conversations from March 30, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 890-030, March 30, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/890-030 (accessed October 5, 2026).