{"conversationCode":"246-021","tapeNumber":246,"conversationNumber":21,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-246-021","startDateTime":"1971-04-07T21:10:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-04-07T21:30:00.000Z","startDate":"7-Apr-1971","startTime":"4:10 PM","endDate":"7-Apr-1971","endTime":"4:30 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On April 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 246-021 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 246-021\n\n       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542\n\nDate: April 7, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 4:10 pm and 4:30 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger\n\n     President’s forthcoming speech on Vietnam, April 7, 1971\n           -Possible changes\n           -Press copy\n                 -President’s conversation with Rose Mary Woods\n           -Possible changes\n           -Kissinger’s conversation with John B. Connally\n           -Possible changes","filename":["246-021.mp3"],"tapeStart":"04:10:00","tapeEnd":"04:14:02","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"246-020","nextCode":"246-022","transcript":[{"start":2.29,"end":3.75,"text":"Hi."},{"start":4.17,"end":7.8,"text":"Uh, you'll, by the way, you can talk."},{"start":7.86,"end":8.12,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":8.14,"end":30.59,"text":"I, uh, was looking here for the last, uh, we've got too long, it's difficult, and Ted writes, uh, uh, it's about page 14, I imagine, of your, uh, uh, and I'm just wondering about striking the paragraph, I'm sure you can."},{"start":30.61,"end":30.71,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":30.73,"end":30.83,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":31.28,"end":37.53,"text":"This question, have you got the section, that is why I have chartered the course tonight?"},{"start":38.55,"end":39.03,"text":"You got that?"},{"start":39.17,"end":48.07,"text":"That's why I've chartered the course, I've chartered the night."},{"start":48.09,"end":49.81,"text":"And it's the way that we start to discuss for an hour on the word of God."},{"start":49.83,"end":50.49,"text":"And the way that we repeat it."},{"start":50.51,"end":51.66,"text":"You go on and say, it's the next paragraph that I may be."},{"start":53.93,"end":59.68,"text":"You see, the Course, we've talked so much about everything being so hard."},{"start":61.42,"end":69.12,"text":"The Course for the Fallen is not easy one, and I have to tell you, the Daily Test, the Vanguards, the Vengeance of all the rules of our spirit, has been a long and difficult trial for us."},{"start":69.14,"end":71.27,"text":"Would you mind taking that up?"},{"start":71.28,"end":71.36,"text":"Why?"},{"start":71.73,"end":80.79,"text":"Because later on, I use law in the next program."},{"start":82.29,"end":83.21,"text":"Or do you feel it adds something?"},{"start":85.03,"end":85.47,"text":"I just don't know."},{"start":88.4,"end":94.71,"text":"We haven't really covered that."},{"start":94.73,"end":97.23,"text":"Let's take our sentence up."},{"start":98.67,"end":114.94,"text":"You can go directly into the next room."},{"start":114.96,"end":117.2,"text":"There's no problem with that."},{"start":117.22,"end":117.84,"text":"That's where you go."},{"start":117.86,"end":119.91,"text":"You can easily go tear it apart, do I?"},{"start":119.93,"end":120.53,"text":"I'm sure you're nice and kind."},{"start":120.55,"end":126.67,"text":"In other words, you're ending in a totally upbeat thing, rather than on a going back again over the fact that things are tough."},{"start":126.69,"end":127.37,"text":"I just think that it's either"},{"start":128.48,"end":131.67,"text":"That makes it tough."},{"start":131.69,"end":134.45,"text":"I talk about the boys that die."},{"start":134.47,"end":136.42,"text":"Why don't we take this up?"},{"start":136.44,"end":139.3,"text":"Of course, we're following it."},{"start":139.32,"end":141.75,"text":"And I told Rose to check it."},{"start":141.77,"end":143.61,"text":"We've got to hold it."},{"start":143.63,"end":144.69,"text":"But is she doing it or not?"},{"start":145.87,"end":148.38,"text":"Whoever is doing it, I think she's doing it."},{"start":148.68,"end":149.26,"text":"It hasn't been given to them."},{"start":149.56,"end":153.07,"text":"By God, it hasn't been given to them."},{"start":153.31,"end":153.65,"text":"She does it."},{"start":154.89,"end":166.99,"text":"That's only for a third of the time."},{"start":167.1,"end":174.83,"text":"All right, take the paragraph out."},{"start":174.85,"end":175.91,"text":"Of course, if you're following, it's not an easy one."},{"start":175.93,"end":177.19,"text":"I just think let's keep it on an upbeat note as we go in there."},{"start":177.22,"end":179.36,"text":"But you see, because of the conclusion, I've got a lot of, you know, business about sorrow there."},{"start":179.38,"end":181.58,"text":"You know, people don't want to hear about sorrow."},{"start":181.6,"end":182.16,"text":"It doesn't matter so much."},{"start":182.18,"end":183.02,"text":"They want to hear something about it."},{"start":183.04,"end":183.36,"text":"All right, fine."},{"start":183.38,"end":184.88,"text":"And I will... You can call Rose and tell her to cut."},{"start":186.82,"end":188.48,"text":"Of course we are following."},{"start":188.74,"end":189.58,"text":"I've already alerted her."},{"start":189.6,"end":197.15,"text":"I told her to hold the press conference when you called."},{"start":197.25,"end":198.71,"text":"Of course we are following, son."},{"start":198.73,"end":205.88,"text":"If he doesn't sound down, maybe I've got one guy that's going to sound up in the whole test."},{"start":207.78,"end":208.26,"text":"You gave him the number."},{"start":208.28,"end":208.78,"text":"How did he feel about it?"},{"start":208.8,"end":212.02,"text":"One egg, huh?"},{"start":212.04,"end":212.26,"text":"Here it is."},{"start":212.38,"end":215.55,"text":"Okay."},{"start":215.57,"end":215.79,"text":"West Coast."},{"start":215.81,"end":216.39,"text":"How will he be informed then?"},{"start":217.31,"end":220.05,"text":"I have a threat of reaching, and I wait now until 7.30."},{"start":222.2,"end":222.54,"text":"Fine."},{"start":222.64,"end":226.93,"text":"Okay, take that paragraph out now."},{"start":226.97,"end":227.07,"text":"Fine."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger reviewed the draft of the President’s televised address on Vietnam scheduled for that evening. They focused on refining the speech's tone by excising a paragraph that emphasized the difficulties of the war, opting instead for a more optimistic, upbeat message. Nixon coordinated the final edits with Rose Mary Woods and confirmed communication logistics with John Connally to ensure the speech was finalized before the broadcast.","topics":["Vietnam War","Presidential speechwriting","Public relations","Media strategy","Rose Mary Woods"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T11:33:32.371Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","presidential-speechwriting","public-relations","media-strategy","rose-mary-woods"],"audioDurationSec":227,"audioFiles":[{"file":"246-021.mp3","bytes":9086224,"durationSec":227.02,"bitrate":320191,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:36.695Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:10.430Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/246-021.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/246-021","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/246/conversation-246-021","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}