{"conversationCode":"239-004","tapeNumber":239,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-239-004","startDateTime":"1973-01-06T01:27:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1973-01-06T01:31:00.000Z","startDate":"5-Jan-1973","startTime":"8:27 PM","endDate":"5-Jan-1973","endTime":"8:31 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On January 5, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 8:27 pm to 8:31 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 239-004 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"CDHW","recordingDevice":"Camp David Hard Wire","latitudeEstimated":39.648333,"longitudeEstimated":-77.465,"chronCode":"5.3","chronRelease":"Fifth Chronological Release: Part III","chronReleaseDate":"23-Jun-2009","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 239-4\n\nDate: January 5, 1973\nTime: 8:27 pm - 8:31 pm\nLocation: Camp David Hard Wire\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n[See Conversation No. 160-4]","filename":["239-004.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"239-003","nextCode":"239-005","transcript":[{"start":3.91,"end":13.25,"text":"Where'd they get you, home?"},{"start":13.27,"end":14.27,"text":"Oh, I see."},{"start":14.29,"end":14.47,"text":"Right."},{"start":14.49,"end":14.68,"text":"Right."},{"start":14.7,"end":15.68,"text":"How'd you get along with Scott Ford?"},{"start":34.78,"end":51.6,"text":"What I want you to do, what I want you to do tomorrow with Manse, you're not going to like this, but I want you to do it."},{"start":51.62,"end":53.45,"text":"I'm just going to tell him it's very cold."},{"start":53.47,"end":55.49,"text":"I talked to the president tonight after the Senate vacation that they cut off on Monday morning."},{"start":55.51,"end":56.75,"text":"The president, as he tried to tell Manse when he met with him,"},{"start":58.92,"end":70.78,"text":"probably torpedoed the whole thing for the banks of the Senate, but the president will go on television on Wednesday or Thursday of this week to tell himself, tell the nation so."},{"start":70.8,"end":72.02,"text":"The negotiations."},{"start":72.04,"end":86.38,"text":"I want you to play a very hard line, very cold, and say, Senator, I regret to say that we hadn't made, you know what I mean, that we haven't, what I mean is that we feel we had a very good chance."},{"start":86.4,"end":87.16,"text":"Your resolution now has cooled it off."},{"start":87.7,"end":105.98,"text":"The president is going to go on national television and he regrets doing it because it's a great personal affection for you."},{"start":106,"end":106.62,"text":"He's going to have to say this."},{"start":106.64,"end":109.89,"text":"Scared the shit out of me and I want to do that because it will speak."},{"start":109.91,"end":110.17,"text":"Got to do it."},{"start":110.19,"end":112.79,"text":"Got to start playing the game a little bit stronger than we've been playing on it."},{"start":112.81,"end":114.63,"text":"Well, the star tonight has a thing that the Senate will cut off months of January from him."},{"start":120.7,"end":125.11,"text":"Right."},{"start":127.45,"end":128.31,"text":"That's right."},{"start":128.33,"end":130.53,"text":"See what I mean?"},{"start":130.56,"end":140.67,"text":"I just want you to say, Senator, I regret to say, but your resolution probably destroyed the chance for honorable peace."},{"start":140.69,"end":143.47,"text":"Now, President, can you say that you have no other choice but to advise the President to go on television and point this out in the future?"},{"start":143.49,"end":144.13,"text":"If it fails, put it that way."},{"start":148.84,"end":164.19,"text":"You see what I mean?"},{"start":165.75,"end":167.31,"text":"What they've done."},{"start":167.53,"end":170.61,"text":"The Canadian Parliament is something else."},{"start":170.63,"end":174.1,"text":"The Democrats and the Congress play this kind of a line."},{"start":174.12,"end":178.04,"text":"But I want him to be coldly treated in the market."},{"start":178.06,"end":178.42,"text":"I would be icy."},{"start":179.09,"end":193.21,"text":"and say that, I'm sorry, Senator, but I think you, I regret to say, you've torpedoed the negotiations, and that you are going to have to advise the president to go on and say so, and the president can talk to him."},{"start":193.23,"end":194.37,"text":"He says, I regret to say that I'm gonna have to do it."},{"start":194.39,"end":196.05,"text":"Get my point?"},{"start":196.07,"end":202.52,"text":"Then, of course, it comes out as something very different."},{"start":202.58,"end":202.7,"text":"Right?"},{"start":207.71,"end":219.15,"text":"Okay."},{"start":220.31,"end":228.1,"text":"Okay."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon directs Henry Kissinger to take an icy, confrontational stance with Senator Mike Mansfield regarding congressional interference in Vietnam peace negotiations. Nixon tasks Kissinger with informing Mansfield that his legislative actions have jeopardized the potential for an honorable peace and forced the President to consider a national televised address to hold Congress accountable. This strategy aims to shift public blame toward Senate Democrats for any future failure in the ongoing peace talks.","topics":["Vietnam War","Peace Negotiations","Mike Mansfield","Congress","Public Relations","Foreign Policy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T11:24:38.861Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","peace-negotiations","mike-mansfield","congress","public-relations","foreign-policy"],"audioDurationSec":236,"audioFiles":[{"file":"239-004.mp3","bytes":5667998,"durationSec":236.04,"bitrate":192102,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:36.206Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/239-004.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/239-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/239/conversation-239-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}