Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 42 › Conversation 042-013

Nixon phone call with Acker on Speechwriting and Henry Kissinger

Tuesday, April 6, 1971 · 11:10 AM–11:11 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Acker, Marjorie P.Conversation042-013 on Tape 42 (tape position 00:17:57–00:19:30)StartTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 11:10 AMEndTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 11:11 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 042-013 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417187781 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon instructed his secretary, Marjorie P. Acker, to modify a draft of an upcoming speech before delivering it to Henry Kissinger. He directed Acker to revert the conclusion to a previous version of the text starting from a specific passage regarding the "long and difficult trial." This directive ensured that Kissinger received the finalized language Nixon preferred, specifically ordering that the document be provided to no one else at that stage.

Audio

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NARA Description

On April 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker talked on the telephone from 11:10 am to 11:11 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 042-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 42-13

Date: April 6, 1971
Time: 11:10 am - 11:11 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Marjorie P. Acker.

[See Conversation No. 245-10]

     Draft of President's speech
           -Page 14
           -Henry A. Kissinger

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Yeah.
Mrs. Acker.
Yeah.
Hello.
Marge.
Yes.
Now, you can take this, but if you will look at the, oh, page 14, page 14.
Right.
The sentence ending, it has been a long and difficult trial for us.
Yes.
Yeah.
From there on, I want you to, not for me, but for the draft you give to Kissinger to leave the conclusion in that is in the old speech.
You see what I mean?
Let me explain.
This is all a change, you know, part of it is a change, remember?
Right, the insert.
But where I say, but I can assure you tonight with the confidence, remember that's part of the insert on the yellow page.
What I want you to do is to go right back to the draft that I was working on.
Find that draft.
You got it in front of you?
Right.
All right, what does it say right after it has been a long and difficult trial for us?
But now ahead we can see the end.
All right, fine.
That sentence.
And everything else from there on, as it was in that draft, that's the draft you give to him.
Fair enough?
Yes.
That's right.
Just give it to him, nobody else at this point.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right.

Also recorded on April 6, 1971

  • 042-010 11:03 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:10 am.
  • 245-010 11:10 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:10 am to 11:11 am.
  • 042-014 11:11 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:11 am and 11:13 am.
  • 245-011 11:11 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:11 am and 11:13 am.
  • 042-015 11:13 AM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker talked on the telephone from 11:13 am to 11:14 am.
  • 245-012 11:13 AM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:13 am to 11:14 am.
  • 042-016 11:14 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:14 am and 11:19 am.
  • 245-013 11:14 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 an unknown time between 11:14 am and 11:19 am.

All 65 conversations from April 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 042-013, April 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417187781). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-013 (accessed October 31, 2026).