Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 311 › Conversation 311-026

Nixon & Kissinger on POWs and Vietnam War

Saturday, January 1, 1972 · 3:56 PM–4:03 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation311-026 on Tape 311 (tape position 00:49:37–00:52:06)StartSaturday, January 1, 1972 at 3:56 PMEndSaturday, January 1, 1972 at 4:03 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 311-026 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the ongoing strategy for addressing the North Vietnamese treatment of American prisoners of war (POWs) and the potential for linking prisoner releases to troop withdrawals. The President directed Kissinger to formulate a brief, public response to the situation while emphasizing the need to keep these deliberations confidential. They also briefly touched upon the selection of military assets or options to be utilized in upcoming maneuvers.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 61.7 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 00:49:37 into the tape and ends around 00:52:06.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
49:46Henry, I wonder if you could give some thought as to some way we could get a brief answer on the POW thing.
50:07I think that's the...
50:09Weapons that we're going to select.
50:12I realize we're going to handle them.
50:18These ones, of course.
50:19But the only thing we're talking about, the only thing we're saying here is the same thing.
50:23There's a lot of data out there.
50:24They are being cruel and barbaric.
50:26They are using environment laws.
50:32Go ahead.
50:32Well, they're not all the time.
50:41All we can say, I guess, is that we are borrowing.
50:46The thing that, of course, the way it's going to be put is the old question about the prisoners for withdrawal and so forth.
50:52Of course, we're coming to a point where we're going to be able to do that if we want to do it now.
51:00I don't know if there's any way to handle that.
51:09That's just
51:16Yeah, right.
51:43All right.
51:47Yeah, yeah.
51:49Now we'll try.
51:49Okay.
51:50Don't let the leak out while we're trying, I'm glad.
51:52Let us do this one.
51:54Try it.

NARA Description

On January 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:56 pm to 4:03 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 311-026 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 311-26

Date: January 1, 1972
Time: 3:56 pm - 4:03 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

[See Conversation No. 17-134]

Also recorded on January 1, 1972

  • 017-131 2:43 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:43 pm and 3:56 pm.
  • 017-134 3:56 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 3:56 pm to 4:03 pm.
  • 017-135 4:05 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 4:05 pm to 4:07 pm.
  • 311-027 4:05 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:05 pm to 4:07 pm.
  • 311-028 4:07 PM · 26 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 4:07 pm and 6:12 pm.
  • 311-029 4:07 PM · 12 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 4:07 pm and 6:12 pm.
  • 311-030 4:07 PM · 32 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 4:07 pm and 6:12 pm.
  • 311-031 4:07 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 4:07 pm and 6:12 pm.

All 58 conversations from January 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 311-026, January 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/311-026 (accessed October 11, 2026).