Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-047

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on US-USSR Summit and Moscow trip

Monday, October 11, 1971 · 9:26 PM–9:34 PM ET · White House Telephone · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation011-047 on Tape 11 (tape position 01:05:19–01:14:01)StartMonday, October 11, 1971 at 9:26 PMEndMonday, October 11, 1971 at 9:34 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-047 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417189991 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed strategies for the upcoming October 12, 1971, press conference, focusing specifically on the announcement of the President's trip to Moscow. They expressed concern regarding potential news leaks to the Japanese by the Soviets and coordinated a 'no comment' policy for Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler should the information emerge prematurely. Furthermore, they deliberated on how the President should address sensitive topics like China's status at the UN and the controversial Byrd Amendment, ultimately deciding that Nixon would deliver a brief, deadpan statement to maintain control over the messaging.

  • US-USSR Summit
  • Moscow trip
  • Press conference strategy
  • News leaks
  • Byrd Amendment
  • PRC UN membership

Audio

Download MP3 · 15.9 MB

NARA Description

On October 11, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 9:26 pm to 9:34 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-047 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-047

 Date: October 11, 1971
 Time: 9:26 pm - 9:34 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

 [See Conversation No. 288-2]

        Announcement October 12, 1971 of the President's trip to Moscow
            -U. Alexis Johnson
            -Soviets
                 -Japanese
                       -Nobuhiko Ushiba
                 -Ronald L. Ziegler
                       -Instructions
                 -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                 -News leak
                       -State Department

        Press Conference, October 12, 1971
             -US-People's Republic of China [PRC] policy
                  -Possible question
                        -Response
             -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]

                   -United Nations [UN]
              -New York Times editorial
                   -Robert C. Byrd amendment
                          -Administration position
                          -William P. Rogers
                          -Congress
                          -Possible response
              -Presidential statement

        Forthcoming US-USSR summit
             -Japanese
                  -Possible leak
                  -Ushiba
                         -Johnson
             -Possible leak

 ******************************************************************************
Show the rest of the log (26 more lines)
 [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 12/12/2017.
 Segment cleared for release.]
 [Personal Returnable]
 [011-047-w003]
 [Duration: 10s]

        Henry A. Kissinger’s health
             -Cold

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

        The President's schedule
             -Briefing books
                   -Kissinger

                    -Possible meeting with Kissinger

        Kissinger's schedule
              -Chicago
                    -Briefing
                    -Richard J. Daley

        The Press conference, October 12, 1971
                   -US-USSR summit announcement
             -Format
                   -Ziegler

