{"conversationCode":"307-004","tapeNumber":307,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-307-004","startDateTime":"1971-12-08T17:34:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-12-08T19:15:00.000Z","startDate":"8-Dec-1971","startTime":"12:34 PM","endDate":"8-Dec-1971","endTime":"2:15 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On December 8, 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 12:34 pm and 2:15 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 307-004 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. 307-4\n\nDate: December 8, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 12:34 pm and 2:15 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n     The President's schedule\n          -Forthcoming meeting\n               -Richard M. Helms\n                      -Television\n               -William P. Rogers\n               -United Nations [UN]\n               -Helms\n               -Rogers\n               -Kissinger\n               -Briefing with Helms and Gen. William C. Westmoreland\n               -UN\n               -Rogers\n                                                3\n\n                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF\n\n                                      Tape Subject Log\n                                        (rev. 10/06)","filename":["307-004.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:04:20","tapeEnd":"00:07:15","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"307-003","nextCode":"307-005","transcript":[{"start":5.23,"end":9.44,"text":"I'm going to run this meeting a little differently from this."},{"start":9.56,"end":14.79,"text":"I don't want to have Helms on this thing."},{"start":14.81,"end":15.13,"text":"You understand?"},{"start":15.15,"end":17.29,"text":"I'll be on the television front."},{"start":17.41,"end":25.07,"text":"I think the thing to do is to get Rogers on some, since he will not be on anything else."},{"start":25.09,"end":25.87,"text":"And so I'll let him describe something."},{"start":26.73,"end":34.51,"text":"Yeah, that's what I meant."},{"start":34.53,"end":37.66,"text":"I thought I'd start with the U.N. and then go into the other thing at a later point."},{"start":37.68,"end":41.84,"text":"So the main point of this is we get Rogers in on something during the day and see where he's on."},{"start":41.86,"end":49.93,"text":"And then later this afternoon, you will come in so we get the other side."},{"start":49.95,"end":50.31,"text":"No, no, no, no."},{"start":50.33,"end":52.29,"text":"But I want it so we get the balance."},{"start":52.31,"end":54.91,"text":"But you see, there's no reason to have the elements in the West."},{"start":56.48,"end":65.76,"text":"I'll just say that we're going to have a briefing on the current situation."},{"start":66.04,"end":67.89,"text":"And I'll let Rock respond, OK?"},{"start":69.47,"end":69.8,"text":"All right, fine."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger strategized on the structure of an upcoming briefing regarding the current international situation. Seeking to balance high-level participation, Nixon determined that CIA Director Richard Helms would be excluded, while Secretary of State William Rogers would be included to maintain a specific optics strategy. The meeting concluded with plans to organize the sequence of presenters to ensure the desired political balance during the sessions.","topics":["White House briefings","Richard Helms","William P. Rogers","Public relations","Foreign policy strategy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T14:18:01.584Z"},"topicSlugs":["white-house-briefings","richard-helms","william-p-rogers","public-relations","foreign-policy-strategy"],"audioDurationSec":70,"audioFiles":[{"file":"307-004.mp3","bytes":2795938,"durationSec":69.75,"bitrate":320677,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.956Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/307-004.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/307-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/307/conversation-307-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}