Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 30 › Conversation 030-017

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Uganda and Burundi

Thursday, September 21, 1972 · 7:42 PM–7:43 PM ET · White House Telephone ·1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation030-017 onTape 30StartThursday, September 21, 1972 at 7:42 PMEndThursday, September 21, 1972 at 7:43 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 030-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon expressed strong dissatisfaction to Henry Kissinger regarding the State Department’s passive response to political violence in Uganda and Burundi. Decrying what he perceived as a double standard in dealing with African regimes, Nixon ordered the immediate evacuation of all Americans from Uganda and demanded the recall of U.S. Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady. He further directed that the Burundi ambassador be expelled, signaling a shift toward more aggressive diplomatic actions in the region.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Hello.
Mr. President.
Oh, Henry, I don't want to irritate your evening, but I was not satisfied with the report on Uganda, which came from State.
Right.
Now, the man we have there is Milady, who is a sweet guy.
He's a great supporter of ours, but totally African, all African, doesn't understand.
Now, I know him, Tom Milady, know him well.
Second point,
I want harder action taken.
I want everybody from America evacuated as soon as possible.
I want hard action.
And second, I want to get that Burundi ambassador's ass out of there right now.
And that's an order.
I think you would agree, Henry, we have really had a double standard on this thing.
And the African division, you know, I mean, do we care when they kill a poor goddamn Pakistani?
Do we care when these damn Africans eat 100,000 people?
I mean, it's really gone too far.
What do you think?
I couldn't agree more.
All right.
You get out of the Talmud.
Now, M'lady's report saying, well, no, he said, well, no Americans have been arrested, and there are a few U.K.s that have been killed.
Well, God damn it, if a Britisher is killed, I mean, call M'lady back for instructions.
Let's call him right back.
How about that?
We can do both of those.
All right.
You get M'lady's ass right back here.
Right.
Okay.
Right.
All right.
Bye.

NARA Description

On September 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 7:42 pm to 7:43 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 030-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 30-17

Date: September 21, 1972
Time: 7:42 pm - 7:43 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

       Uganda
             -State Department
             -Thomas Patrick Melady
                     -The President’s view
             -Evacuation
                     -Americans
                     -The President’s instructions

       Burundi
             -Ambassador
             -State Department African division
             -Violence

       Melady
             -Ugandan violence
                   -Arrests
                   -British casualties
             -Schedule

Also recorded on September 21, 1972

  • 357-012 5:02 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:02 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 357-013 5:02 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:02 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 357-014 5:02 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:02 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 357-015 5:02 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:02 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 030-016 7:42 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:42 pm.
  • 030-018 7:44 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 7:44 pm to 7:47 pm.
  • 030-019 7:50 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:50 pm to 7:51 pm.
  • 030-020 7:51 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:51 pm and 8:04 pm.

All 43 conversations from September 21, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 030-017, September 21, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/030-017 (accessed September 18, 2026).