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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Yeah.
Dr. Kissinger's there.
Yeah.
How'd you get along with Johnson?
With Alex Johnson?
Yeah.
That went along very well.
We're sending out the cables tomorrow morning.
Fine.
Okay.
Now, the only problem is that our friends, the Russians, have, you know, they're such unbelievable treats.
They've already notified the Japanese.
So it's apt to leak out of there.
Who told you?
The Japanese told you or Johnson told you?
No, the Japanese.
Well, Johnson told me that the Japanese told him.
Are you sure that's true?
I think that's true.
Ushiba called him this evening.
It's one of these cheap shots of the Russians where they prove that they're more solicitous of the Japs than we are.
It isn't on any wires yet.
So in another couple of hours, it's going to be too late to make any morning newspapers.
And I've called, we've instructed Ziegler to say no comment if anything comes up.
Was you informed him about it then?
Well, no, I have left standby instructions that as soon as it breaks, we will tell Ziegler to say no comment if it should break.
And I'm told to bring them that that's what we were going to do and that I expect them to keep quiet.
What did he say?
He said, yes, I said, I'll tell you honestly, Anatole, you've made a nickel and lost $1,000 in goodwill.
You told him that?
Yeah.
That's good.
Just keep him hopping a little.
I don't think they respect you unless you show that you're... Well, the Japanese may not like it.
Well...
You know, in another couple of hours, I think they will leak it, but if they leak it after midnight, it isn't going to make any newspapers.
Well, yeah, yeah, but it'd make the... Yeah, that's all right.
What the hell?
Henry, if it makes it, it makes it.
It's not all that bad.
We've kept it pretty damn well.
But they didn't leak it because their cables hadn't gone out yet.
Right.
I sat on their cables.
Their cables were going to go out at 9 o'clock tomorrow.
And no one was going to be notified until an hour before.
Well, that's fine.
We'll see.
I'm not sure the Japanese are leaking.
Well, I'm not sure either.
Yeah.
It was very nice of you to step in for him.
Let me ask you something.
I don't plan to get into this, but our position is that, what if they say to you, consider there's one or two Chinas?
I would say both sides agree there's only one China.
And we believe.
Don't the Russians have three votes in the UN?
That's right.
It's not only a bill of Russia, but it's Ukraine, too, isn't it?
I would say the number of votes to sign to a country has nothing to do with the nature of its sovereignty.
Yeah, well, I'm going to stay out of it pretty well.
I don't know if it'll get in.
Fine.
Let me ask you another thing.
It's a long, it's a way out one, but they might have some, because of a New York turns of the trail, have some question about whether we're going to
fighting conference to get the Byrd Amendment deleted.
My view is to say no.
What do you think?
That's a tough one.
Because Rogers is out on a limb on it, isn't he?
Rogers is out on a limb on it.
I don't know whether it can be fudged to say the Congress knows our views.
Because then they'll ask you what the views are.
Well, we'll see.
Well, the Congress is never going to knock that amendment out.
You can be sure of that.
I'll just say the Secretary has stated our views.
How's that?
Yeah.
Stated our views.
But he, of course, said we would fight.
Well, shouldn't I just leave it there?
Well, I don't know.
I'll try to dodge it somewhere.
It's damned hard, though.
I don't think they'll get it out to the third amendment.
I doubt it, too.
You won't have that much time, Mr. President.
Yeah, I think they're not going to get... Because by the time... Yeah.
They'll want to be out by 12.
Oh, they'll want to be out there before 12, and I'm going to let them go as soon as they're ready.
It'll take you about two minutes or so to read the statement and a minute or so to get settled.
My view is, incidentally, I've thought the thing through.
I think the best thing is to read the statement and not comment at all and just go to questions immediately.
I feel that if I go to questions and go to comment and say what the significance of this is.
I wouldn't do that.
Just let them dig it out.
I wouldn't do it.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Well, I don't know.
I think the Japanese are going to hold it, strangely enough, for once.
Well, your instinct on these things is pretty unfailing, and I must say they've held it.
I mean, if Ushiba called Transnet 6, then they must have had it for two hours before then.
I don't trust, well, P.E.
Johnson couldn't tell him to hold it, of course, but that's that.
No, Johnson.
At least state is going to keep the damn mouth shut, Ray, even though you see the thing as far as we know, isn't it?
Oh, I've thrown the fear of God into Johnson.
Right.
Good.
It may hold.
Well, holding this long, it didn't make the evening news.
I just hate to see the goddamn thing get in the morning papers.
That'd be a pity, but
Oh, well, if it does, it's not that much of a pity.
For the average person, until you've said it, you've experienced it before.
You say it on television.
That's right.
On troop withdrawals, we used to say it's been blown, and it was blown a hundred times.
I know.
I know.
That's right.
Well, you're not going to worry about it.
And we'll get this done tomorrow.
And I'll have a book for you in the evening of substance and a book on the Texas side.
We'll talk tomorrow, as I said.
If you're feeling like it.
If you're not, we'll have you send you to bed.
But then if not, I'm saving Thursday rather than Wednesday.
I think that's a better day.
Excellent.
And you can have Wednesday to rest up a little.
Wednesday I'm going out of Chicago for that press briefing.
Oh, yeah.
and a brief daily also.
I see, fine.
Well, then Thursday will be fine, a good day to get together.
Thursday I'll be, we'll be in great shape.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My feeling is, Henry, that our best bet here is to play it, play this just very briefly and read the damn thing deadpan and let them... That's what I would do, Mr. President.
Don't volunteer a goddamn thing.
Because any possible commentary is going to come out in the question period.
That's right, that's right.
That's right.
And actually, the less we claim for it, I mean... You know, as a matter of fact, what do you think about this if they don't...
If it does leak, we just may have Ziegler put it out.
No, no, no, no.
I think I should still do it.
Well, what you might then do is just read it and not answer questions.
Yeah, that might be too.
I mean, we're not reading it to do them a favor.
We're reading it to get you... Yeah.
Just to have me say it.
To have that said and to have the public identify it with you.
We just may read it just before noon then that way.
That's right.
And I have this for announcement before noon.
I might read it a little earlier, hold for release.
Okay?
Right.
All right, Henry.
Bye.
Bye, Mr. President.

Also recorded on October 11, 1971

  • 011-045 5:55 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 5:55 pm to 5:56 pm.
  • 287-025 5:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:55 pm to 5:56 pm.
  • 011-046 5:56 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 9:26 pm.
  • 287-026 5:56 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 287-027 5:56 PM · 57 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 5:56 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 288-001 7:34 PM · 24 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 7:34 pm and 9:26 pm.
  • 288-002 9:26 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:26 pm to 9:34 pm.
  • 288-003 9:36 PM · 1 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 9:36 pm and 9:40 pm.

All 56 conversations from October 11, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-047, October 11, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417189991). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-047 (accessed November 2, 2026).