Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 12 › Conversation 012-131

Nixon, Haldeman & Rogers on Henry Kissinger and NATO

Tuesday, October 26, 1971 · 8:55 PM–8:59 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Rogers, William P.Conversation012-131 on Tape 12 (tape position 05:35:37–05:37:38)StartTuesday, October 26, 1971 at 8:55 PMEndTuesday, October 26, 1971 at 8:59 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 012-131 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed H. R. Haldeman to arrange a breakfast meeting with Secretary of State William P. Rogers and Henry Kissinger to debrief on Kissinger’s recent travels. Haldeman subsequently coordinated the logistics with Rogers while also addressing the urgent need to finalize a nomination for the U.S. representative to NATO. The discussion highlighted the administration’s internal debate between selecting Walter J. Stoessel, Jr. or Charles D. Thornton for the vacancy ahead of an upcoming summit.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
rogers please thank you sir then you can put it out to june rogers in case you're not yeah first thing yeah that you will for
It shows you the power.
I'll show you the paper.
It's really incredible.
Secretary Bob Haldeman.
Yeah, Bob.
The President suggested that you and Henry and he have breakfast tomorrow morning at 8.30, which would be the basis for getting Henry's report on the thing.
Is that okay for you?
That's fine with me.
All right.
I think it'd be nice if...
We'll put it out right now.
Kissinger will be reporting to you and the president tomorrow morning at breakfast on his return.
That's fine.
One other thing I didn't want to bother him with, but we have a nomination over there for NATO, a fellow named Wallace.
I understand you've been thinking about offering it to Texas, and I doubt if he'll take it, but...
In any event, the important thing is to get it done, because we're going to have a NATO meeting pretty soon, and we've got to have our man there.
Okay.
Okay.
Either, as I understand it, between Stessel and...
Thanks, Thornton.
I think Henry favors Tessel, too.
I think the only reason the president has some hesitation is, one, he won't do something for Thornton, and two, I think Brozio told him he ought to get a public figure, but it's awfully late in the game to work a public figure into that.
It's a goddamn complex thing at the moment.
Okay.
I'll check it.
Thank you, Bill.
Right, Bill.

NARA Description

On October 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:55 pm and 8:59 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-131 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 012-131

Date: October 26, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:55 pm and 8:59 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Request for call to William P. Rogers

The President conferred with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[See Conversation No. 601-36/602-1]

Haldeman talked with Rogers between 8:59 am and 9:01 am.

[See Conversation No. 601-36/602-1B]

     The President's schedule
          -Henry A. Kissinger, Rogers

     Nomination for North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] position
         -Walter J. Stoessel, Jr.
         -Charles D. ("Tex") Thornton
               -Kissinger
                     -Stoessel
               -Manlio Brosio

Also recorded on October 27, 1971

  • 013-018 8:01 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 8:01 pm to 8:07 pm.
  • 013-019 9:40 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:40 am and 12:23 pm.
  • 603-001 9:40 AM · 2 hr 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Henry A. Kissinger, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:40 am to 12:22 pm.
  • 603-002 12:22 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:22 pm and 12:23 pm.
  • 013-020 12:23 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 12:23 pm to 12:26 pm.
  • 603-003 12:23 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Tricia Nixon Cox, Rose Mary Woods, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:23 pm to 12:52 pm.
  • 013-021 12:36 PM · 1 min — Rose Mary Woods, White House operator, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:36 pm and 12:52 pm.
  • 603-004 12:53 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:53 pm to 1:10 pm.

All 24 conversations from October 27, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 012-131, October 27, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-131 (accessed October 12, 2026).