Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 270 › Conversation 270-014

Nixon & Kissinger on Foreign Policy and Pakistan

Tuesday, August 3, 1971 · 5:25 PM–5:31 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation270-014 on Tape 270 (tape position 01:04:47–01:13:56)StartTuesday, August 3, 1971 at 5:25 PMEndTuesday, August 3, 1971 at 5:31 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 270-014 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to prepare for an upcoming press conference, specifically focusing on potential foreign policy questions. They discussed the administration's stance on Pakistan, including the status of arms sales, and reviewed internal disagreements regarding China and Taiwan involving Secretary of State William P. Rogers. Additionally, the conversation addressed the progress of Vietnam negotiations in Paris following the arrival of William J. Porter.

Audio

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Position in tape: 01:04:47 – 01:13:56

1:04:45

270a.mp3

NARA Description

On August 3, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:25 pm to 5:31 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 270-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 270-14

Date: August 3, 1971
Time: 5:25 pm - 5:31 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

Henry A. Kissinger talked with the President.

     Forthcoming press conference
          -Possible questions
               -Foreign policy

                     -Pakistan
                          -Kissinger's memo
                          -Possible arm embargo
                               -Sales

[Unintelligible]

                     -Security Council
                          -Patrick J. Buchanan
                          -People's Republic of China [PRC] and Taiwan, Republic of China
                                -William P. Rogers
                                      -Stated position

An unknown person entered at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:31 pm.

[Unknown activity]

                     -Vietnam negotiations
                          -Paris
                                -William J. Porter
                                      -Arrival

The unknown person left at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:31 pm.

                            -Status
                            -Means
                            -[Unintelligible]
                            -Means

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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Yeah.

Yeah, on the Pakistan thing.

I got your paper in front of me this morning.

With regard to arms, what do we want to say?

Are we for arms on embargo on magazine?

But we've got it.

And we have no purchase.

These are rocks that have been pushed all the way up here.

Is there something there?

No, there's a lot of ice.

Now, incidentally, you can't accept the result.

It's probably not impressive enough.

The Security Council is the final thing getting to that.

If you think I should simply say that on that, then the Secretary of State has stated in the position that I'm not going to talk about the first statement of Congress.

And that's it.

That's it.

That's me.

The majority of the

Yeah, yeah, and the security council in terms of, the security council, of course, we have a veto on that, but yeah.

Yeah.

Right, well, we won't get into it.

I'll say to the secretary, we'll just say to the secretary, all right, good.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, the secretary's covered in my comments.

With regard to Porter's not being there in Paris yet, we'll simply say he'll be there for a time.

That's the question.

And the negotiations at the end are still going on.

They are going on.

The thing here is that we just take a little peek down.

They're going to, they're going to, well, I don't care what the deal is.

They're coming in.

The question is, is that the bucket that you're talking about, is that the bucket that you're talking about?

Okay.

Also recorded on August 3, 1971

270-008 4:12 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:12 pm and 4:50 pm.
270-009 4:50 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:50 pm to 4:56 pm.
270-010 4:56 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:56 pm and 5:10 pm.
270-011 5:10 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:10 pm to 5:25 pm.
270-012 5:25 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 5:25 pm.
270-013 5:25 PM · 38 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:31 pm.
270-015 5:31 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:31 pm and 11:35 pm.
270-016 5:31 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:31 pm and 11:35 pm.

All 45 conversations from August 3, 1971 →

Nixon, Haldeman & Haig on William P. Rogers and People's Republic of China February 29, 1972 · 36 min
Nixon, Agnew & Rogers on People's Republic of China and Press Relations July 28, 1971 · 1 hr 49 min
Nixon phone call with Rogers on People's Republic of China and United Nations May 28, 1971 · 16 min
Nixon phone call with Colombo on United Nations and People's Republic of China October 22, 1971 · 20 min
Nixon phone call with Alvarez on United Nations and People's Republic of China October 23, 1971 · 12 min
Nixon phone call with Rogers on European Security Conference October 26, 1971 · 5 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 270-014, August 3, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/270-014 (accessed November 2, 2026).