{"conversationCode":"042-083","tapeNumber":42,"conversationNumber":83,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-042-083","startDateTime":"1971-04-29T23:27:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-04-29T23:30:00.000Z","startDate":"29-Apr-1971","startTime":"7:27 PM","endDate":"29-Apr-1971","endTime":"7:30 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","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.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 42-83\n\nDate: April 29, 1971\nTime: 7:27 pm - 7:30 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nHenry A. Kissinger talked with the President.\n\n[See Conversation No. 251-46]\n\n     Kissinger's schedule\n          -Freeman Gosden\n\n     Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations\n          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number\nLPRN-T-MDR-2014-013. Segment declassified on 12/20/2017. Archivist: MAS]\n[National Security]\n[042-083-w001]\n[Duration: 15s]\n\n       Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations\n              -Wilfred Burchett\n                     -President’s opinion\n                     -Communist\n\n                     -Australian\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n     Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations\n          -US offer\n          -Schedule\n                -Xuan Thuy\n\n******************************************************************************\n\n[Previous National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number\nLPRN-T-MDR-2014-013. Segment declassified on 12/20/2017. Archivist: MAS]\n[National Security]\n[042-083-w002]\n[Duration: 14s]\n\n       Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations\n              -Wilfred Burchett\n                     -Unserious offer\n\n******************************************************************************\n\n     Prisoners of War [POWs] negotiations\n          -Strategy\n          -US offer\n          -President's possible speech","filename":["042-083.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:18:31","tapeEnd":"02:21:51","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"042-082","nextCode":"042-084","transcript":[{"start":0.66,"end":1.12,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":1.34,"end":1.98,"text":"Mr. President?"},{"start":2,"end":2.28,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":2.3,"end":3.62,"text":"Mr. Kissinger's calling you, sir."},{"start":3.76,"end":5.6,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":5.9,"end":6.24,"text":"There you are."},{"start":6.52,"end":6.7,"text":"Hello."},{"start":6.72,"end":7.17,"text":"Mr. President?"},{"start":7.21,"end":7.87,"text":"Yeah, hi, Henry."},{"start":8.05,"end":11.81,"text":"I just wanted to call you to tell you I've been thinking of you."},{"start":11.93,"end":12.85,"text":"Oh, wow, thank you."},{"start":13.13,"end":13.51,"text":"All of you."},{"start":13.53,"end":14.56,"text":"How's the weather out there?"},{"start":14.9,"end":15.58,"text":"It's perfect."},{"start":15.68,"end":17.16,"text":"I had lunch with Freeman Goss."},{"start":17.7,"end":18.76,"text":"Oh, yeah, yeah."},{"start":19.1,"end":21.25,"text":"Spoke of you with great affection."},{"start":21.27,"end":23.19,"text":"Yes, yes, he's a great fellow."},{"start":23.21,"end":29.82,"text":"And I've been talking to Hague, and he's been telling me about... Yeah."},{"start":30.64,"end":36.59,"text":"what's gone on well the main the main problem we have coming up is the pow problem"},{"start":52.17,"end":52.6,"text":"Right."},{"start":52.86,"end":58.31,"text":"And that they, so that we can therefore expect that that probably will surface as an offer."},{"start":58.87,"end":62.46,"text":"And when that offer surfaces, that's going to be the hardest one for us to wheel."},{"start":62.48,"end":63.16,"text":"Do you understand?"},{"start":63.28,"end":67.67,"text":"Well, if the offer surfaces, I think we may have to go public with our offer."},{"start":68.64,"end":69.45,"text":"Well, that's what I mean."},{"start":69.71,"end":74.78,"text":"We may have to go public with it, but that means that the timetable for... Huh?"},{"start":74.8,"end":75.96,"text":"That means it may fail."},{"start":76.42,"end":78.16,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":79.04,"end":80.97,"text":"You mean our offer of a ceasefire and a POW?"},{"start":81.49,"end":82.09,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":82.11,"end":82.75,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":82.77,"end":92.53,"text":"Well, in any event, the main point is that the date for your talking..."},{"start":93.48,"end":94.31,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":94.45,"end":96.69,"text":"What is the time you've set for it now?"},{"start":96.79,"end":97.73,"text":"What time have you offered?"},{"start":98.25,"end":106,"text":"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."},{"start":106.02,"end":106.78,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":106.8,"end":108.78,"text":"So I think they'll offer the 16th."},{"start":109.57,"end":111.29,"text":"Well, you see, that may be too late."},{"start":112.45,"end":114.43,"text":"So if it is, we'll just have to go with something else."},{"start":115.65,"end":116.07,"text":"See what I mean?"},{"start":116.75,"end":119.02,"text":"We may be put to the torture on this one."},{"start":119.04,"end":119.9,"text":"This is the hardest one."},{"start":119.92,"end":121.96,"text":"I don't think they'll service it that straight."},{"start":122.04,"end":122.14,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":122.61,"end":126.41,"text":"They are playing a very clever game on this, as always."},{"start":126.66,"end":141.63,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":141.65,"end":142.81,"text":"Well, maybe so."},{"start":142.85,"end":148.33,"text":"The main thing is we've just got to hold our people in line if we can until we get a chance at them."},{"start":148.35,"end":151.06,"text":"But it's very possible you're not going to get a chance at them."},{"start":151.08,"end":152.52,"text":"We just have to go the other roads."},{"start":153.17,"end":171.2,"text":"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"},{"start":171.8,"end":172.82,"text":"We can't get run out."},{"start":172.9,"end":173.54,"text":"That's my point."},{"start":173.78,"end":174.21,"text":"That's right."},{"start":174.22,"end":185.94,"text":"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."},{"start":187.24,"end":187.44,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":188.26,"end":189.84,"text":"Or respond in a formal way."},{"start":190.28,"end":192.11,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":192.13,"end":193.31,"text":"Well, we haven't done it yet."},{"start":193.33,"end":193.97,"text":"We'll see what they do."},{"start":194.05,"end":194.49,"text":"Okay."},{"start":194.93,"end":195.49,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":195.51,"end":196.01,"text":"We'll see."},{"start":196.61,"end":197.07,"text":"I hope not."},{"start":197.53,"end":197.94,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":198.22,"end":199.5,"text":"Right, Mr. President."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["POW negotiations","Vietnam War","Foreign policy strategy","Ceasefire","Xuan Thuy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T06:21:49.150Z"},"topicSlugs":["pow-negotiations","vietnam-war","foreign-policy-strategy","ceasefire","xuan-thuy"],"audioDurationSec":200,"audioFiles":[{"file":"042-083.mp3","bytes":2280213,"durationSec":199.64,"bitrate":91371,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:30.086Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/042-083.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-083","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/42/conversation-042-083","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}