Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-019

Nixon phone call with Kennedy on Vietnam War and Henry Kissinger

Tuesday, December 5, 1972 · 8:56 AM–8:59 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kennedy, Richard T. (Col.)Conversation034-019 on Tape 34StartTuesday, December 5, 1972 at 8:56 AMEndTuesday, December 5, 1972 at 8:59 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 034-019 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy discuss the status of ongoing Vietnam peace negotiations following Henry Kissinger’s decision to postpone meetings in Paris. Concerned about appearing weak, Nixon emphasizes that Kissinger must avoid a 'begging' posture and considers ordering retaliatory airstrikes on North Vietnam. Nixon also instructs Kennedy to brief Vice President Agnew on the current diplomatic stalemate while ordering a 48-hour delay for both the briefing and the Vice President’s travel plans.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
Colonel Kennedy, Mr. President.
Yeah.
Hello, Mr. President.
Sorry to bother you so quickly, but I got back to find that I just received a call from Henry.
He has postponed the meeting until tomorrow at 1030 for his time, which will be 430 in the morning here.
He does not believe that he should come back, although he appreciated immensely your thought that this would fill this feeling.
It would give the wrong impression on the other side, and that's his principal concern.
Also, he said the...
I don't want him to be in a begging position with them.
I hope that he's not in a whining position that, well, we're asking for a postponement because they're so tough.
See, that's the thing I'm concerned about here.
No, I think, I don't think, given what he had apparently said to them, I don't think there could be any chance of that.
The other thing is that I want you to cable in on us whether or not he'd like a couple of strikes right now, in other words.
Yes, I asked him that in the cable last night.
And he said he has a cable off to us, so we should be getting it very shortly.
Right, right.
There's one other thing, sir, I wanted your guidance on.
The vice president had asked that I come over this morning to sort of begin to brief him up on the agreement.
No, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You should go over, however, and tell him that at the present time he is to say absolutely nothing.
The thing is stalemated at the moment and that we don't know what the agreement is going to be and that you'd like to, I've directed that you postpone for 48 hours.
Tell him that Henry's postponed for 48 hours.
Is that all right?
All right, sir.
And just not go into the agreement at all?
Yeah.
And say at this point that we're stalemated on some critical points and therefore that it would really be a waste of his time.
until we have it over, and that I just say that I said wait till tomorrow, for him to wait till tomorrow for that, because tell him that in any event, his trip, if it takes place, will not take place.
See, the reason he's asking this, he thought he would take off Wednesday, isn't it?
Tell him it will not be until Friday at the earliest.
Right.
Just say that.
Yes, sir.
Okay.
Yes, sir.
That's the way you can buy time.
Don't go over and get into the damned agreement with him at this point, because he wouldn't understand it anyway.
I understand, sir.

NARA Description

On December 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy talked on the telephone from 8:56 am to 8:59 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 34-19

Date: December 5, 1972
Time: 8:56 am – 8:59 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Col. Richard T. Kennedy.

[See Conversation No. 387-4C]

       Vietnam negotiations
            -Call from Henry A. Kissinger
                   -Paris meeting
                         -Timing
                   -Kissinger’s possible return
                         -Impression
                   -US bombing of North Vietnam
                         -Timing
                               -Cable to Kissinger
                               -Cable from Kissinger
            -Settlement agreement
                   -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
                         -Possible briefing by Kennedy
                               -Comment by Agnew
                               -Stalemate
                               -Postponement
                                     -Kissinger
                               -Agnew’s trip
                                     -Timing

Also recorded on December 5, 1972

  • 034-016 7:57 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:57 am.
  • 387-001 7:57 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 7:57 am.
  • 387-002 7:57 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter J. Brennan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:57 am and 8:10 am.
  • 034-017 8:10 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:10 am and 8:26 am.
  • 387-004 8:10 AM · 1 hr 60 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Col. Richard T. Kennedy, White House operator, Charles W. Colson, unknown person(s), Manolo Sanchez, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:10 am to 9:50 am.
  • 034-018 8:26 AM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:26 am to 8:27 am.
  • 034-020 9:44 AM · 56 sec — Tricia Nixon Cox and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 9:44 am to 9:45 am.
  • 034-021 10:13 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:13 am.

All 48 conversations from December 5, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 034-019, December 5, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/034-019 (accessed September 28, 2026).