Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 169 › Conversation 169-013

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Leonid Brezhnev and Summit diplomacy

Wednesday, June 20, 1973 · 9:27 AM–9:30 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation169-013 on Tape 169StartWednesday, June 20, 1973 at 9:27 AMEndWednesday, June 20, 1973 at 9:30 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 169-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger coordinated the logistical arrangements and agenda for the upcoming summit with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. The two discussed the protocol for Nixon to personally present an automobile as a gift to Brezhnev and established a sequence for upcoming meetings, including sessions involving Kissinger and Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin, as well as private time for the President and Brezhnev. Kissinger committed to delivering a brief outlining the remaining summit goals to ensure the plenary sessions and private discussions proceeded as planned.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah, Mr. President.
Hi, Henry.
I wondered if you might chat with the brain minister how we are working.
Yeah, I was just picking up the phone to call him.
Fine.
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay.
As long as I have you on the phone, I wanted to ask you, we have Bresnett's car here, and we were going to give it to him.
We have the keys and everything.
Good.
And I wondered whether you wanted to do that personally.
Sure.
Or whether we...
Yeah.
Let somebody give him the keys.
Has he seen it?
He hasn't seen it.
Well, then I'll show it to him.
No, let me do it.
I can never be a nice individual.
Well, that's what I thought.
I'll see Dabrina now, and I'll call you, and I'll come by then as soon as I've seen it.
What we would like, what I would like.
I mean, we've got to have some time for the four of us to work out those, try to work out those two.
any other points that they want to discuss.
Right.
And the, you know, the interpretation of the agreement and so forth, particularly the, uh, bodies agreement.
Then I've got to have some time with him alone because he wants that.
Right.
And then I guess we've got to have some time for the plenary business, right?
Right.
With brother, we can do that at dinner.
Mm-hmm.
I think so, yeah.
You mean with, uh, well, I think, I don't know, we could start
Or you can start alone with Presniff and call for the rest of us.
Yeah, but I... Well, you see, we need...
We need three different groups, though.
That's right.
And so I don't want to call for all the rest of you if I do.
Right.
But one thing, one way to do it, Mr. President, would be for the four of us to get together first, get this business done, which shouldn't take long.
Then Dobrynin and I leave you, and you could be alone with Presnev.
Right.
And then in the afternoon, you could have a one-hour sort of plenary-type session.
Yeah.
Or we could just have an hour this morning getting the business done.
Then you could meet with President this afternoon alone first and then call for everybody.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, fine.
That's fine.
That's fine.
Let's see, it's now, what, 930?
Yeah, he's not yet.
Oh, good, good, good.
I'm in order, I mean, sit around here.
But I'll send you over that paper now that states what remains to be done.
Yeah.
And, uh, the, uh...
Don't alert Rita to the fact that I'm up or anything, you know.
Well, I'm up, but I mean that we're in a hurry.
Oh, no.
Okay.
Right.

NARA Description

On June 20, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:27 am to 9:30 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 169-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 169-13

Date: June 20, 1973
Time: 9:27 am - 9:30 am
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
          -Schedule
                 -Kissinger’s conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                 -Presentation of gift
                       -Automobile
                       -Arrangements
                             -President’s presentation
                 -Kissinger’s conversation with Dobrynin
                 -President, Dobrynin, Kissinger and Brezhnev
                       -Agreements
                 -President and Brezhnev
                                            -10-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                          Conversation No. 169-13 (cont’d)

                       -Private meeting
                 -Plenary session
                       -Dobrynin, Kissinger, Brezhnev
                             -Arrangements
           -Kissinger’s paper
                 -Goals for summit
           -Schedule
                 -Dobrynin
                 -President’s schedule

Also recorded on June 20, 1973

  • 169-011 9:22 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:22 am and 9:27 am.
  • 169-012 9:22 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:22 am and 9:27 am.
  • 169-014 9:30 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:30 am and 9:38 am.
  • 169-015 9:30 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:30 am and 9:38 am.
  • 169-016 9:38 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:38 am to 9:42 am.
  • 169-017 9:42 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:42 am and 11:21 am.
  • 169-018 9:42 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:42 am and 11:21 am.
  • 169-019 11:21 AM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:21 am and 11:24 am.

All 31 conversations from June 20, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 169-013, June 20, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/169-013 (accessed October 9, 2026).