Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 40 › Conversation 040-056

Nixon phone call with Scowcroft on Leonid Brezhnev and Henry Kissinger

Tuesday, June 12, 1973 · 11:51 PM–11:54 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Scowcroft, Brent G. (Gen.)Conversation040-056 on Tape 40StartTuesday, June 12, 1973 at 11:51 PMEndTuesday, June 12, 1973 at 11:54 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 040-056 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed General Brent Scowcroft to inform Henry Kissinger about a successful arrangement with Soviet Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin regarding the upcoming summit with Leonid Brezhnev at San Clemente, which would be limited to a small group of key principals. The two also discussed sensitive Vietnam negotiations, specifically the pressure being placed on South Vietnam to finalize a communique. Nixon emphasized that he had provided personal assurances to the South Vietnamese and warned that failure to comply would risk the loss of Congressional funding.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Go ahead, please.
Yes, Mr. President.
I wanted to be sure that you passed to Henry that I talked to Dobrynin tonight and confirmed the fact that we're going to send Clemente just not to Houston, that Dobrynin is delighted, Brechtneff is delighted, and that he'll be very pleased.
And what Brechtneff and Dobrynin want is just Brechtneff, Dobrynin, Henry, and I, and the translators in the meetings.
Very good.
Okay?
Yes, sir.
That'll sort of build Henry up before he goes through the agony of tomorrow.
Yes, sir.
I'll pass it to him right away.
How's it look tomorrow?
I think we'll have it made, Mr. President.
Really?
I really believe so.
I think... You got my message of unilateral discussion statement.
Sorry.
Right.
Assurances.
Yes.
And I really believe the indications are that Saigon will go along with this now.
Really?
I think so.
That's good.
So, uh... Well, it's not, you know, sniper here and there.
It's more there.
We'd like to have it done, but if it isn't, it's not all that important because, hell, there's no prisoners and all that sort of thing.
No, that's right, Mr. President.
But I really think that, uh, that they'll come along tomorrow and end up with a communique.
What time will it be?
Uh, Henry's meeting again at noon Paris time, which is 7 o'clock our time.
Right, so you might be... We'll hear before then from Saigon, sure.
really so first thing in the morning if zygon turns it off then well we'll we got a problem henry work out some fuzzy thing well we'll just have to do the best we can if that happens right but if zygon turns us off i don't know how the hell they cook do you no sir i really don't i really good god they won on the elections and that's right they have what they want in the elections and well there's just absolutely no excuse anymore none
particularly in view of the fact that we've told them that i'll make a personal assurance and that by god if they don't do it the congress is going to cut off their water that's right that's right that appeals to them or anything else i think oh i'm sure it does and they're just they can't be under any illusions on either of those points good
Well, I think Henry will be so pleased to hear this.
You know, the San Clemente thing didn't mean that much to me, but it does to Henry.
Well, it did.
It did make a deal, and I'm sure he'll be very, very pleased.
Right.
So I'll work it out and just tell him that just the four of us will be there.
And I've also invited, you might tell him.
because i've opened up a couple of rooms uh bear stuff will stay in the cottage i mean which is on which is in the house right and that i've invited to brand and if necessary gromeko to stay in there two extra rooms oh oh but the brain definitely will stay i'm sure very good so that way we've got that and also i've got an extra room where the security and or translator man can stay
Oh.
So I've got four extra rooms.
Oh, wonderful.
Okay.
Wonderful.
All right.
I'll pass it on, mister.
All right.
Thank you very much, sir.

NARA Description

On June 12, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft talked on the telephone from 11:51 pm to 11:54 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 040-056 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 40-56

Date: June 12, 1973
Time: 11:51 pm - 11:54 pm
                                             -51-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft.

     President’s previous call to Anatoliy Dobrynin
           -Scowcroft’s message to Henry A. Kissinger
           -Leonid I. Brezhnev visit
                 -San Clemente
                 -Houston
                 -Dobrynin
                 -Agenda
                       -Brezhnev, Dobrynin, Henry A. Kissinger, President and translators

     Vietnam negotiations
          -South Vietnam
                -Scowcroft’s Expectations
                -President’s message
                      -Assurances
          -President’s expectations
                -Prisoners of War [POWs]
          -Communique
          -Kissinger’s schedule
                -Announcement
                      -South Vietnamese reaction
          -South Vietnam’s position
                -Kissinger
                -Elections
                -President’s message
                -Congress
                      -Funding of South Vietnam

     Forthcoming Brezhnev visit
           -Importance to Kissinger
           -Scowcroft’s message to Kissinger
           -San Clemente
                -Accommodations
                -Brezhnev, Dobrynin, Andrei A. Gromyko, security men, and translators
                                             -52-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Also recorded on June 13, 1973

  • 040-053 11:37 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:37 pm and 11:38 pm.
  • 040-054 11:38 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 11:38 pm to 11:41 pm.
  • 040-055 11:41 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:41 pm and 11:51 pm.
  • 040-057 11:54 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 11:54 pm on June 12, 1973 and 12:02 am on June 13, 1973.
  • 040-058 12:02 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 12:02 am to 12:07 am.
  • 040-059 12:07 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:07 am and 12:09 am.
  • 040-060 12:09 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 12:09 am to 12:12 am.
  • 040-061 12:12 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:12 am and 12:16 am.

All 95 conversations from June 13, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 040-056, June 13, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/040-056 (accessed October 9, 2026).