Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 338 › Conversation 338-042
Nixon, Kissinger & Haldeman on Vietnam War and Soviet Union
Thursday, May 11, 1972 · 12:04 PM–12:51 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building
AI Summary
President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and H.R. Haldeman met to coordinate strategy regarding the escalation of the Vietnam War and the upcoming Soviet Summit. The discussion focused on the effectiveness of recent U.S. air strikes against North Vietnamese infrastructure, the ongoing blockade of Haiphong Harbor, and the potential impact of these actions on relations with the Soviet Union. The participants decided to restrict public statements from Secretary of State William P. Rogers to avoid undermining the President's peace offer or creating diplomatic confusion as the administration prepared for the Moscow summit.
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 96.0 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 03:11:47 into the tape and ends around 03:41:18.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
NARA Description
On May 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:04 pm and 12:51 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 338-042 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 338-42
Date: May 11, 1972
Time: Unknown between 12:04 and 12:51 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President dictated a memorandum for the files.
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 32s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************
Henry A. Kissinger entered at 12:51 pm.
Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Report
-Bridges
-Damage
-Soviet Summit
-Haiphong Harbor
-Instructions
-Soviet ships
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 12:53 pm.
-Damage
-Bridges
-Petroleum, oils, and lubricants [POL]
-Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, Jr. cable
-USS Newport News
-Shelling
-Air strikes
-POL
-Power plants
-Destruction
-Impact
-Le Duc Tho (?)
-Blockade
-Soviet protests
-Mines
-Soviet shipping
-People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Propaganda efforts
-Leaflets
-North Vietnam offensive
-An Loc
-Casualties
-Kontum
-An Loc
-Tanks
-Destruction
-Number
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 12:53 pm.
Refreshments
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 1:12 pm.
Vietnam
-Air strikes
-Intensity
Soviet Union
-German treaties
-Relations with Hanoi
-North Vietnam public statements
-Tone
Vietnam
-William P. Rogers
-Public statements
-Contents
-Kissinger’s view
-Press conference
-Meeting with the President
-Purpose
-Advisability
-Purpose
-Legality of blockade
-Soviet reply
-Legislation on Vietnam
-President's peace offer
-Soviet statements
-Melvin R. Laird
-Rogers
-Public statements
-Legality
-Criticism of Soviets
-Peace offer
-Interpretation
-Kissinger’s view
-Forthcoming testimony on Capitol Hill
-Business Council
-Press conference
-Blockade
-Soviet ships
-Kissinger’s previous conversation with Jerzy Michalowski
-Soviet public statements
-Tone
-President's Soviet trip [Soviet Summit]
-Warsaw stopover
-Approval
-Significance
-Announcement
-Kissinger meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Summit
-Camp David
-Possible incident concerning Soviet ships
-President's meeting with Nikolai S. Patolichev
-Soviet response to President's previous speech
-US air strikes
-Limitations
-Air strikes
-Damage
-Soviet Summit
-Cancellation
-Likelihood
-German treaties
-Ratification
-Willy Brandt’s role
-Plenary sessions
-US position
-President's meeting with Foreign Trade Minister [Patolichev]
-Cancellation
-Likelihood
-President's meeting with Patolichev
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Significance
-Soviet Union, Iran comparison
-Mohammed Reza Tahlavi [Shah of Iran]
-Kissinger meeting with Dobrynin
-Purpose
-Rogers
-Public statements
-Administration line
-Soviet response
-Advisability
-Kissinger’s view
-Effect
Kissinger left at 1:12 pm.
Vietnam
-Soviet Summit
-Cancellation
-Timing
-Soviet intentions
-President's position
-Cancellation
-US reactions
-Public opinion
-President's critics
-Haldeman’s view
-President's press conference
-Scheduling
-Timing
-Soviet summit
-News reports
-Robert B. Semple, Jr.
-John B. Connally
-New York Times
-John F. Osborne
-Wall Street Journal
-Effect
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 44s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
**********************************************************************
President's schedule
-Camp David
-Meeting with Rogers
-Meeting with Wilbur D. Mills
-Camp David
Vietnam
-Support for the President
Haldeman left at 1:29 pm.Also recorded on May 11, 1972
- 024-074 11:34 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 11:34 am to 11:35 am.
- 338-039 11:34 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:34 am and 11:35 am.
- 338-040 11:35 AM · 1 min — 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 11:35 am and 11:43 am.
- 024-075 11:43 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:43 am and 11:49 am.
- 338-041 11:43 AM · 51 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:43 am to 12:40 pm.
- 024-076 11:49 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Hugh Scott talked on the telephone from 11:49 am to 11:51 am.
- 024-077 11:51 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:51 am and 11:56 am.
- 024-078 11:56 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Robert P. Griffin talked on the telephone from 11:56 am to 11:57 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 338-042, May 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/338-042 (accessed October 14, 2026).