Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 291 › Conversation 291-010

Nixon, Kissinger & Sanchez on International Diplomacy and National Security

Tuesday, October 12, 1971 · 9:44 PM–10:16 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Sanchez, Manolo; Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation291-010 on Tape 291 (tape position 00:21:17–00:26:44)StartTuesday, October 12, 1971 at 9:44 PMEndTuesday, October 12, 1971 at 10:16 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 291-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon briefly coordinates travel logistics with his personal aide, Manolo Sanchez, before engaging in a broader strategic discussion with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. The conversation with Kissinger touches upon delicate international relations, focusing on reactions to upcoming presidential travel and the management of sensitive diplomatic intelligence involving Moscow and North Korea. Nixon emphasizes the importance of utilizing highly capable personnel to navigate these complex geopolitical challenges.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 69% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I think you leave about 6 o'clock in the morning.
No, sir, I leave about 9 or 10.
Why don't you go in the very open area?
No, sir, because I need to wait in the hot tub because he's out and he's chanting.
I don't want to stare at him.
So, I'm going to walk.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I read through the book of Japan.
I think it's a very good job.
It's thorough and so forth.
I've got to do this.
I think the very delicate problem we've got is that at this point, it's very important that the soldiers, it seems to me that that dam thing is covered, covered in other words,
so they began to tighten it up until finally it was done.
They apparently had reacted that they were there, moving on your trip, certainly with some knowledge that it was coming.
Mansfield was making, I think he came to me and told me, you know, yeah, yeah.
You see, they reacted better than Moscow did.
They had known for several days.
Which, of course, they would get the only way out of it.
They chopped the bastards in Paris, and that's all.
And I was interested in one little bit of history, where they thought that if you can't date the Russians, we should be giving it to them then, and you draw a lot of some agreement with them.
I'm sure I'll find a secret room when I've heard of it.
I just wish I didn't bring a goddamn thing.
You can't do that.
Did he?
No.
No.
Did he?
I do feel that he might be an apartment.
I think they're...
It's awfully tough to put a boat on the ocean and not be able to keep it up on our side of the ferry.
They sent Sheehan up to North Korea for the purposes of getting them to use their premises in the river.
Well, I pray that they'd spike through on my world of passengers, in a sense, for the
pretty provincial in some ways.
That's suspicious.
You know, well, it wasn't really quite a job.
You say, Steve, it's a tribute to him.
Don't, don't do it.
It's really something.
It wasn't a name of a job.
It wasn't a president.
We must make this huge, you know, build a, is it Marshall Green, or what, is it the leadership?
Henry, you see, Henry, they're bright people.
These are bright people.
Come down by them.
You've got to use bright people.
What's he got?
Don't go there.
This is nothing.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I'm going to leave tomorrow, or tomorrow.
He believes in it, I'm sure.
There we go.
Try it.
Okay, on a good credit.

NARA Description

On October 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:44 pm and 10:16 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 291-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 291-10

Date: October 12, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:44 pm and 10:16 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez.

**********************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 04/29/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[291-010-w001]
[Duration: 20s]

     Manolo Sanchez’s schedule
         -Departure time
              -10:00 am

**********************************************************************

Sanchez left at 10:09 pm.

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger between 10:09 pm and 10:16 pm.

**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN-T-MDR-
2014-012. Segment exempt per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(6) on 08/30/2017. Archivist: MM]
[National Security]
[291-010-w002]
[Duration: 4s]

[See Conversation No. 011-075-w001]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

**********************************************************************

[Conversation No. 291-10A]

[End of telephone conversation]

Also recorded on October 13, 1971

  • 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.
  • 291-006 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.
  • 291-007 9:13 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 9:13 pm and 9:41 pm.
  • 011-073 9:41 PM · 3 min — Henry A. Kissinger and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 9:41 pm to 9:44 pm.
  • 291-008 9:41 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:41 pm to 9:44 pm.
  • 011-074 9:44 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:44 pm and 10:09 pm.
  • 291-009 9:44 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 9:44 pm and 10:09 pm.
  • 011-075 10:09 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:09 pm to 10:16 pm.

All 46 conversations from October 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 291-010, 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/291-010 (accessed September 28, 2026).