Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 336 › Conversation 336-039

Nixon & Kissinger on Vietnam War and Blockade

Monday, May 8, 1972 · 5:52 PM–5:54 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation336-039 on Tape 336 (tape position 02:12:13–02:15:22)StartMonday, May 8, 1972 at 5:52 PMEndMonday, May 8, 1972 at 5:54 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 336-039 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to finalize revisions for an upcoming televised address regarding the strategic blockade of North Vietnam. The discussion focused on refining the tone and strength of the President's rhetoric concerning the escalation of the conflict. Additionally, the two reviewed potential deletions and adjustments to the speech's language while briefly touching upon the status of German treaties.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 49.5 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 02:12:13 into the tape and ends around 02:15:22.

Transcript (AI-generated)

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

NARA Description

On May 8, 1972, 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 5:52 pm and 5:54 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 336-039 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 336-39

Date: May 8, 1972
Time: Unknown between 5:52 and 5:54 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Vietnam
          -President’s forthcoming speech on the blockade
                -Revisions
                     -Escalation of war
                            -References
                     -Deletions
                     -Strength of wording
                -Kissinger’s revisions
                -Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo

     German treaties

Also recorded on May 8, 1972

336-040 5:54 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:54 pm to 5:55 pm.
336-041 5:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-042 5:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-043 5:55 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-044 5:55 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-045 5:55 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-046 5:55 PM · 45 sec — 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 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-047 5:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.

All 94 conversations from May 8, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 336-039, May 8, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/336-039 (accessed October 10, 2026).