Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 319 › Conversation 319-001
Nixon & Haldeman on William Safire and Foreign Policy
Monday, February 7, 1972 · 2:04 PM–3:04 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min
AI Summary
President Nixon directed H. R. Haldeman to instruct speechwriter William Safire to expand a foreign policy document by 250 words to reach a total length of 1,500 words. Nixon expressed a desire to avoid further administrative friction regarding the draft, noting that the length should remain strictly at the 1,500-word limit to align closer to Henry Kissinger’s original submission. The President stipulated that once this adjustment was made, he would finalize the document without further revisions.
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 40% 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.
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NARA Description
On February 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:04 pm and 3:04 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 319-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 319-1
Date: February 7, 1972
Time: Unknown between 2:04 pm and 3:04 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Foreign policy document
-William L. Safire
-Number of words
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Need for more words
-Number
-Compared with Kissinger’s draftAlso recorded on February 7, 1972
- 666-007 1:31 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:31 pm to 2:03 pm.
- 319-002 2:04 PM · 2 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 2:04 pm and 3:04 pm.
- 319-003 2:04 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:04 pm and 3:04 pm.
- 319-004 2:04 PM · 2 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 2:04 pm and 3:04 pm.
- 666-008 2:04 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at 2:04 pm.
- 666-011 2:04 PM · 53 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:04 pm and 11:59 pm.
- 319-005 3:04 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:04 pm to 3:09 pm.
- 319-006 3:15 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:15 pm to 3:16 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 319-001, February 7, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/319-001 (accessed October 12, 2026).