Canada’s Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, and U.S. President Richard Nixon spoke on the telephone on this date in 1973. Nixon initiated the call as he and his Administration hoped Canada would remain part of the International Commission for Control and Supervision for Vietnam. Trudeau was under great domestic pressure to order Canada’s withdrawal from the largely ineffective organization. Nixon, however, told Trudeau that his government’s remaining part of the commission send a positive message as he and his team continued their efforts to seek an exit from the Vietnam War. In the end Trudeau compromised and extended Canada’s membership by two months, a move greatly appreciated by Nixon.
You can listen to a tape of the conversation, thanks to Nixon’s infamous taping system, at the following link: https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/044/conversation-044-015