Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 274 › Conversation 274-015

Nixon & Rogers on Japan and Foreign Policy

Monday, August 16, 1971 · 3:37 PM–3:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation274-015 on Tape 274 (tape position 00:22:48–00:24:55)StartMonday, August 16, 1971 at 3:37 PMEndMonday, August 16, 1971 at 3:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 274-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers coordinated strategy regarding upcoming economic and diplomatic negotiations with Japan. Nixon emphasized a public relations theme centered on mutual success and fair competition rather than conflict. The President also informed Rogers that Japan had specifically requested his participation in the talks over other potential U.S. representatives like John Connally or George H.W. Bush.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 67.0 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 00:22:48 into the tape and ends around 00:24:55.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
22:53So I was thinking that a very good theme for you in your personal conversations with the graduates and the rest of the students is thinking about the development of talent.
23:03I mean, we're not going to save the Americans.
23:07We're not going to save the Americans.
23:12We're not going to save them.
23:14that I constantly handed to both the LFD and the rest of the clergy, which is not really wrong.
23:25I think that's, you know what I mean?
23:26Regardless, they figured it publicly, I'm saying, for their purpose, but I'm saying it internally.
23:31So, what do you think?
23:35Thank you.
23:36You could say that if you were twice, three times, you know, he just couldn't feel more confident.
23:44He just said, let's just get up some observations, let us compete.
23:47We want to be welcome.
23:48We welcome their success, but we want to be successful, too.
23:54Great.
23:54We're going to do that.
23:57We'll let Japanese be heard.
24:02As a matter of fact, I decided three days ago that they want you first.
24:09We offered them.
24:11We said we could do you or Connelly or Bush or they wanted you and I and the other way around.
24:18Yeah.

NARA Description

On August 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:37 pm to 3:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 274-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 274-15

Date: August 16, 1971
Time: 3:37 pm - 3:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with William P. Rogers.

     Japan
          -Negotiations
              -Arthur F. Burns
              -State Department
              -Cabinet
              -Suggested theme
                     -Competition
                         -Mutual success
              -John B. Connally
              -George H.W. Bush

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 41s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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Also recorded on August 16, 1971

  • 274-016 3:40 PM · 42 sec — 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 3:40 pm and 3:47 pm.
  • 274-017 3:40 PM · 42 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 3:40 pm and 3:47 pm.
  • 274-018 3:40 PM · 7 sec — 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 3:40 pm and 3:47 pm.
  • 274-019 3:47 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:47 pm to 3:48 pm.
  • 274-020 3:48 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:48 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 274-021 3:49 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:49 pm.
  • 274-022 3:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Idanell ("Nellie") (Brill) Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:50 pm to 3:51 pm.
  • 274-023 3:52 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:52 pm to 3:53 pm.

All 88 conversations from August 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 274-015, August 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/274-015 (accessed October 23, 2026).