Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 246 › Conversation 246-021

Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Presidential speechwriting

Wednesday, April 7, 1971 · 4:10 PM–4:30 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation246-021 on Tape 246 (tape position 04:10:00–04:14:02)StartWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 4:10 PMEndWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 4:30 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 246-021 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417183295 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger reviewed the draft of the President’s televised address on Vietnam scheduled for that evening. They focused on refining the speech's tone by excising a paragraph that emphasized the difficulties of the war, opting instead for a more optimistic, upbeat message. Nixon coordinated the final edits with Rose Mary Woods and confirmed communication logistics with John Connally to ensure the speech was finalized before the broadcast.

Audio

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NARA Description

On April 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 246-021 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 246-021

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

Date: April 7, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger

     President’s forthcoming speech on Vietnam, April 7, 1971
           -Possible changes
           -Press copy
                 -President’s conversation with Rose Mary Woods
           -Possible changes
           -Kissinger’s conversation with John B. Connally
           -Possible changes

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hi.
Uh, you'll, by the way, you can talk.
Yeah.
I, uh, was looking here for the last, uh, we've got too long, it's difficult, and Ted writes, uh, uh, it's about page 14, I imagine, of your, uh, uh, and I'm just wondering about striking the paragraph, I'm sure you can.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This question, have you got the section, that is why I have chartered the course tonight?
You got that?
That's why I've chartered the course, I've chartered the night.
And it's the way that we start to discuss for an hour on the word of God.
And the way that we repeat it.
You go on and say, it's the next paragraph that I may be.
You see, the Course, we've talked so much about everything being so hard.
The Course for the Fallen is not easy one, and I have to tell you, the Daily Test, the Vanguards, the Vengeance of all the rules of our spirit, has been a long and difficult trial for us.
Would you mind taking that up?
Why?
Because later on, I use law in the next program.
Or do you feel it adds something?
I just don't know.
We haven't really covered that.
Let's take our sentence up.
You can go directly into the next room.
There's no problem with that.
That's where you go.
You can easily go tear it apart, do I?
I'm sure you're nice and kind.
In other words, you're ending in a totally upbeat thing, rather than on a going back again over the fact that things are tough.
I just think that it's either
That makes it tough.
I talk about the boys that die.
Why don't we take this up?
Of course, we're following it.
And I told Rose to check it.
We've got to hold it.
But is she doing it or not?
Whoever is doing it, I think she's doing it.
It hasn't been given to them.
By God, it hasn't been given to them.
She does it.
That's only for a third of the time.
All right, take the paragraph out.
Of course, if you're following, it's not an easy one.
I just think let's keep it on an upbeat note as we go in there.
But you see, because of the conclusion, I've got a lot of, you know, business about sorrow there.
You know, people don't want to hear about sorrow.
It doesn't matter so much.
They want to hear something about it.
All right, fine.
And I will... You can call Rose and tell her to cut.
Of course we are following.
I've already alerted her.
I told her to hold the press conference when you called.
Of course we are following, son.
If he doesn't sound down, maybe I've got one guy that's going to sound up in the whole test.
You gave him the number.
How did he feel about it?
One egg, huh?
Here it is.
Okay.
West Coast.
How will he be informed then?
I have a threat of reaching, and I wait now until 7.30.
Fine.
Okay, take that paragraph out now.
Fine.

Also recorded on April 7, 1971

  • 246-018 3:55 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:55 pm and 4:09 pm.
  • 246-019 3:55 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:55 pm and 4:09 pm.
  • 246-020 4:09 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:09 pm to 4:10 pm.
  • 246-022 4:10 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm.
  • 246-023 4:10 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm.
  • 246-024 4:10 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm.
  • 246-025 4:10 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm.
  • 246-026 4:30 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), White House operator, and John W. Dean, III met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:30 pm to 5:05 pm.

All 79 conversations from April 7, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 246-021, April 7, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417183295). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/246-021 (accessed October 29, 2026).