{"conversationCode":"023-129","tapeNumber":23,"conversationNumber":129,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-023-129","startDateTime":"1972-05-03T01:35:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-05-03T01:40:00.000Z","startDate":"2-May-1972","startTime":"9:35 PM","endDate":"2-May-1972","endTime":"9:40 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On May 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 9:35 pm to 9:40 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 023-129 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. 23-129\n\nDate: May 2, 1972\nTime: 9:35-9:40 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n     Kissinger's location\n          -Conversation with Thomas H. Moorer\n\n     Vietnam\n          -Negotiations\n               -The President's position\n          -Bombing\n               -The President's decision\n                     -Harry S. Dent\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n[Previous archivists categorized this section as unintelligible. It has been rereviewed and\nreleased 03/22/2019.]\n\f[Unintelligible]\n[023-129-w001]\n[Duration: 59s]\n\n     [Tape malfunction]\n\n       Vietnam\n             -Negotiations\n                    -Leonid I Brezhnev\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n     Vietnam\n          -North Vietnamese offensive\n               -The President's options\n                     -Bombings\n                          -Timing\n                     -Creighton W. Abrams\n                     -Moorer\n               -Possible consequences","filename":["023-129.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"023-128","nextCode":"023-130","transcript":[{"start":1.62,"end":24.13,"text":"Hello?"},{"start":24.15,"end":24.57,"text":"Did you get home yet?"},{"start":24.59,"end":24.77,"text":"Oh, yeah."},{"start":24.79,"end":25.47,"text":"I had to get along right with him."},{"start":25.49,"end":26.36,"text":"Yeah, I don't want to get off the hook yet."},{"start":26.38,"end":27.24,"text":"Yeah, I don't want to get off the hook yet."},{"start":27.79,"end":46.56,"text":"they won't execute it they won't do anything right i was uh i had an interesting connection"},{"start":106.26,"end":128.49,"text":"So, we should see."},{"start":128.51,"end":128.91,"text":"Anyway, we're right."},{"start":128.93,"end":130.03,"text":"I'm confident that they're going to have the last word."},{"start":130.06,"end":130.16,"text":"Okay."},{"start":130.18,"end":130.94,"text":"So we don't have to make the decision?"},{"start":130.96,"end":131.74,"text":"No, we don't have to make the decision."},{"start":131.76,"end":132.34,"text":"We have to make the decision."},{"start":132.36,"end":133.38,"text":"I mean, we have to make the decision about bombing."},{"start":133.4,"end":134.14,"text":"We're not going to bomb this weekend."},{"start":134.16,"end":135.52,"text":"Under the circumstances on that, under the circumstances, the way..."},{"start":135.94,"end":139.02,"text":"David was pleading for the use of his assets."},{"start":139.04,"end":141.56,"text":"I'd be glad to take the property."},{"start":141.58,"end":142.43,"text":"Believe me."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the tactical status of the ongoing North Vietnamese offensive and the resulting strategic necessity of authorizing air strikes. They deliberate on the timing of potential bombing campaigns, ultimately deciding against immediate action for the upcoming weekend. The conversation confirms that the administration maintains responsibility for these critical military decisions, notwithstanding ongoing negotiations involving Leonid Brezhnev.","topics":["Vietnam War","Air strikes","Military strategy","North Vietnamese offensive","Henry Kissinger","Leonid Brezhnev"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T02:43:28.620Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","air-strikes","military-strategy","north-vietnamese-offensive","henry-kissinger","leonid-brezhnev"],"audioDurationSec":142,"audioFiles":[{"file":"023-129.mp3","bytes":3418696,"durationSec":142.39,"bitrate":192079,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:27.840Z","transcriptGapSeconds":64,"transcriptGapShare":0.45,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/023-129.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/023-129","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/23/conversation-023-129","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}