Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 24 › Conversation 024-156

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on George Shultz and Transition of power

Friday, May 19, 1972 · 10:51 AM–11:16 AM ET · White House Telephone

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  White House operator;  Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation024-156 onTape 24 (tape position 03:58:46–03:58:55)StartFriday, May 19, 1972 at 10:51 AMEndFriday, May 19, 1972 at 11:16 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 024-156 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the transition of duties to George Shultz in light of an upcoming ten-day window for Kissinger to finalize his outstanding responsibilities. They confirm that Shultz is prepared to assume his acting role, ensuring a seamless handover of tasks. The exchange serves to solidify the timeline for finalizing Kissinger's current portfolio before shifting focus to new priorities.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 28.2 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 03:58:46 into the tape and ends around 03:58:55.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

2:10:35i think that what we can say in effect is that well after all schultz is now in and he he can be acting i don't think of that and uh do you agree yes yes because you really will have finished all you have to do with schultz so you've got 10 days now to do that right yes sir okay yeah that'll be no problem then that'll run from about the second you've got a figure i think you're you're looking

NARA Description

On May 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 11:16 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 024-156 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 24-156

Date: May 19, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:51 am and 11:16 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President signalled the White House operator.

[See also Conversation No. 726-1C]

     Operator's request for instructions

The President conferred with Henry A. Kissinger during the telephone call.

[See Conversation No. 726-1]

Also recorded on May 19, 1972

  • 726-001 10:30 AM · 1 hr 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, unknown person(s), Henry A. Kissinger, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:30 am to 11:42 am.
  • 024-157 10:51 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 11:16 am.
  • 024-158 11:16 AM · 18 sec — Stephen B. Bull, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 11:16 am to 11:17 am.
  • 024-103 11:17 AM · 7 sec — unknown person(s), White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at 11:17 am.
  • 726-012 11:27 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:27 am.
  • 726-002 11:42 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, Stephen B. Bull, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:42 am.
  • 726-003 11:42 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:42 am to 11:45 am.
  • 726-004 11:45 AM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Henry A. Kissinger, Ronald L. Ziegler, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:45 am to 12:19 pm.

All 47 conversations from May 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 024-156, May 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-156 (accessed September 18, 2026).