April 1971, Richard Nixon and Billy Graham Discuss the Vietnam War

On April 7, 1971, President Richard Nixon spoke for three minutes on the telephone from the Oval Office to the Rev. Billy Graham. Their tape-recorded conversation began at 9:52 p.m., several hours after Nixon had delivered a nationally televised address. In his speech, Nixon announced plans to withdraw some 100,000 U.S. combatants from Vietnam in furtherance of his plan to "Vietnamize" the conflict, which he often stressed he had inherited from two Democratic administrations. In the call, Nixon seeks to explain to Graham, a nationally known evangelist, why President John F. Kennedy was to blame for the war. Kennedy had approved the South Vietnamese coup plot that culminated in South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem's assassination. Kennedy refused to send combat troops to Vietnam, although he did expand the number of U.S. advisers in South Vietnam from the roughly 600 who had been sent by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to about 16,000 when Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. Some of the soldiers did overstep their advisory role and engage in combat, but the only combat activity Kennedy approved was allowing U.S. helicopter pilots to fire on Communist guerrillas before the guerrillas fired on them. The president also mentions Henry Cabot Lodge, Nixon's running mate in the 1960 presidential campaign, who was ambassador to South Vietnam at the time of the coup that overthrew Diem. The newly available transcript from the University of Virginia's Miller Center on Public Affairs follows:

White House operator: Reverend Billy Graham on the line, sir. President Nixon: Who? Operator: Reverend Billy Graham. Nixon: Hello? Operator: There you are. Billy Graham: Hello? Nixon: Hello. Graham: Mr. President? Nixon: Who's this? Billy? Graham: This is Billy Graham. Nixon: How are you? Graham: I want to tell you that that's by far the best anybody has done on Vietnam. And the -- you had me in tears. I really feel that -- Nixon: Well, I was in tears myself, you know. Every time I think of that little Kevin, and he saluted, it just broke me up. Graham: Well, that, I think you even threw old (CBS correspondent) Dan Rather off balance. Nixon: Yeah. Graham: I thought it was just tremendous. And I just wanted to tell you that I -- Nixon: Are you in Knoxville? Graham: What? No, I'm still in Vero Beach, Fla. Nixon: Oh, yeah, yeah. Graham: Yeah, I've been down here about five weeks. Nixon: When do you go to your crusade in Kentucky? Graham: Yes, that starts in about three weeks. Nixon: Oh, yeah. I see. Graham: Have to go to California to deliver a couple of speeches first. Nixon: Right. But you felt it was the right thing. Of course, we're fighting a very tough battle here, you know. Everybody wants to pull out. But I have to fight against the tide. I got to do the right thing. Graham: I think you defused a lot of it tonight, though. I don't see how -- what in the world they can say after tonight. I think that you've given some of -- people like me -- you've given me something to hold onto and to really say. And I've got a editorial in The New York Times on Friday, which I wrote this morning. They -- Nixon: Good for you. Graham: -- asked for it yesterday. Nixon: Good. Graham: And I'm putting all the blame for this whole thing on (President John F.) Kennedy. Nixon: That's right! He started the damn thing! Graham: Well, I -- Nixon: He killed Diem. Graham: Right. Nixon: And he sent the first 16,000 combat people there himself. Graham: Well, I'm saying that the first time I ever heard of our involvement was four days before he was inaugurated, playing golf with him. He said, "We" -- I quote -- "We cannot allow Laos and South Vietnam to fall to the communists." And then I (unclear) -- Nixon: (laughs) Graham: I said, when President (Lyndon B.) Johnson took over, we had 16,000 troops there. Nixon: That's right. Graham: And I said the political climate in the United States -- Nixon: Well, and Diem had been murdered. See -- you see, Billy -- the key thing here was Kennedy's and, I must say, our friend Lodge's agreement to the murder of Diem. Diem -- that's what killed the whole -- that opened the whole thing. Graham: The whole thing. And I said this sentence: I said, "Many of the present doves in the Senate were not then so dovish, even Sen. (J. William) Fulbright (D-Ark.), who introduced the now-famous Tonkin resolution." And I got all that in there, and they've taken it. They're going to print it Friday morning. Nixon: Yeah. Good. Well, anyway, I appreciate -- Graham: But I thought it (was) great. Nixon: Yeah. Graham: Your sincerity and your manner of presentation was just excellent. Nixon: Yeah. Graham: Gosh, it was just wonderful. I was -- Nixon: One thing, incidentally, I, you know, I threw away the text at the last and talked about this little boy that came there, little Kevin, you know, when he saluted me, I damn near broke up. Graham: I'm sure you did. Nixon: Well, you know how it is. Graham: I sure do. Nixon: It's awful tough, isn't it? Graham: Well, God bless. You've got a lot of people praying for you and pulling for you. Nixon: Well, believe me, Billy, it means an awful lot. And you keep the faith, huh? Graham: You betcha. Nixon: Keep the faith. Graham: Yes, sir. Bye. Nixon: Our folks, we're gonna win.