Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 43 › Conversation 043-157

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on US-Soviet Relations and Leonid Brezhnev

Wednesday, February 21, 1973 · 6:30 PM–6:33 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation043-157 on Tape 43StartWednesday, February 21, 1973 at 6:30 PMEndWednesday, February 21, 1973 at 6:33 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 043-157 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the successful leverage of U.S.-China relations to expedite a visit from Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, tentatively scheduled for June. Kissinger outlines potential bilateral agreements regarding SALT, health, and energy, while advising caution on nuclear weapons proposals to avoid alienating NATO allies and China. Additionally, the two address the recent Israeli shootdown of a commercial airliner, with Nixon stressing the need for Israel to offer financial compensation to mitigate diplomatic fallout.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Please.
Alderman, please.
Thank you.
And Mr. President, Dr. Kissinger is asking for you.
Oh, fine.
You want him first?
Yes.
All right.
There you are, sir.
Hello.
Mr. President.
Hi, Henry.
That triangle is continuing to work.
I had Vorontsov in this evening just to hand him a copy of the communique because, well, he brought me a letter from Brezhnev to you.
Saying that he's now looking over his schedule, he's decided June is the best time for him to come.
That's all right.
He's firmly coming in June for a most significant visit that Dobrynin and I should start working immediately.
He wants me to come to Moscow in April.
When does he think that, when should we announce this?
perhaps let's wait after the premium is back in about two or three weeks okay we shouldn't do it this close to the china one it looks too obvious right right but that's good it's working like a charm because before this they were dragging you know they were playing us along and saying november and well actually i would prefer it in november i know but
This will hurry us up a bit, and that's just as well, too.
We've got to work now.
We've really got to go to work.
Sabrina and I now really agree to have a salt agreement come out of it.
They sent us a list of four other agreements.
They're ready to make health, environment, and so forth.
And maybe we can get something on that energy thing with them, too.
Right.
I really think that on that, that would be a hell of a coup for him to get that thing.
Well, that's right.
And, of course, they raised again that nuclear one.
Well, we'll just have to do that.
Well, the Middle East is tough, but... We can't do the nuclear one without driving the Chinese into irreconcilable opposition.
What do we do about it then?
We can give them a third of what they're asking.
Which is what?
How much?
The British would go right up the wall.
We can give them an agreement that we will work with them to create conditions in which such a treaty can be signed and to set up a commission to work on these conditions or something like that.
That's about as much as we can do.
NATO will fall.
It's the effect on both NATO and the Chinese of a flat commitment not to use nuclear weapons.
would be just too disastrous yes oh i know that yeah yeah if he's nailed to a visit it's gonna be up to now he was trying to use his visit to get us to agree to the treaty now he's unconditionally agreed to the visit all right good that's good that's good
You know, just looking at this Israeli plane thing, that's a pretty rough deal, isn't it?
I talked to Rabin this afternoon.
I said, what the hell did you do this for?
He said, frankly, some high-ranking idiot goofed.
He said no ordinary pilot would do this, and somebody must have given the order.
My God.
Well, it's...
He's coming in tomorrow.
What are the...
The problem is what the Egyptians are going to do.
You think they'll still go ahead with the visit?
No question about it.
No question.
You think they will, huh?
Oh, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
They're getting more out of the visit than we are.
We don't need the visit.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Well, we trust they will.
That's...
I don't want them to use this incident for the purpose of, you know, starting some silly thing, because...
I can't believe it.
Almost certainly not.
Well, the Israelis are taking, I trust, a very positive... No, she's already expressed her condolences to the victims.
I think they ought to really compensate for them, too, don't you think so?
Well, let me find out tomorrow when Rabin comes in what the situation was.
There's no excuse for it.
No, but you know, a DC-7, I mean a 707 is such an obvious...
commercial plane, hell on a radar, you can tell what the hell it is.
And to knock down one of those is unbelievable, unbelievable.
No excuse for it.
None at all.
And I think the Israelis, you can tell Rabin that I feel very strongly that they ought to, I think they ought to really compensate, say that they will, you know, that would be a great gesture on their part and it would pull a lot of the steam out of this.
I'll mention that.
Okay.
Right.

NARA Description

On February 21, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 6:30 pm to 6:33 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 043-157 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 43-157

Date: February 21, 1973
Time: 6:30 pm - 6:33 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

       Request for a call to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

       Henry A. Kissinger
            -Report for the President

Kissinger talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 860-14]

       Kissinger’s meeting with Yuli M. Vorontsov
             -US-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                   -Communiqué
             -Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit to the US
                   -Timing
                   -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                   -Announcement
                   -Timing
             -US-Soviet Union agreements
                   -Strategic Arms and Limitation Talks [SALT]
                   -Health, environment
                   -Energy
                                             -90-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                  -Middle East
                  -Nuclear weapons
                        -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
                        -The People’s Republic of China [PRC]
             -Brezhnev’s visit

       Kissinger’s conversation with Yitzhak Rabin
             -Air operations [shootdown of passenger airplane]
                   -Rabin’s explanation
                   -Egyptian reaction
                   -The President’s concern
                   -Israel’s reaction
                         -Golda Meir
                   -The President’s view
                   -Possible compensation
                         -The President’s view
                         -Rabin

Also recorded on February 21, 1973

  • 860-012 3:30 PM · 28 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John B. Connally, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:30 pm to 3:58 pm.
  • 860-013 3:58 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:58 pm and 4:02 pm.
  • 860-014 3:58 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:58 pm and 4:02 pm.
  • 860-017 3:58 PM · 13 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:58 pm and 4:02 pm.
  • 860-015 4:02 PM · 1 hr 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Edgar Allen Poe, Garnett D. ("Jack") Horner, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:02 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 860-016 5:33 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:33 pm to 6:00 pm.
  • 043-158 6:33 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:33 pm and 6:47 pm.
  • 043-159 6:47 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 6:47 pm to 6:53 pm.

All 88 conversations from February 21, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 043-157, February 21, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/043-157 (accessed October 10, 2026).