Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 311 › Conversation 311-056

Nixon & Kissinger on Foreign policy and Bombing campaigns

Sunday, January 2, 1972 · 7:09 PM–7:12 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation311-056 on Tape 311 (tape position 02:51:58–02:57:29)StartSunday, January 2, 1972 at 7:09 PMEndSunday, January 2, 1972 at 7:12 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 311-056 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the strategic implications of ongoing bombing campaigns and the potential for leveraging relationships with Soviet and Chinese leadership. The participants evaluate the risk of involving these international powers in sensitive negotiations, ultimately agreeing that it is a safe and effective approach. Kissinger also confirms he has coordinated these points with various diplomatic contacts, including Joe, Lyle, and Tito.

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 02:51:58 into the tape and ends around 02:57:29.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
2:51:58Yeah.
2:52:01Yeah.
2:52:01Yeah.
2:53:04Well, you can check with the people tomorrow to see to what extent this is, to what extent they're going to deletionate people and to what extent they were so willing to do that.
2:53:16As a matter of fact, you might check with me now and call me back.
2:53:19Thank you.
2:54:52Hello?
2:54:54Yeah.
2:54:54Alright.
2:54:55Hello?
2:54:56Yeah, I'm here.
2:54:59What's the deal with that?
2:55:00I mean, it has to do with his relationship with his mom, you see.
2:55:10Yeah, that's what his questions were about.
2:55:13And that's what... Yeah.
2:55:16Uh-huh.
2:55:16Yeah, what you see happens before the bombing.
2:55:19And that's what Wallace was saying at the beginning of the bombing.
2:55:25The delays.
2:55:25See, the theme is a very subtle question for detecting that, by reason of the bombing, it's going to make them more intense.
2:55:31You know, the same thing on loud, that kind of learning.
2:55:37And they may get through it, some of them, on that part.
2:55:40We talked about the idea of mentioning a setting out.
2:55:43He said, would you take it up with the Soviet and Chinese?
2:55:45Is that a safe thing to say yes?
2:55:48I mean, is that not going to put them on the spot where they come down?
2:55:59And, yeah.
2:56:00I think it's perfect, yeah.
2:56:01Yeah.
2:56:02Yeah.
2:56:05You mentioned it to Joe and Lyle.
2:56:06Yeah.
2:56:08All right.
2:56:09And I mentioned it according to these other characters.
2:56:13Brian.
2:56:16Oh, and Tito.
2:56:18Okay, thank you.

NARA Description

On January 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:09 pm to 7:12 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 311-056 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 311-56

Date: January 2, 1972
Time: 7:09 pm - 7:12 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

Henry A. Kissinger talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 17-151]

Also recorded on January 3, 1972

  • 017-151 7:09 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 7:09 pm to 7:12 pm.
  • 311-057 7:12 PM · 2 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 7:12 pm and 8:35 pm.
  • 311-058 7:12 PM · 4 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 7:12 pm and 8:35 pm.
  • 311-059 7:12 PM · 55 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 7:12 pm and 8:35 pm.
  • 642-001 9:07 PM · 1 hr 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Mark I. Goode, William H. Carruthers, Donald W. Richardson, Robert Wussler, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, Dan Rather, Gordon Manning, William A. Leonard, II, and Gerald L. Warren met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:07 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 017-152 9:30 PM · 10 sec — the White House operator and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:30 pm and 11:11 pm.
  • 017-153 9:30 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:30 pm and 11:11 pm.
  • 017-154 11:11 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 11:11 pm to 11:12 pm.

All 105 conversations from January 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 311-056, January 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/311-056 (accessed October 9, 2026).