Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 13 › Conversation 013-010

Nixon phone call with Rogers on United Nations and Taiwan

Tuesday, October 26, 1971 · 11:37 AM–11:42 AM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation013-010 on Tape 13 (tape position 00:16:14–00:21:10)StartTuesday, October 26, 1971 at 11:37 AMEndTuesday, October 26, 1971 at 11:42 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 013-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers discuss the administration's public response to the United Nations vote to admit the People's Republic of China while expelling the Republic of China (Taiwan). Nixon advises Rogers to draft a statement that acknowledges the UN decision while clearly expressing American disappointment and noting that congressional support and future UN financing are at an all-time low. They weigh the delicate political balance of maintaining diplomatic composure while addressing widespread domestic outrage, exemplified by Ronald Reagan’s strong opposition to the outcome.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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I think it's important to go too far in indicating all-out support of the UN and that we mustn't cut the budget and all that sort of thing.
Let me say that I, for example, just had a call from Reagan, California, and
uh you know he's been out there and so forth and uh and uh as you can imagine they there's their strong feeling that we just shouldn't uh as he said he saw these he said that these uh and he says here the united states is going to submit its fate to that and so forth and so on and
And, you know, but that's typical of a reaction, which is probably quite strong.
And I just think that the, I know it's a very delicate line, but I, and I know that some of the senators and so forth and so on, but I feel that, I think the disillusionment with the UN is so great that I don't think we should go as well.
He's got to grin and bear it, and we're just going to go all out and support the U.N. and so forth.
Reagan, as a matter of fact, he's really going a lot.
He signed a proclamation for U.N. week, and he's going to rescind it today.
Yes, sir.
I think I agree with you.
It's a problem.
Let me say, I just don't want...
But put it this way, I don't want you to get in a position, you personally to get in a position of being too, you know, sort of taken.
And I realize, on the other hand, we've got the damn Peking thing, but I don't think kicking the U.N. around is too much.
But go ahead, go ahead.
I've got a moment.
Yeah, just a moment.
Sure, sure.
The United States welcomes last night's decision to admit the People's Republic of China as a member of the United Nations.
President Nixon hopes that this action, which will bring into the United Nations the representatives of more than 700 million people, will result in the reduction of tensions in the Pacific area.
At the same time, the United States deeply regrets the action taken by the United Nations to deprive the Republic of China of representation in that organization.
We think that the precedent which has the effect of expelling 14 million people on Taiwan from representation in the UN is an unfortunate precedent which may have serious repercussions in the future.
We and our co-sponsors made an all-out effort to prevent the expulsion of the Republic of China.
We're particularly grateful to all of our co-sponsors for the very dedicated and determined effort which is made to retain a place for the Republic of China in the United Nations.
The Republic of China, of course, continues to be a respected and valued member of the international community, and the ties between us remain unaffected by the action of the United Nations.
Although we are disappointed at the outcome of the voting expelling the Republic of China, the United States recognizes the will of the majority of United Nations members who have been expressed, and we, of course, accept that decision.
We hope that the United Nations will not have been weakened by what it has done.
We continue to believe in its principles and purposes and will continue to strive to make it more effective in the pursuit of peace and justice in the world.
that would be the statement now they'll ask me about the financing i thought that i would say that we think that the united nations should take a good hard look at the financing uh i would simply i think you could say well uh i i let me just be very candid i'd say that this vote i mean this as a result of this and
and and some other actions of the united states support for the united nations is frankly an all-time low and god damn it it ought to be said yeah it's in the congress and it is i mean despite what these jerk senators said it is it is very low and that we're going to have very serious difficulties in getting adequate financing for the united nations
put it that way.
I think that's very certain.
I think when you say, too, that the
That's good.
I'd certainly indicate that from the reports from the Congress that we've had, that we're going to have very serious problems in getting adequate support for the United Nations and its agencies.
Just leave it there.
I mean, that doesn't put you in that spot, but you're just reflecting what the truth is.
I just don't want us to appear piqued, that's all.
But I think that...
I know we don't want to appear piqued.
The only problem is, I guess, we got with our right-wing people is that, well, and a lot of other people, they see...
I just don't like to see the United States being pulled and hauled by a bunch of small countries.
That's what's really involved here, you know.
They think, what the hell, we've done all this thing, now why do we get kicked around?
That's what we've done.
It isn't just this issue, it's the others.
Anyway, I think that's a good statement.
All right, I'll keep this in mind.
I'm not going to defend the goddamn organization.
Okay, do your best.
Okay, thanks.

NARA Description

On October 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 11:37 am to 11:42 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 013-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 013-010

Date: October 26, 1971
Time: 11:37 am - 11:42 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William P. Rogers.

     United Nations [UN] vote on Taiwan
          -US support
               -Ronald W. Reagan's previous call to President

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

[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under PRMPA regulations 02/12/2019. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Privacy]

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

[013-010-w002]
[Duration: 4s]

       United Nations [UN] vote on Taiwan
              -US support
                     -Ronald W. Reagan's previous telephone call to President
                            -Opinion of African representatives to the United Nations [UN]

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

                       -The President’s view
                       -Proclamation
                 -Public opinion
            -Rogers’ forthcoming press conference on vote on PRC
                 -Statement
                 -Financing
                       -Possible questions
                       -Congressional support
                 -US reaction
            -Vote

Also recorded on October 26, 1971

  • 602-002 11:09 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 11:09 am and 11:13 am.
  • 602-003 11:09 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:09 am and 11:13 am.
  • 013-008 11:13 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald W. Reagan talked on the telephone from 11:13 am to 11:25 am.
  • 602-004 11:13 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald W. Reagan met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:13 am to 11:25 am.
  • 602-005 11:24 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:24 am to 11:29 am.
  • 013-009 11:25 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:25 am and 11:37 am.
  • 602-006 11:35 AM · 42 min — Alexander P. Butterfield, Wallace F. Bennett, George P. Shultz, Clark MacGregor, John D. Ehrlichman, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, unknown person(s), and Marjorie P. Acker met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:35 am to 12:18 pm.
  • 013-011 11:42 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:42 am and 1:41 pm.

All 44 conversations from October 26, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 013-010, October 26, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/013-010 (accessed October 12, 2026).