Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 297 › Conversation 297-028
Nixon, Kissinger & Butterfield
Friday, November 12, 1971 · 12:33 PM–12:59 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 22 min
Audio
This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.
Listen to the full tape segment
Position in tape: 01:20:01 – 01:42:25
part A, 1:19:59
297a.mp3
297b.mp3
NARA Description
On November 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:33 pm to 12:59 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 297-028 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 297-28
Date: November 12, 1971
Time: 12:33 pm - 12:59 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.
Vietnam
-The President's forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 12:36 pm.
Butterfield left at 12:37 pm.
-Possible press questions
-Troop withdrawal
-Rate
-White House staff leaks
-Clark MacGregor
-Charles W. Colson
-Negotiations with North Vietnam
-Deadline
-Residual force
-Rate of withdrawal
-1972 election
-Melvin R. Laird
-Informing people
-The President's conversation with H. R. Haldeman
-Congress
-Timing
-MacGregor
-Cabinet
-Gerald R. Ford and Hugh Scott
-Possible reaction
-Laird
-Statements
-Saigon
-Residual force
-William P. Rogers
-Statements
-Possible press questions
-Residual force
-NegotiationsShow the rest of the log (100 more lines)
-State Department
-Casualties
-The President's opponents
-Possible motivations
-The President's successes
-Casualties
-Troop withdrawal
-The President’s press conference of September 16, 1971
India-Pakistan
-Possible press questions
-Agha Muhommad Yahya Khan's efforts
-Civilian government
-United Nations [UN]
-Observers
-Relief supplies
-Possible pullback
-[Indira Gandhi]
-Refugees
-US policy
-War
-US foreign aid
-India
The President's schedule
-Willy Brandt
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Arthur K. Watson
-[David] Kenneth Rush
-Azores
-Europe
-Brandt
-Edward R.G. Heath
-Pompidou
-[Gen. Charles A.J.M. De Gaulle's] funeral
-Possible meeting at the Azores
-Martinique
-Watson's possible conversation with Rush
Watson
-Relationship with State Department
-Rogers
-Publicity
Walter H. Annenberg
Watson
Rush
John J. McCloy
-Conversation with Kissinger, November 11, 1971
-Kissinger’s meeting with Rogers
Vietnam
-The President's forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Kissinger's forthcoming call to Rogers
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Laird
-Notification
-Timing
-Leaks
-Press
-Informing people
-MacGregor
-Kissinger's previous conversation with Rogers
-Subsequent announcements
-Timing
-Possible peace campaign
-Congress
-North Vietnamese negotiations
-Prospects
-Kissinger's forthcoming conversation with Rogers
-Laird
-Leaks
-Negotiations
-US air power
-Cambodia and Laos
-Possible press questions
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Negotiations with North Vietnam
-US position
-Kissinger’s staff
-Meeting
-Questions about Vietnam
-1972 campaign
-POWs
-The President's forthcoming troop withdrawal announcement
-Timing
-Negotiations with North Vietnam
-POWs
-Bombing of North Vietnam
-Timing
-The President’s forthcoming trips [to People’s Republic of China
[PRC] and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]]
-Negotiations
Kissinger left at 12:59 pm.Transcript (AI-generated)
No transcript is available yet for this conversation.
Also recorded on November 12, 1971
- 014-083 12:10 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 12:10 pm to 12:29 pm.
- 297-026 12:10 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:10 pm to 12:29 pm.
- 297-027 12:29 PM · 7 min — 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 12:29 pm and 12:33 pm.
- 297-029 12:59 PM · 40 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 12:59 pm and 2:20 pm.
- 297-030 12:59 PM · 8 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 12:59 pm and 2:20 pm.
- 297-031 12:59 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 12:59 pm and 2:20 pm.
- 297-032 12:59 PM · 1 min — 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 12:59 pm and 2:20 pm.
- 297-033 12:59 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:59 pm and 2:20 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 297-028, November 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/297-028 (accessed November 15, 2026).