{"conversationCode":"014-036","tapeNumber":14,"conversationNumber":36,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-014-036","startDateTime":"1971-11-11T16:31:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-11-11T17:50:00.000Z","startDate":"11-Nov-1971","startTime":"11:31 AM","endDate":"11-Nov-1971","endTime":"12:50 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Kissinger, Henry A.; Sonnenfeldt, Helmut (\"Hal\");","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.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 14-36\n\nDate: November 11, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 11:31 am and 12:50 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nHenry A. Kissinger talked with Helmut Sonnenfeldt.\n\n[See Conversation No. 298-5D]\n\n[The President can be heard in the background]\n\n     Talking points for Arthur K. Watson\n          -Georges J.R. Pompidou's schedule\n          -Watson’s meeting with Pompidou","filename":["014-036.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:03:58","tapeEnd":"01:05:19","participantsList":["Kissinger, Henry A.","Sonnenfeldt, Helmut (\"Hal\")"],"prevCode":"014-035","nextCode":"014-037","transcript":[{"start":0.67,"end":1.25,"text":"Hello."},{"start":1.27,"end":1.63,"text":"Yes, Henry."},{"start":2.31,"end":26.78,"text":"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."},{"start":27.11,"end":31.46,"text":"If he wants us to go over there, we must see the others."},{"start":33.76,"end":40.01,"text":"What we most want is to, we don't care about the protocol part, who sees whom."},{"start":40.75,"end":43.25,"text":"What we want is a chance to talk to him first."},{"start":44.53,"end":45.04,"text":"Could you?"},{"start":45.06,"end":54.19,"text":"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."},{"start":54.45,"end":55.72,"text":"Well, what are they possibly?"},{"start":55.73,"end":57.66,"text":"Well, they're most of the ones that we talked about."},{"start":57.68,"end":60,"text":"I just thought I ought to systematically think them through."},{"start":60.02,"end":62.68,"text":"None of them are really very good."},{"start":63.24,"end":66.81,"text":"So I think that Watts and Otto go in and see Pompidou again tomorrow."},{"start":67.23,"end":67.33,"text":"Okay."},{"start":67.35,"end":70.75,"text":"Well, let me simply draft a message with the points you should make."},{"start":71.19,"end":73.94,"text":"Yeah, but it is to go to my back channel."},{"start":73.96,"end":74.4,"text":"Oh, yeah, sure."},{"start":75.1,"end":76.04,"text":"But don't send it yet."},{"start":76.1,"end":76.96,"text":"Let me see it first."},{"start":76.98,"end":78.18,"text":"No, no, I'll have it for you."},{"start":78.22,"end":78.6,"text":"Okay, good."},{"start":79.6,"end":79.68,"text":"Bye."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["Georges Pompidou","Arthur K. Watson","Diplomatic protocol","Back-channel diplomacy","US-France relations"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T23:59:30.561Z"},"topicSlugs":["georges-pompidou","arthur-k-watson","diplomatic-protocol","back-channel-diplomacy","us-france-relations"],"audioDurationSec":82,"audioFiles":[{"file":"014-036.mp3","bytes":2616165,"durationSec":81.64,"bitrate":256363,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:24.322Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/014-036.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/014-036","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/14/conversation-014-036","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}