Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 316 › Conversation 316-004

Nixon, Kissinger & Woods on Vietnam War and Speechwriting

Tuesday, January 25, 1972 · 2:25 PM–2:33 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 8 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose Mary; Kissinger, Henry A.; Acker, Marjorie P.Conversation316-004 on Tape 316 (tape position 01:42:41–01:51:05)StartTuesday, January 25, 1972 at 2:25 PMEndTuesday, January 25, 1972 at 2:33 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 316-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Rose Mary Woods, Henry Kissinger, and Marjorie Acker to finalize the text and pacing of an upcoming major address on Vietnam. The participants coordinated last-minute revisions to the speech, discussed international diplomatic reactions—specifically regarding the French government—and reviewed feedback from administration officials like Robert Finch. Additionally, Nixon established communication protocols for the evening, directing staff to screen all incoming calls so he could focus exclusively on the speech preparations.

Audio

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Position in tape: 01:42:41 – 01:51:05

part A, 1:42:42

316a.mp3
316b.mp3

NARA Description

On January 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Henry A. Kissinger, Rose Mary Woods, and Marjorie P. Acker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:25 pm to 2:33 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 316-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 316-4

Date: January 25, 1972
Time: 2:25 pm - 2:33 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.

     The President's forthcoming Vietnam speech
          -Preparation
               -Changes
                      -Henry A. Kissinger's views
                            -Reading copy

[The President talked with Kissinger at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:33 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-4A]

           -Woods's delivery
           -Possible mention of France
                -Maurice Schumann
                -Kissinger's briefing
                -French Government

     Kissinger
          -Health
               -Schedule

     The President's schedule
          -Meeting with Congress
               -Kissinger
          -Forthcoming speech

     Ronald L. Ziegler's briefing

     The President's forthcoming speech
          -Georges J.R. Pompidou
          -Nguyen Van Thieu
          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

The President conferred with Woods at an unknown time.

     Instruction

[End of conferral]
Show the rest of the log (63 more lines)
     The President's forthcoming speech
          -Robert H. Finch's views
               -Michael J. Mansfield
                      -All Indochina Peace Conference
                            -Nine-point program
               -Indochina
                      -Cambodia and Laos

[End of telephone conversation]

          -Change
          -Length
               -Marjorie P. Acker

[Woods talked with Acker at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:33 pm.]

[Conversation No. 316-4B]

                     -Page count

[End of telephone conversation]

     Laura Peterson
          -Father, William H. Peterson
          -Call
                -Request
                     -Tour [?]

     Woods's schedule
         -Ambassador and Mrs. Robert C. Hill and Ambassador And Mrs. Wiley T. Buchanan

     Ambassador Hill
         -New Hampshire gubernatorial race

     The President's schedule
          -William J. Porter

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 22s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

*****************************************************************

     Woods's schedule
         -Dinner arrangements
               -Call to unknown person
                     -Viewing the President's speech

     The President's schedule
          -Calls for the President
                -Porter
                -White House operator
                      -Woods
                      -Haldeman and Charles W. Colson

     Woods's schedule

Woods left at 2:33 pm.

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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I'll ask him.
He feels strongly about it.
Well, he may be able to, but I want to see.
Okay, because Peggy said he's got three or four tantrums about getting it in.
Yeah.
That's the word, Peggy.
I don't see the tantrums in her.
Let me put it in.
All right.
Yeah, I'll put it in.
Hi, everyone.
I was going to say that others brought over this document.
I have certain objections to it.
The point that I'm under is that there is no...
There's no problem.
I wonder if it would be a little safer for you to say that.
What I'm getting at is I'm just not sure that the French government can say anything about that.
If you feel it's going to go through, is that true, that reaction out there?
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Okay.
Fine, fine.
Now, you're going to get a facade .
Oh, I know, I know, I know.
But I just, you know, .
Let's see, it's 7 o'clock that we meet with the Congress, right?
Yeah.
Oh, I was going to ask you, how did Brown get along with the press?
Okay, fine, I'll see you at seven o'clock.
Has anybody else seen it?
Did you get a reaction?
How's Hayden?
Wait a minute.
It is a little bit.
One thing Bob, one thing Bob Finchridge, he's here.
He just left.
So I told him about it.
I think you say it all the truth, but you know, we don't, the idea that you should come down hard on the fact that Boise allowed us to go to China, please.
It's okay.
Can I change the page now?
Yeah, change the whole page.
You don't know how long it is.
Where is that now?
Okay, fine, thanks.
Thank you.
It's very good.
I think it's an improvement of the cuts and things.
I bet that's fine.
all right listen uh
I was going to ask you, I was supposed to go have dinner with the hill from the Buchanan, not because I want to, but I'm sure I'll get beat up in the head by the Buchanan.
By the Buchanan.
But I can say I have to work on the show or something.
You better go.
I think what I'll do is I've got to see the quarter.
I'll just go over here.
Well, I'm going to call them, because if they're not, if they're entering, it's kind of, if you can stop and let them down, I'm not going to go.
I know.
You might be acting with them.
I'll be able to see you.
I'll be glad to.
Sure, I'll call her and tell her to get through with it.
I know there'll be a lot of calls to you, but I wanted to be able to let her know.
All right.
I won't be able to take any calls after this, because I'll be in the quarter.
You might just tell the operator that we have no calls tonight.
OK.
So they'll probably wait and see.
We don't need to tell them to refer to calls if you want to hear them.
Just refer them to all of them.
All of them, calls from .
OK.
I'm sorry.
When I said I'd go, I didn't know that.
I thought it was an accident.
Uh, just get the algae in there.

Also recorded on January 25, 1972

  • 316-001 12:32 PM · 1 hr 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Robert H. Finch, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, Rose Mary Woods, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:32 pm to 2:15 pm.
  • 316-002 2:15 PM · 12 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 2:15 pm and 2:25 pm.
  • 316-003 2:15 PM · 4 min — 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 2:15 pm and 2:25 pm.
  • 316-005 2:33 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:33 pm and 2:45 pm.
  • 316-006 2:45 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:45 pm to 2:55 pm.
  • 316-007 2:55 PM · 13 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 2:55 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 316-008 2:55 PM · 5 min — 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 2:55 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 316-009 2:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:55 pm and 4:35 pm.

All 55 conversations from January 25, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 316-004, January 25, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/316-004 (accessed November 2, 2026).