{"conversationCode":"278-058","tapeNumber":278,"conversationNumber":58,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-278-058","startDateTime":"1971-09-16T15:50:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-09-16T17:45:00.000Z","startDate":"16-Sep-1971","startTime":"11:50 AM","endDate":"16-Sep-1971","endTime":"1:45 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On September 16, 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 278-058 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. 278-58\n\nDate: September 16, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 11:50 am and 1:45 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n     Accidental War announcement\n          -Timing\n          -Wording\n                -Status of situation","filename":["278-058.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:56:19","tapeEnd":"02:59:20","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"278-057","nextCode":"278-059","transcript":[{"start":4.88,"end":7.4,"text":"Do I understand that we are not to announce the accidental event today?"},{"start":7.42,"end":8.34,"text":"They don't want to announce it."},{"start":8.48,"end":8.7,"text":"Okay."},{"start":8.72,"end":26.39,"text":"So what we'll just simply say is, well, the matter is under very active consideration."},{"start":29.05,"end":32.23,"text":"I've got to shoot."},{"start":32.25,"end":32.29,"text":"OK."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the management of a pending announcement regarding an accidental event. The two determined that the situation would not be made public that day to ensure proper coordination. They agreed to deflect press inquiries by stating that the matter remained under active consideration.","topics":["Accidental War","Public Relations","Foreign Policy","Crisis Management"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T13:00:16.646Z"},"topicSlugs":["accidental-war","public-relations","foreign-policy","crisis-management"],"audioDurationSec":33,"audioFiles":[{"file":"278-058.mp3","bytes":1306958,"durationSec":32.54,"bitrate":321334,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.329Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:15.202Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/278-058.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/278-058","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/278/conversation-278-058","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}