Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 14 › Conversation 014-036

Kissinger & Sonnenfeldt on Georges Pompidou and Arthur K. Watson

Thursday, November 11, 1971 · 11:31 AM–12:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 1 min

ParticipantsKissinger, Henry A.; Sonnenfeldt, Helmut ("Hal")Conversation014-036 on Tape 14 (tape position 01:03:58–01:05:19)StartThursday, November 11, 1971 at 11:31 AMEndThursday, November 11, 1971 at 12:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 014-036 ↗

AI Summary

Henry Kissinger directs Helmut Sonnenfeldt to draft talking points for Arthur K. Watson regarding an upcoming meeting with French President Georges Pompidou. The objective is to secure a preliminary, informal meeting between the Nixon administration and Pompidou before engaging with other international counterparts, despite potential protocol constraints. Kissinger requests to review the draft personally before it is transmitted via back-channel communications.

Audio

Download MP3 · 2.5 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Hello.
Yes, Henry.
Hal, could you do some talking points for Watson, which he should take into Pompidou, which just frankly explain the problem to him, saying there are two possibilities, that what we really most want is a preliminary meeting with him before we talk to the others, yet the only place to do that is in the Western Hemisphere.
If he wants us to go over there, we must see the others.
What we most want is to, we don't care about the protocol part, who sees whom.
What we want is a chance to talk to him first.
Could you?
Okay, I've just been racking up all the various possible combinations here, and I'm up to number five, but if you want, stop doing that and do the talk lines first.
Well, what are they possibly?
Well, they're most of the ones that we talked about.
I just thought I ought to systematically think them through.
None of them are really very good.
So I think that Watts and Otto go in and see Pompidou again tomorrow.
Okay.
Well, let me simply draft a message with the points you should make.
Yeah, but it is to go to my back channel.
Oh, yeah, sure.
But don't send it yet.
Let me see it first.
No, no, I'll have it for you.
Okay, good.
Bye.

NARA Description

On November 11, 1971, Henry A. Kissinger and Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:31 am and 12:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 014-036 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 14-36

Date: November 11, 1971
Time: Unknown between 11:31 am and 12:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Henry A. Kissinger talked with Helmut Sonnenfeldt.

[See Conversation No. 298-5D]

[The President can be heard in the background]

     Talking points for Arthur K. Watson
          -Georges J.R. Pompidou's schedule
          -Watson’s meeting with Pompidou

Also recorded on November 11, 1971

  • 618-002 10:26 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:26 am and 10:35 am.
  • 298-001 11:24 AM · 8 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 11:24 am and 11:29 am.
  • 298-002 11:24 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:24 am and 11:29 am.
  • 298-003 11:24 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:24 am and 11:29 am.
  • 298-004 11:24 AM · 14 sec — 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 11:24 am and 11:29 am.
  • 298-005 11:29 AM · 1 hr 42 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), White House operator, and Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:29 am to 1:16 pm.
  • 014-035 11:31 AM · 8 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:31 am and 12:50 pm.
  • 014-037 11:31 AM · 30 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:31 am and 12:50 pm.

All 91 conversations from November 11, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 014-036, November 11, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/014-036 (accessed October 1, 2026).