Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 14 › Conversation 014-062

Kissinger & McCloy on NATO and Diplomatic relations

Thursday, November 11, 1971 · 6:30 PM–6:55 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsKissinger, Henry A.; White House operator; McCloy, John J.; Kissinger, Henry A.; White House operator; McCloy, John J.Conversation014-062 on Tape 14 (tape position 02:00:14–02:06:08)StartThursday, November 11, 1971 at 6:30 PMEndThursday, November 11, 1971 at 6:55 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 014-062 ↗

AI Summary

Henry Kissinger contacted John J. McCloy to gauge his interest in serving as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Motivated by a desire to strengthen U.S.-European relations and address concerns regarding Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR), the administration sought a figure of McCloy’s stature to restore confidence among allies. Kissinger framed the potential one-year appointment as a significant sacrifice, intended to preemptively test McCloy's willingness before a formal request from the President.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Hello?
John McCloy is on the line.
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Yeah, hello?
Hello?
Hello, Jack?
Yes, hello, Harry.
Henry, how are you?
Okay, Jack, you and I have been trying to reach each other and managed to miss each other for a week.
Yeah, well, that's okay.
But I... You've been terribly involved.
But I'm calling you today about the following.
The President and I have been talking about the developments in Europe.
Yes.
And I also told him about my meeting with you with the advisory committee.
Yes.
And we feel that we badly need to put our relations to Europe on a new and firm basis.
Yes.
and also, frankly, to get somebody to get a hold of this MPFR business before it's used as a wedge to drive our allies totally into a total lack of confidence in us.
Yeah, the other side, yeah.
So, as you know, the NATO ambassadorship is vacant at this moment.
Yes.
And the President asked me to explore with you whether knowing it would be an enormous sacrifice
uh we uh you would agree to serve there for a year we need a towering figure there now and uh he will ask you himself but for obvious reasons he'd like me to find out first whether this is totally out of the ballpark yeah got it prestige your proposal hell of a
You know, there's really a lot of, we have a lot of names and it's a job that people are dying to get.
Yeah.
But there's only one person who represents this great tradition of U.S.-European relationships, who has the statue in Europe, who can be both first

NARA Description

On November 11, 1971, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and John J. McCloy talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:55 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 014-062 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 14-62

Date: November 11, 1971
Time: Unknown between 6:30 pm and 6:55 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Henry A. Kissinger talked with the White House operator.

     John J. McCloy

Kissinger talked with McCloy.

[See Conversation No. 298-45C]

     Kissinger's conversation with the President
          -Kissinger's meeting with McCloy
          -US relations with Europe
                -Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction [MBFR]
          -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] Ambassadorship
                -McCloy
                     -Stature
                     -European relations
                     -Time of service
                     -Complications
                     -McCloy's statements at General Advisory Committee meeting
                           -Role
                -McCloy's schedule
                     -Kissinger

Also recorded on November 11, 1971

  • 014-058 6:16 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:16 pm and 6:21 pm.
  • 014-059 6:21 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 6:21 pm to 6:29 pm.
  • 298-044 6:21 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:21 pm to 6:29 pm.
  • 014-060 6:30 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:55 pm.
  • 014-061 6:30 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:55 pm.
  • 014-063 6:30 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 7:11 pm.
  • 014-064 6:30 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 7:11 pm.
  • 298-045 6:30 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and John J. McCloy met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:55 pm.

All 91 conversations from November 11, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 014-062, 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/014-062 (accessed October 12, 2026).