{"conversationCode":"022-053","tapeNumber":22,"conversationNumber":53,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-022-053","startDateTime":"1972-03-30T17:45:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-03-30T17:47:00.000Z","startDate":"30-Mar-1972","startTime":"12:45 PM","endDate":"30-Mar-1972","endTime":"12:47 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On March 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 12:45 pm to 12:47 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 022-053 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 22-53\n\nDate: March 30, 1972\nTime: 12:45 pm - 12:47 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n[See Conversation No. 697-28]\n\n     Kissinger’s location\n\n     The President’s morning briefing\n          -North Vietnam’s offensive into South Vietnam\n               -The President’s view\n\n                     -US reaction\n                     -Understanding between the US and the Soviet Union\n                          -The President’s correspondence with Leonid I. Brezhnev\n                          -The President’s talk with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin\n                          -Kissinger’s response","filename":["022-053.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:10:12","tapeEnd":"02:11:31","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"022-052","nextCode":"022-054","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":2.41,"text":"I have Dr. Kissinger."},{"start":3.44,"end":4.6,"text":"Mr. President."},{"start":4.62,"end":6.82,"text":"Yes, I know where you are."},{"start":7.48,"end":29.21,"text":"I was going to say that I just read the morning brief and this is said for obvious reasons at this point that I'm very much concerned by what I think is a breach of what we understood was going to be the activity there and that I think you need to know that"},{"start":29.87,"end":42.22,"text":"As far as I'm concerned, the reaction must be swift and it's going to be very, it has to be, it isn't going to be tit for tat."},{"start":42.24,"end":46.07,"text":"And I think that that has to be very clearly understood."},{"start":46.11,"end":52.6,"text":"The difficulty with this is that it could seriously jeopardize what I had thought was"},{"start":52.88,"end":54.73,"text":"a very good understanding that we had."},{"start":55.56,"end":72,"text":"You know, my correspondence with the chairman and the conversation I had with DeBrennan, and I just think it's very difficult to understand that they would allow this sort of thing at this point to jeopardize what we're trying to do."},{"start":72.3,"end":76.27,"text":"Well, this is tremendously helpful, and I'll be sure to make that."},{"start":76.62,"end":77.37,"text":"All right."},{"start":77.51,"end":79.99,"text":"Bye-bye."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the North Vietnamese offensive into South Vietnam, which Nixon characterizes as a violation of prior understandings. Expressing grave concern that this aggression threatens diplomatic progress, the President demands a swift and forceful American response rather than a measured retaliation. Kissinger acknowledges the directive, agreeing to convey the President's firm stance regarding these breached expectations.","topics":["North Vietnam","South Vietnam","Military offensive","Diplomacy","Leonid Brezhnev","Anatoliy Dobrynin","US Foreign Policy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T02:21:54.527Z"},"topicSlugs":["north-vietnam","south-vietnam","military-offensive","diplomacy","leonid-brezhnev","anatoliy-dobrynin","us-foreign-policy"],"audioDurationSec":80,"audioFiles":[{"file":"022-053.mp3","bytes":1920939,"durationSec":79.97,"bitrate":192156,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:27.521Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/022-053.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/022-053","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/022/conversation-022-053","catalogNaId":417193071,"catalogUrl":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417193071","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}