Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 12 › Conversation 012-081

Nixon, Lodge & Rogers on Taiwan and United Nations

Friday, October 22, 1971 · 8:08 AM–3:05 PM ET · White House Telephone · 8 min

ParticipantsWhite House operator; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Lodge, John D.; Rogers, William P.Conversation012-081 on Tape 12 (tape position 03:01:37–03:09:12)StartFriday, October 22, 1971 at 8:08 AMEndFriday, October 22, 1971 at 3:05 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 012-081 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers coordinate with U.S. Ambassador to Argentina John D. Lodge to secure a critical vote regarding the status of Taiwan at the United Nations. Nixon emphasizes the personal nature of the request, urging Lodge to meet immediately with Argentine President Alejandro Augustin Lanusse to pressure the country to support the U.S. position on the "important question" resolution. Both Nixon and Rogers stress that an Argentine vote in favor of this procedural motion is essential to prevent Taiwan's expulsion from the UN, dismissing counterarguments regarding the UN charter as irrelevant to the strategic priority.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 13% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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This is Mr. Butterfield.
The President asked me for Ambassador Lodge in Argentina.
Now I have Ambassador John Davis Lodge.
I'm hoping that's who he wants.
Is that our Ambassador in Argentina?
Well, I don't know.
That's what the President asked me for, Ambassador Lodge.
And I have an American Embassy, Ambassador John Davis Lodge.
For a minute I was thinking of Henry Camp at large, but I guess that's fine.
Yeah, I think that's the one.
Can I put you on hold, or can you just hang up and let me check that and call you right back?
The President's out in the Rose Garden now anyway, getting a picture taken.
I'm not seeing this man on the line all right.
Well, let's just hold him for one second.
You've got John Davis Lodge.
Yes, sir.
Yes.
That's all right now.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
Hi, Peter.
Yes, sir.
Yes, you've got the right one, and the president's coming in in about 30 seconds.
Thank you, Mr. Butterfield.
So do you want to just stay on the line here?
Yes, uh-huh.
Okay, well, we'll hold open.
And I think he will be calling Governor Holton here right after he talks to... Sir?
I think he will be calling Governor Holton, too, right after he talks to Ambassador Lodge.
All right.
I alerted somebody earlier to that.
All right.
He's going to be calling Governor Holton there.
Do we have...
I'll put you on hold until the President picks up.
Yes, sir.
Okay.
Doesn't she have something else?
Yeah, wait a minute.
She's got something.
Hold on here.
Yeah, she's got something.
I have to stay with this.
If he ever calls in, we're just asking him, where are you?
Every number you give us is wrong.
Hello.
Hello.
President Nixon?
Yes.
Go ahead, please.
Hello, John.
Yes, sir.
How are you, Mr. President?
Fine.
I have Bill Rogers on the other phone here.
And the purpose of this call is to underline our concern about the vote Tuesday, which is probably Tuesday on Taiwan.
What I want you to do is to go in to see the president.
telling that I have called you personally on the phone, and that I have asked you, you've already carried an oral message in, but this puts more behind it, and that we've just taken our vote count, and Argentina's may be the vote that will determine whether we win or lose it, and that I feel, having just received our new ambassador here, and I liked him very much, he spoke highly of you, but that I feel
An old friend of Argentina's and a good friend of Argentina's that I would feel personally very, very distressed if Argentina was the vote that defeated the United States in something in which we have such a very great interest.
I wondered if you would... What's that?
I shall certainly use that.
Yeah, and I... What's that?
I think if we can put it...
I have his first cousin who's going to the States coming in to see me in about 10 minutes.
Right.
And I'm trying to get an appointment for today, but I'm glad... Well, you can tell him... What I think you should do is to call the President and tell him that I just called you and yet you have an urgent personal message.
Because this vote is Tuesday, but the main point being that I just feel that I consider this a personal matter of the highest order.
Now, incidentally, you can also tell him that my good friend and your good friend Finch will be there very shortly, and we want to discuss things of mutual interest.
But go the extra mile.
I look forward to his visit.
I think it's a very helpful idea.
But I want you to go the extra mile in telling him as strongly as you can that Argentina is probably the one vote that will make the difference.
We think this would be very unfortunate to have these two great countries, the great country of the South and the great country of the North, divided.
Okay.
Just a minute, here's Bill.
Say, John, I want to be sure that you tell the President we want a yes vote on the important question.
Yes, sir.
I've already told the Foreign Minister and I want to tell the President.
We're not so interested in anything else.
We want a yes vote on the important question.
We don't want an abstention or anything else.
That's right.
And we don't care how...
The important question to come up first.
Yeah.
That's right.
And incidentally, yes on the important question, and we don't give a damn how they vote on the other things.
Do you understand?
Well, they're going to vote against the second part of the Albanian resolution because they... That doesn't help us.
How are they going to vote on the important question?
Well, they haven't decided yet.
That is the critical vote.
No matter how they vote on the other one, if they vote no on the important question, we'll lose the other one.
You see?
Yes, sir.
If they vote no on the important question, Taiwan will be kicked out.
And also, it sets a precedent for kicking other countries out by a simple majority, which is absolutely wrong.
See?
Like Israel.
Of course, the foreign minister keeps talking about Article 6 and Article 18.
He says he doesn't see how the matter can be presented this way to the United Nations.
And I understand that Ambassador Mounir presented this to Secretary of State that way.
Is that right, Bill?
Yeah, but it's a lot of baloney.
Christ, we've got half the members voting, and theirs is a key vote.
All they have to do is vote yes with us on the important question.
And obviously expelling Taiwan is an important question.
It certainly is, but I understood that according to Article 18, they have to get two-thirds for a thing like that.
No, no.
No, no, no.
They've got to vote yes on the important question or Taiwan is expelled.
They just must be told that.
Tell them that that's my judgment, too, that I've studied this damn charter.
And this is very important, John.
Get in there and see him.
Get that vote, okay?
Okay.
We'll do that.
Thank you.
All right.

NARA Description

On October 22, 1971, the White House operator, Alexander P. Butterfield, President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Lodge, and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:08 am and 3:05 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-081 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 012-081

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Date: October 22, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:08 am and 3:05 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The White House operator talked with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     The President's request for John D. Lodge in Argentina
          -Henry Cabot Lodge
          -The President's location
               -Rose Garden

[The telephone call was placed on hold]

     The President's schedule
          -Linwood Holton
          -Lodge

[The telephone call was placed on hold]

The President talked with John D. Lodge between 3:05 pm and 3:09 pm.

     William P. Rogers

     United Nations [UN] vote on Taiwan
          -Purpose of telephone call
          -Argentina
               -Lodge’s instructions from the President
               -General Alejandro Augustin Lanusse
               -The President’s view
               -Robert H. Finch
               -Lodge’s efforts
                     -The President’s view

Rogers talked with Lodge at an unknown time between 3:05 pm and 3:09 pm.

                 -Argentine’s vote
                 -Albanian resolution
                 -Israel

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

                 -UN chapter
                 -Ambassador Mounjay (sp?)
                 -Argentine’s vote
                      -Need to support US position

Also recorded on October 22, 1971

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  • 012-080 8:08 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:08 am and 3:05 pm.
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  • 599-002 8:08 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:08 am and 8:50 am.
  • 599-018 8:08 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:08 am and 8:50 am.
  • 599-003 8:50 AM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:50 am to 8:52 am.
  • 599-004 8:58 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:58 am to 8:59 am.
  • 599-005 9:06 AM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:06 am to 9:25 am.

All 50 conversations from October 22, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 012-081, October 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-081 (accessed October 1, 2026).