Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 291 › Conversation 291-001
Nixon & Kissinger on People's Republic of China and Diplomatic Logistics
Tuesday, October 12, 1971 · 8:37 PM–9:07 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to discuss logistical planning and delegation size for the President's upcoming trip to the People's Republic of China. Nixon emphasized the necessity of significantly reducing the size of the accompanying press corps and security details to maintain a streamlined operation. The conversation also touched upon Kissinger's upcoming schedule in Chicago, including efforts to promote administration accomplishments and manage domestic political optics.
- People's Republic of China
- Diplomatic Logistics
- Press Corps
- Richard Nixon
- Henry Kissinger
- Foreign Policy
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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And let me just read them all.
That's a good thing.
And I can get a good view of the whole thing.
In addition, I'm giving him, I'm giving Joe from the church meeting the following.
I'm having a book with him that breaks down our recommendation for the numbers of the church that we want to take in by category.
And I'll have tabs which show how many we had in Yugoslavia, how many we had in Romania,
what the list was that was first submitted to the D.C. to submit a new list.
But then, with your permission, I'd like to tell him that even that list would not go through.
It's still too awkward.
Oh, shit, that's too much.
I'm not...
I'm never agreeing to go through it.
It's, uh...
I understand.
The only thing I want is to get a telegram.
Oh, I don't know how it works.
It's not...
I've had it before.
I go home and cut down the secret services.
The biggest slice is the press.
Well, cut them down.
We don't have to do that.
It comes with the ground station and with the... Cut the writing press down to a minimum.
But I will tell him that we will cut the press whichever way he wants to so he can get it down to as little as he wants.
And all of this I'll add on to it.
If they don't scrub it down.
Correct.
I'll strip those measures down for you.
For our interest, we've got to have one.
The ground station, the idea of finding the ground station, and it was good, and it was acceptable, and it happened.
We've got to get it out there to you, and that's our investment in our interest.
But as far as writing the press, it doesn't make a goddamn big difference.
Cut it down.
I don't want to hear it.
I frankly would not do anything that's that acceptable.
I don't have a right to press.
I don't have a right to press.
I don't know why I'd like to.
One or two is enough.
It's great to have a reason to press on people out there.
I won't be here tomorrow.
I'm going to be reading the press on a daily basis.
And the group was mis-employed in Chicago tomorrow.
And I met a meeting, I told her that Pussy was dead.
A lot of years, there was a crisis, and that's something which, I don't know if it was well or not.
So then after, you won't talk about Pussy?
You won't talk about us?
I can't talk about Pussy.
I'm going to use the occasion to push through.
It's a historic moment, to tell you the truth.
and say that the need is to give the country... And the need also, the need also to have a strong national empire without the opposition.
There's a subtle way to go about it.
Right.
I've got that person who's going to mess with us time and time again.
I actually don't see how that would fit so well.
Two of them.
He doesn't have customers.
He doesn't have customers.
Businessmen don't have customers.
Businessmen don't have customers.
Actually, I know a boy in Russia.
Yeah, he was killed.
He was absolutely killed.
He was killed.
He was killed.
He was killed.
He was killed.
He was killed.
I think I think
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
We stuck it to them on Chinese.
Okay, thank you.
You're welcome, Mr. Perry.
NARA Description
On October 12, 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 8:37 pm and 9:07 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 291-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 291-1
Date: October 12, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:37 pm and 9:07 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
The President's forthcoming trip to People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Kissinger’s meeting with Chou En-lai
-Size of delegation
-Yugoslavia
-Romania
-Compared with first list
-Number
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Secret Service
-Press
-Communications
-Press
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN-T-MDR-
2014-017. Segment exempt per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(6) on 12/20/2017. Archivist: DR]
[National Security]
[291-001-w001]
[Duration: 3s]
PRC
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************
The President's forthcoming trip to People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Kissinger’s meeting with Chou En-lai
-Size of delegation
-Secret Service
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Previous PRMPA Statute (A) withdrawal reviewed 12/04/2019. Segment will remain closed.]
[Federal Statute]
[291-001-w003]
[Duration: 19s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
**********************************************************************
The President's forthcoming trip to People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Kissinger’s meeting with Chou En-lai
-Size of delegation
-Press
-Communications support
Kissinger's schedule
-Press briefing
-Chicago
-Richard J. Daley
-Charles H. Percy
-Administration accomplishments
-Prey
-Bell and Howell
-Peter G. Peterson
Peterson’s schedule
-Forthcoming foreign trip
-Timing
-Egypt
US foreign relations
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Chinese
-French
-Soviets
Kissinger left at an unknown time before 9:07 pm.Also recorded on October 13, 1971
- 291-002 8:37 PM · 6 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 8:37 pm and 9:07 pm.
- 011-070 9:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 9:07 pm to 9:09 pm.
- 291-003 9:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:07 pm to 9:09 pm.
- 011-071 9:09 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:09 pm and 9:12 pm.
- 291-004 9:09 PM · 8 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 9:09 pm and 9:12 pm.
- 011-072 9:12 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 9:12 pm to 9:13 pm.
- 291-005 9:12 PM · 59 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:12 pm to 9:13 pm.
- 291-006 9:13 PM · 1 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 9:13 pm and 9:41 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 291-001, October 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/291-001 (accessed September 28, 2026).