Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 42 › Conversation 042-083

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on POW negotiations and Vietnam War

Thursday, April 29, 1971 · 7:27 PM–7:30 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation042-083 on Tape 42 (tape position 02:18:31–02:21:51)StartThursday, April 29, 1971 at 7:27 PMEndThursday, April 29, 1971 at 7:30 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 042-083 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the high-stakes negotiations regarding American prisoners of war (POWs) in Vietnam. They assessed the potential for a formal offer from the North Vietnamese and explored the necessity of a public presidential response or speech should negotiations stall. The two agreed that they must maintain a firm position to avoid being outmaneuvered, even if it meant risking an public rejection of the administration's own ceasefire proposals.

Audio

Download MP3 · 2.2 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Mr. President?
Yeah.
Mr. Kissinger's calling you, sir.
Yeah.
There you are.
Hello.
Mr. President?
Yeah, hi, Henry.
I just wanted to call you to tell you I've been thinking of you.
Oh, wow, thank you.
All of you.
How's the weather out there?
It's perfect.
I had lunch with Freeman Goss.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Spoke of you with great affection.
Yes, yes, he's a great fellow.
And I've been talking to Hague, and he's been telling me about... Yeah.
what's gone on well the main the main problem we have coming up is the pow problem
Right.
And that they, so that we can therefore expect that that probably will surface as an offer.
And when that offer surfaces, that's going to be the hardest one for us to wheel.
Do you understand?
Well, if the offer surfaces, I think we may have to go public with our offer.
Well, that's what I mean.
We may have to go public with it, but that means that the timetable for... Huh?
That means it may fail.
Yeah.
You mean our offer of a ceasefire and a POW?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, in any event, the main point is that the date for your talking...
I don't know.
What is the time you've set for it now?
What time have you offered?
I've offered the 9th, but I suspect that now, they told us right away that on the 9th, one tree was out of town.
Yeah.
So I think they'll offer the 16th.
Well, you see, that may be too late.
So if it is, we'll just have to go with something else.
See what I mean?
We may be put to the torture on this one.
This is the hardest one.
I don't think they'll service it that straight.
Yeah.
They are playing a very clever game on this, as always.
Yeah.
Well, maybe so.
The main thing is we've just got to hold our people in line if we can until we get a chance at them.
But it's very possible you're not going to get a chance at them.
We just have to go the other roads.
and uh and then that means that what we do just surface our own offer and let it go at that that's right and uh it's a less elegant way of doing it and probably means that we get turned down right away of course of course of course but uh but i it just may be we have to do it though you see if we it's much you see
We can't get run out.
That's my point.
That's right.
Now, if they make it as a formal offer, Mr. President, then my guess is that what we will have to do is for you to make a speech indicating what we are willing to do.
Yeah.
Or respond in a formal way.
Yeah.
Well, we haven't done it yet.
We'll see what they do.
Okay.
Thank you.
We'll see.
I hope not.
Thank you.
Right, Mr. President.

NARA Description

On April 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 7:27 pm to 7:30 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 042-083 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 42-83

Date: April 29, 1971
Time: 7:27 pm - 7:30 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Henry A. Kissinger talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 251-46]

     Kissinger's schedule
          -Freeman Gosden

     Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations
          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

*****************************************************************

[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number
LPRN-T-MDR-2014-013. Segment declassified on 12/20/2017. Archivist: MAS]
[National Security]
[042-083-w001]
[Duration: 15s]

       Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations
              -Wilfred Burchett
                     -President’s opinion
                     -Communist

                     -Australian

*****************************************************************

     Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations
          -US offer
          -Schedule
                -Xuan Thuy

******************************************************************************

[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number
LPRN-T-MDR-2014-013. Segment declassified on 12/20/2017. Archivist: MAS]
[National Security]
[042-083-w002]
[Duration: 14s]

       Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations
              -Wilfred Burchett
                     -Unserious offer

******************************************************************************

     Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations
          -Strategy
          -US offer
          -President's possible speech

Also recorded on April 29, 1971

  • 042-082 6:32 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 6:32 pm to 6:37 pm.
  • 251-041 6:37 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 7:27 pm.
  • 251-042 6:37 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 7:27 pm.
  • 251-043 6:37 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 7:27 pm.
  • 251-044 6:37 PM · 6 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 6:37 pm and 7:27 pm.
  • 251-045 6:37 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 7:27 pm.
  • 251-046 7:27 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:27 pm to 7:30 pm.
  • 251-047 7:30 PM · 6 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 7:30 pm and 8:02 pm.

All 64 conversations from April 29, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 042-083, April 29, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-083 (accessed October 3, 2026).