Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-103

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Joseph Alsop and Press relations

Thursday, May 20, 1971 · 8:11 PM–8:12 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation003-103 on Tape 3 (tape position 01:59:09–02:01:09)StartThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:11 PMEndThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:12 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-103 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directs Henry Kissinger to meet with columnist Joseph Alsop to manage his public reporting and address his frustrations regarding administration policy. Additionally, Nixon and Kissinger coordinate on the timing of a statement regarding Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), with Nixon advising that comments concerning Gerard C. Smith be withheld until after Smith returns from Vienna to prevent premature international disclosure.

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 54% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello.
It's the president.
Henry, one thing that I just talked to her crying that I think you ought to do in the morning is to see Joe Alsop.
You haven't seen him alone yet, have you?
No, I've called him, though.
Yeah.
And I'm speaking Sunday afternoon.
And he's going to write about it this Sunday.
Fine, okay, fine, you've got that all under control then.
I've just been talking to Dave Graslow, and he wants to write an article about, not just this, but that you have started a few years ago, so far, something.
Right, good, good.
Well, the main thing about Joe is to be sure that he doesn't get off, he's, according to her, that he's sort of grumbling that, well, we really ought to do this, we ought to move on.
Bill Maher, you know.
That's exactly what he told me.
Yeah.
But I told him not to ride anything until I saw him.
Good, good.
So, I'll explain.
Yeah, yeah, bye.
Well, you, you, you see me, uh, Sunday afternoon is probably a good time.
Yeah.
Good.
Bye, Henry.
Okay.
Now, Mr. President, one point with Jerry Smith, he mentioned to me that you made some reference to him about the accidental oil spill.
My recommendation is not to say that tomorrow.
All right, fine.
You wait until after he's back on the 28th.
Yeah, right.
Because otherwise he'll slap it at Vienna and then they'll put it into their presence.
Right, right.
Hold it until after he's back.
You can get another ride out of it if you...
Okay, fine.
We'll do that.
Okay, well, I'll talk to you this morning before we meet anyway.
Right.
Fine, fine, fine.

NARA Description

On May 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:11 pm to 8:12 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-103 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-103

Date: May 20, 1971
Time: 8:11 pm - 8:12 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Joseph W. Alsop
          -President's talk with Herbert G. Klein
          -Forthcoming meeting with Kissinger

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

                 -Date

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

[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under PRMPA regulations 10/24/2017. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Privacy]
[003-1003-w001]
[Duration: 3s]

     Joseph W. Alsop’s family

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

            -Forthcoming article

     Dave Kraslow (sp?)
          -Call to Kissinger
                -Storyline

     Alsop
          -Klein's report on response
          -Forthcoming meeting with Kissinger

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

[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under PRMPA regulations 10/24/2017. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Privacy]
[003-103-w002]
[Duration: 12s]

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

     Joseph W. Alsop’s family
          -Brother

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

            -Forthcoming meeting with Kissinger

     Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
           -Gerard C. Smith
           -President's statement

Also recorded on May 21, 1971

  • 003-214 8:00 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:00 pm and 8:11 pm.
  • 003-215 8:12 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:12 pm and 8:14 pm.
  • 003-104 8:14 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:14 pm to 8:16 pm.
  • 003-105 8:25 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 8:25 pm to 8:27 pm.
  • 003-106 8:28 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 8:28 pm to 8:29 pm.
  • 003-107 7:32 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:32 am and 9:37 am.
  • 503-001 8:13 AM · 1 hr 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 9:25 am.
  • 503-002 9:25 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:37 am.

All 40 conversations from May 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-103, May 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-103 (accessed October 12, 2026).