{"conversationCode":"337-020","tapeNumber":337,"conversationNumber":20,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-337-020","startDateTime":"1972-05-10T17:05:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-05-10T19:35:00.000Z","startDate":"10-May-1972","startTime":"1:05 PM","endDate":"10-May-1972","endTime":"3:35 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.;","description":"On May 10, 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 1:05 pm and 3:35 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 337-020 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 337-20\n\nDate: May 10, 1972\nTime: Unknown between 1:02 and 3:35 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President dictated a memorandum to Henry A. Kissinger.\n\n     Vietnam\n          -Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]\n               -Propaganda\n                     -South Vietnam, Hanoi area\n                            -Support for the President\n                            -US military action\n                                 -Impact on North Vietnam leaders and people\n                                 -Air strikes\n                     -Supervision\n                     -Improvement\n                     -Quantity, quality\n                     -Needs","filename":["337a.mp3","337b.mp3","337c.mp3"],"tapeStart":"03:41:07","tapeEnd":"03:45:11","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A."],"prevCode":"337-019","nextCode":"337-021","tapeTranscriptFile":"337a.mp3,337b.mp3,337c.mp3","transcript":[{"start":13349.45,"end":13358.78,"text":"I was hoping to remember the weapon system's fate or not, but it's never been seen before."},{"start":13359.14,"end":13364.49,"text":"The North Vietnamese are used against South Vietnamese forces."},{"start":13365.44,"end":13368.29,"text":"It should shake us up for the future."},{"start":13370.1,"end":13396.07,"text":"As you know, I have very little confidence in the CIA department."},{"start":13400.77,"end":13401.77,"text":"program yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah"},{"start":13434.7,"end":13435.32,"text":"of the ships that are"},{"start":13461.04,"end":13461.14,"text":"uh... uh..."},{"start":13495.78,"end":13496.42,"text":"He needs to clear strikes."},{"start":13496.44,"end":13498.18,"text":"Very certain morale problems are common among the troops in the area."},{"start":13498.2,"end":13498.48,"text":"Some do not."},{"start":13498.5,"end":13499.6,"text":"The other side of this line is the U.S. Army."},{"start":13499.62,"end":13500.18,"text":"The U.S. Army does not."},{"start":13500.2,"end":13500.42,"text":"They care."},{"start":13500.44,"end":13501.18,"text":"Can't be reached by such a case."},{"start":13501.2,"end":13501.72,"text":"It's a global threat."},{"start":13532.96,"end":13534.82,"text":"I see the CIA does a better job than they've ever done before."},{"start":13534.84,"end":13535.08,"text":"It's great."},{"start":13535.1,"end":13536.98,"text":"I have a feeling from looking at the CIA materials across my desk"}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":13340.75,"end":13553.5,"startMethod":"silence","endMethod":"silence"},"transcriptConfidence":"medium","transcriptSource":"bigtape","aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the efficacy of CIA-led propaganda efforts and military operations in Vietnam. Nixon expresses frustration with the intelligence agency's historical performance while emphasizing the need for improved coordination and higher-quality materials regarding U.S. air strikes. The conversation centers on leveraging psychological operations to impact the morale of North Vietnamese leadership and their forces.","topics":["Vietnam War","CIA","Propaganda","Air strikes","Military morale","Psychological warfare"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T15:56:46.326Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","cia","propaganda","air-strikes","military-morale","psychological-warfare"],"audioDurationSec":244,"audioFiles":[{"file":"337a.mp3","bytes":116839856,"durationSec":7319.22,"bitrate":127707,"missing":false},{"file":"337b.mp3","bytes":117602026,"durationSec":7367.04,"bitrate":127706,"missing":false},{"file":"337c.mp3","bytes":84134009,"durationSec":5271.59,"bitrate":127679,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":true,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:41.909Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/337a.mp3","https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/337b.mp3","https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/337c.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/337-020","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/337/conversation-337-020","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}