Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 193 › Conversation 193-027

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Diplomacy and Japan-US relations

Thursday, June 8, 1972 · 4:27 PM–4:31 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation193-027 on Tape 193 (tape position 04:11:10–04:17:39)StartThursday, June 8, 1972 at 4:27 PMEndThursday, June 8, 1972 at 4:31 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 193-027 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the importance of personal diplomacy and the strategic benefits of Kissinger's upcoming trip to Japan. Nixon emphasizes that Kissinger’s presence will serve to reassure the Japanese government while simultaneously signaling a shift in geopolitical leverage against the Soviet Union and China. The conversation highlights the value of establishing direct, high-level channels to manage international crises, bypassing traditional diplomatic hierarchies to ensure more effective communication.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 59.7 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 04:11:10 into the tape and ends around 04:17:39.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
4:14:11Yeah.
4:14:13Yeah.
4:14:15Hello?
4:14:16Yeah, yeah.
4:14:24Yeah, yeah.
4:14:28Yeah.
4:14:31Yeah, I know.
4:14:37Yeah, yeah.
4:14:40Should make.
4:14:58Well, I sort of had that feeling.
4:15:00I've been sitting here working on the damn thing, Bob, and it just isn't working.
4:15:06I mean, yeah.
4:15:06Chuck who?
4:15:08I don't know.
4:15:17Yeah, well, let's come on over and let's talk about it.
4:15:30Thank you.
4:16:30Well, you're a good father, huh?
4:16:32Oh, I'm not a good father.
4:16:36Sorry you have to do it, but you may find that...
4:16:41The fact that you don't have the damn pressure on this trip won't be very hard, in a sense.
4:16:46I think the combination of a long trip and terrible pressure is very hard.
4:16:54I know, for example, when I finish a political campaign, even though it isn't the traveling, it's the fact that I'm under very, very heavy pressure.
4:17:02And if you go on a vacation, take a long trip, you don't feel that bad.
4:17:09Oh, of course you will.
4:17:11You can handle this.
4:17:13You don't have to prepare for it like the others, you know what I mean?
4:17:16I mean, you know the Japanese situation at the back of your hand.
4:17:19And you're not going to have those damned all-night sessions and all that sort of thing.
4:17:26Yeah, well, sure, sure.
4:17:29But what I meant is it's a kind of a thing where just the fact that you're going and being available and talking to them and holding their hands
4:17:37is a good thing.
4:17:38And it's going to be good to worry the Chinese and worry the Russians.
4:17:42And that's good.
4:17:44And reassure the Japanese a little.
4:17:50Sure.
4:17:50Yeah, I was so interested in that.
4:17:52He really felt that the personal relationship had been established.
4:17:56Oh, I
4:18:06well that's important, that's important, and also it's important that he feels that he has the same relationship with you because that means you can take that next trip and it'll just be like, you know, we really gotta come down to him and every time, you know,
4:18:19every time some torpedo boat moves into the Cienfuegos, I can't get into it.
4:18:26And now we've got a relationship established where you can.
4:18:30See what I mean?
4:18:30I mean, you have before, but now he knows, and we need to do that, because normally you'd have your secretary of state for that sort of thing, but they know that that has no credibility.
4:18:46Yeah.

NARA Description

On June 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 4:27 pm to 4:31 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 193-027 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 193-27
Date: June 8, 1972
Time: 4:27-4:31 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

[See Conversation No. 133-20; one item has been withdrawn]

Also recorded on June 8, 1972

  • 193-023 3:31 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 3:31 pm and 4:25 pm.
  • 193-024 3:31 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 3:31 pm and 4:25 pm.
  • 133-018 4:25 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 4:25 pm to 4:26 pm.
  • 193-025 4:25 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 4:25 pm to 4:26 pm.
  • 133-019 4:26 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:26 pm and 4:27 pm.
  • 193-026 4:26 PM · 59 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:26 pm and 4:27 pm.
  • 133-020 4:27 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 4:27 pm to 4:31 pm.
  • 193-028 4:31 PM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:31 pm and 5:20 pm.

All 27 conversations from June 8, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 193-027, June 8, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/193-027 (accessed October 8, 2026).