{"conversationCode":"274-015","tapeNumber":274,"conversationNumber":15,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-274-015","startDateTime":"1971-08-16T19:37:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-08-16T19:40:00.000Z","startDate":"16-Aug-1971","startTime":"3:37 PM","endDate":"16-Aug-1971","endTime":"3:40 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.;","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.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 274-15\n\nDate: August 16, 1971\nTime: 3:37 pm - 3:40 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with William P. Rogers.\n\n     Japan\n          -Negotiations\n              -Arthur F. Burns\n              -State Department\n              -Cabinet\n              -Suggested theme\n                     -Competition\n                         -Mutual success\n              -John B. Connally\n              -George H.W. Bush\n\n**********************************************************************\n\nBEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n[Personal Returnable]\n[Duration: 41s ]\n\nEND WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n\n**********************************************************************","filename":["274a.mp3","274b.mp3","274c.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:22:48","tapeEnd":"00:24:55","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Rogers, William P."],"prevCode":"274-014","nextCode":"274-016","tapeTranscriptFile":"274a.mp3,274b.mp3,274c.mp3","transcript":[{"start":1373.12,"end":1383.07,"text":"So 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."},{"start":1383.15,"end":1386.97,"text":"I mean, we're not going to save the Americans."},{"start":1387.37,"end":1392.52,"text":"We're not going to save the Americans."},{"start":1392.54,"end":1393.72,"text":"We're not going to save them."},{"start":1394.39,"end":1404.88,"text":"that I constantly handed to both the LFD and the rest of the clergy, which is not really wrong."},{"start":1405.02,"end":1406.14,"text":"I think that's, you know what I mean?"},{"start":1406.16,"end":1411.18,"text":"Regardless, they figured it publicly, I'm saying, for their purpose, but I'm saying it internally."},{"start":1411.2,"end":1412.02,"text":"So, what do you think?"},{"start":1415.02,"end":1415.7,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":1416.29,"end":1424,"text":"You could say that if you were twice, three times, you know, he just couldn't feel more confident."},{"start":1424.14,"end":1427.56,"text":"He just said, let's just get up some observations, let us compete."},{"start":1427.58,"end":1428.02,"text":"We want to be welcome."},{"start":1428.04,"end":1434.52,"text":"We welcome their success, but we want to be successful, too."},{"start":1434.58,"end":1434.72,"text":"Great."},{"start":1434.74,"end":1437.73,"text":"We're going to do that."},{"start":1437.75,"end":1440.83,"text":"We'll let Japanese be heard."},{"start":1442.83,"end":1449.24,"text":"As a matter of fact, I decided three days ago that they want you first."},{"start":1449.74,"end":1450.4,"text":"We offered them."},{"start":1451.08,"end":1458.07,"text":"We said we could do you or Connelly or Bush or they wanted you and I and the other way around."},{"start":1458.09,"end":1458.23,"text":"Yeah."}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":1373.125,"end":1479,"startMethod":"silence","endMethod":"silence"},"transcriptConfidence":"high","transcriptSource":"bigtape","aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["Japan","Foreign Policy","Economic Negotiations","William P. Rogers","International Trade"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T12:44:01.672Z"},"topicSlugs":["japan","foreign-policy","economic-negotiations","william-p-rogers","international-trade"],"audioDurationSec":127,"audioFiles":[{"file":"274a.mp3","bytes":117426885,"durationSec":7339.1,"bitrate":128001,"missing":false},{"file":"274b.mp3","bytes":117699812,"durationSec":7356.16,"bitrate":128001,"missing":false},{"file":"274c.mp3","bytes":70238039,"durationSec":4389.8,"bitrate":128002,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":true,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.008Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/274a.mp3","https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/274b.mp3","https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/274c.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/274-015","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/274/conversation-274-015","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}