{"conversationCode":"024-013","tapeNumber":24,"conversationNumber":13,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-024-013","startDateTime":"1972-05-08T20:55:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-05-08T20:57:00.000Z","startDate":"8-May-1972","startTime":"4:55 PM","endDate":"8-May-1972","endTime":"4:57 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; [Unknown person(s)];","description":"On May 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone from 4:55 pm to 4:57 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 024-013 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. 24-13\n\nDate: May 8, 1972\nTime: 4:55 pm - 4:57 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n[See also Conversation No. 336-32]\n\n     Greetings\n\n     Vietnam\n          -Blockade\n\n                -The President's announcement\n                     -Kissinger's changes\n                           -Rose Mary Woods\n                           -Nature\n\nThe President conferred with an unknown person at an unknown time.\n\n[See Conversation No. 336-32]\n\n[End of conferral]\n\n     Vietnam\n          -Blockade\n               -The President's announcement\n                    -Kissinger’s review of text\n                    -Changes\n                          -Cessation of military action\n                          -New peace offers\n                          -Political settlement terms\n                          -The President’s view\n                    -Withdrawal of forces\n                          -Foreign audiences\n                    -Political settlement","filename":["024-013.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:10:24","tapeEnd":"00:12:40","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A.","[Unknown person(s)]"],"prevCode":"024-012","nextCode":"024-014","transcript":[{"start":0.82,"end":3.19,"text":"I have Dr. Kissinger for you, Mr. President."},{"start":3.21,"end":3.63,"text":"There you are."},{"start":3.65,"end":4.31,"text":"Mr. President."},{"start":5.53,"end":9.41,"text":"With regard to this text now, we have to wrap it up pretty soon."},{"start":9.43,"end":9.65,"text":"Right."},{"start":9.78,"end":11.38,"text":"I gave the changes to Rose."},{"start":11.98,"end":12.32,"text":"You did?"},{"start":13.3,"end":13.74,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":13.76,"end":14.38,"text":"Just a second."},{"start":14.68,"end":17.04,"text":"What are, are there ones that..."},{"start":17.84,"end":21.37,"text":"They just confirmed the operative paragraphs, Mr. President."},{"start":21.39,"end":22.47,"text":"The operative paragraph, right."},{"start":22.93,"end":24.21,"text":"Bring me, no, down there."},{"start":26.34,"end":26.48,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":26.5,"end":26.59,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.93,"end":32.68,"text":"And I'll go up and just look through it very quickly to make sure there isn't anything else wrong."},{"start":34.58,"end":35.74,"text":"Let me ask two things."},{"start":38.86,"end":44.21,"text":"The line, we will stop all acts of force throughout Indochina, is not a good word."},{"start":44.45,"end":45.65,"text":"We need something better than that."},{"start":46.67,"end":47.67,"text":"All acts of force."},{"start":48.49,"end":51.1,"text":"Well, this is to permit us to continue reconnaissance."},{"start":54.12,"end":74.5,"text":"well I know but we will stop all acts of you see if you say war that stops reconnaissance too okay one other thing I think however that I believe in view of the fact that we have made the new offer it seems to me that we should take out"},{"start":74.72,"end":79.05,"text":"they would allow negotiations on a political settlement that reflects the popular will."},{"start":79.59,"end":82.29,"text":"Nobody believes anything in the popular will or anything."},{"start":82.37,"end":82.83,"text":"You see what I mean?"},{"start":82.85,"end":86.27,"text":"A political settlement, but we could say between the Vietnamese themselves."},{"start":86.73,"end":89.54,"text":"I know, but why say it at all?"},{"start":89.88,"end":101.23,"text":"I mean, the point is that what we are saying is that we will have an internationally supervised ceasefire, and we will then..."},{"start":101.65,"end":103.09,"text":"and POW."},{"start":103.11,"end":108.58,"text":"I mean, we made a very simple offer here, and then we would withdraw our forces, etc."},{"start":109.06,"end":117.93,"text":"Because for the foreign audiences, there has to be some prospect of how the political side is going to end."},{"start":120.69,"end":122.44,"text":"Well, okay, then let's change it."},{"start":122.45,"end":123.46,"text":"What is it they would allow?"},{"start":123.54,"end":125.74,"text":"What negotiations on a political settlement?"},{"start":125.76,"end":127.44,"text":"Between the Vietnamese themselves."},{"start":130.02,"end":135.24,"text":"between the Vietnamese themselves."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss final revisions to the speech announcing a naval blockade of North Vietnam. They debate specific phrasing regarding the cessation of hostilities to ensure continued U.S. reconnaissance capabilities. Additionally, they refine the language concerning political settlements to make the terms more palatable for international audiences while maintaining the administration’s core peace proposal.","topics":["Vietnam War","Naval blockade","Speechwriting","Peace negotiations","Foreign policy","Military reconnaissance"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T02:48:20.274Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","naval-blockade","speechwriting","peace-negotiations","foreign-policy","military-reconnaissance"],"audioDurationSec":136,"audioFiles":[{"file":"024-013.mp3","bytes":3261334,"durationSec":135.83,"bitrate":192079,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:27.839Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/024-013.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-013","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/24/conversation-024-013","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}