“It's a Pentagon Study, Huh?”

Richard Nixon and Alexander Haig Jr. discuss the newly-released Pentagon Papers on June 13, 1971.

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(President Nixon): Hello.

(Operator): General Haig, sir. Ready.

(President Nixon): Hello.

(Alexander Haig): Yes, sir.

(President Nixon): Hi, Al. How- what about the casualties last week? You got the figure yet?

(Alexander Haig): No, sir, but I think it's going to be quite low.

(President Nixon): Mm-hmm.

(Alexander Haig): It should be as-

(President Nixon): Should be.

(Alexander Haig): -last week or better.

(President Nixon): Yeah, because it should be less than 20, I would think, yeah.

(Alexander Haig): This will be very-

(President Nixon): Hey, uh, when do you get that, do you- will you know?

(Alexander Haig): We don't get it officially until Monday afternoon, but we can get a reading on it.

(President Nixon): Right, well, Monday afternoon officially? Well, let's wait until then. Fine. Okay. Nothing else of interest in the world today?

(Alexander Haig): Yes, sir, very significant, this goddamn New York Times expose of the most highly classified documents of the war.

(President Nixon): Oh, that. I see.

(Alexander Haig): That, that-

(President Nixon): I didn't read the story, but you mean that was leaked out of the Pentagon?

(Alexander Haig): Sir, the whole study that was done for McNamara and then carried on after McNamara left by Clifford and the peaceniks over there. This is a devastating security breach of the greatest magnitude of anything I've ever seen.

(President Nixon): Well, what's being done about it, then? I mean, I didn't... Did we know this was coming out?

(Alexander Haig): No, we did not, sir.

(President Nixon): Yeah.

(Alexander Haig): There are just a few copies of this...

(President Nixon): Well, what about the-

(Alexander Haig): ... 12-volume report.

(President Nixon): Well, what about the... let me ask you this, though, what about the- what about Laird? What's he going to do about it? Is-

(Alexander Haig): Well, I-

(President Nixon): Now, I'd just start right at the top and fire some people. I mean, whoever, whatever department it came out of, I'd fire the top guy.

(Alexander Haig): Yes, sir. Well, I'm sure it came from Defense, and I'm sure it was stolen at the time of the turnover of the administration.

(President Nixon): Oh, it's two years old, then.

(Alexander Haig): I'm sure it is, and they've been holding it for a juicy time, and I think they've thrown it out to affect Hatfield-McGovern. That's my own estimate. But it's something that is a mixed bag. It's a tough attack on Kennedy. It shows that the genesis of the war really occurred during the '61 period.

(President Nixon): Yeah. Yeah. That's Clifford. I see.

(Alexander Haig): And it's brutal on President Johnson. They're going to end up in a massive gut fight in the Democratic Party on this thing.

(President Nixon): Are they?

(Alexander Haig): It's a- there's some very-

(President Nixon): But also, massive against the war.

(Alexander Haig): Against the war.

(President Nixon): But it's a Pentagon study, huh?