{"conversationCode":"022-062","tapeNumber":22,"conversationNumber":62,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-022-062","startDateTime":"1972-03-31T01:02:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-03-31T01:07:00.000Z","startDate":"30-Mar-1972","startTime":"8:02 PM","endDate":"30-Mar-1972","endTime":"8:07 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 8:02 pm to 8:07 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 022-062 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. 22-62\n\nDate: March 30, 1972\nTime: 8:02 pm - 8:07 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n     Laos\n            -Washington Star report\n                 -Gunship in Laos\n                      -Kissinger’s report\n                             -Surface-to-Air Missiles [SAMs]\n                            -Attack\n            -US response\n                 -Delay\n                 -Possible attack on SAM sites\n                 -Previous responses\n\n                       -Air Force planes\n                             -Radar\n                 -Gunship\n                       -Number of crewmen\n                 -The President’s view\n                      -Protective reaction\n                 -Adm. Thomas H. Moorer\n                      -Weather\n                 -Scope of response\n           -North Vietnamese offensive\n                 -Kissinger’s view\n           -Military\n                 -Moorer\n                      -Kissinger’s calls to Moorer\n\n     Soviet Union\n          -Response","filename":["022-062.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:30:41","tapeEnd":"02:35:07","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"022-061","nextCode":"022-063","transcript":[{"start":1.89,"end":4.79,"text":"Hello."},{"start":5.81,"end":6.31,"text":"Hello, Henry."},{"start":6.85,"end":25.04,"text":"I was looking at the Star tonight, that report with regard to the gunship in Laos, and what is the situation on that?"},{"start":25.08,"end":25.16,"text":"Yes."},{"start":32.78,"end":47.77,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":49.77,"end":49.93,"text":"Right."},{"start":49.99,"end":51.05,"text":"Right."},{"start":51.07,"end":53.29,"text":"What should our reaction to that be?"},{"start":56.9,"end":79.27,"text":"for another day to see how this, whether this was a one-time offensive, whether it was such a high point or a real offensive."},{"start":79.29,"end":79.81,"text":"Right."},{"start":79.83,"end":81.35,"text":"If it is, then we should go after these nanomachines and treat them as ours."},{"start":81.37,"end":81.49,"text":"Right."},{"start":81.51,"end":82.01,"text":"And take all of them out."},{"start":82.03,"end":82.15,"text":"Right."},{"start":82.17,"end":82.83,"text":"And, in fact, look for the truth."},{"start":82.85,"end":83.33,"text":"We've expected to do it."},{"start":83.35,"end":83.45,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":83.47,"end":85.56,"text":"Now, what we normally did, and this is what I'm suggesting, is normally when we send out these clusters,"},{"start":90.7,"end":118.04,"text":"yes but there are there 14 people on those things well yeah of course missing in action but nevertheless I was going to say that we"},{"start":118.39,"end":137.9,"text":"You really can't let them get away with this, because... Just protective reaction, that's right."},{"start":137.92,"end":139,"text":"Well, what does Moore say?"},{"start":139.04,"end":140.32,"text":"The weather's still too bad?"},{"start":142.29,"end":142.85,"text":"I guess so, huh?"},{"start":148.7,"end":152.12,"text":"Ah, that's nice."},{"start":152.14,"end":161.49,"text":"Well, just so we have a good provocation, I just whack them in there."},{"start":161.53,"end":173.57,"text":"You know, if you do it on the basis of protective reaction, there's going to be a hell of a flap."},{"start":173.59,"end":176.19,"text":"Right."},{"start":176.21,"end":178.25,"text":"Sure, of course, of course, I understand that."},{"start":181.99,"end":189.71,"text":"Yes."},{"start":189.73,"end":205.29,"text":"And it's now the 1st of April."},{"start":205.31,"end":205.41,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":205.43,"end":207.84,"text":"No, they're not."},{"start":207.86,"end":208.02,"text":"Correct."},{"start":213.26,"end":219.05,"text":"Well, be sure you just ride the military hard."},{"start":219.07,"end":220.13,"text":"Maura knows."},{"start":220.15,"end":235.67,"text":"We're watching it now, doesn't he?"},{"start":235.69,"end":235.79,"text":"Good."},{"start":235.81,"end":235.93,"text":"I see."},{"start":235.95,"end":240.97,"text":"Right."},{"start":243.22,"end":243.58,"text":"That's right."},{"start":243.66,"end":260.89,"text":"They may want to go forward with it."},{"start":260.91,"end":261.27,"text":"I understand that."},{"start":261.29,"end":261.39,"text":"Okay."},{"start":261.85,"end":265.47,"text":"Well, just keep your eye on it, okay?"},{"start":265.74,"end":265.81,"text":"Bye."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the military response to a recent North Vietnamese attack on a U.S. gunship over Laos. The two evaluated whether to justify a retaliatory strike against enemy surface-to-air missile sites under the doctrine of protective reaction. Nixon directed Kissinger to maintain pressure on Admiral Thomas Moorer to prepare for a potential strike once weather conditions improved and the nature of the North Vietnamese offensive became clearer.","topics":["Laos","North Vietnamese offensive","Protective reaction","Military strategy","Surface-to-air missiles","Thomas H. Moorer"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T02:22:43.594Z"},"topicSlugs":["laos","north-vietnamese-offensive","protective-reaction","military-strategy","surface-to-air-missiles","thomas-h-moorer"],"audioDurationSec":267,"audioFiles":[{"file":"022-062.mp3","bytes":6401670,"durationSec":266.66,"bitrate":192053,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:27.521Z","transcriptGapSeconds":118,"transcriptGapShare":0.44,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/022-062.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/022-062","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/022/conversation-022-062","catalogNaId":417193089,"catalogUrl":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417193089","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}