Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 340 › Conversation 340-017

Nixon & Kissinger on Poland and Freedom of religion

Tuesday, June 6, 1972 · 10:15 AM–10:26 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation340-017 on Tape 340 (tape position 01:40:19–01:43:14)StartTuesday, June 6, 1972 at 10:15 AMEndTuesday, June 6, 1972 at 10:26 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 340-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed Henry Kissinger to facilitate follow-up actions regarding diplomatic relations with Poland, specifically focusing on religious freedom and church-state interactions. The discussion centered on potential exchanges between high-ranking Catholic clergy, such as Cardinal Krol and Cardinal Wyszynski, to leverage the impression of openness conveyed by Polish leader Edward Gierek. Nixon emphasized bypassing the State Department to arrange these sensitive diplomatic channels, viewing the engagement as a significant opportunity for U.S. interests.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 4.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 92.6 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 01:40:19 into the tape and ends around 01:43:14.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
1:40:07made a rather interesting comment.
1:40:08The fact that leaders from outside of Poland are welcome in Poland, and that leaders from the Polish Catholic Church are welcome is kind of crazy.
1:40:13It may be that I overstated it,
1:40:36But in any event, he was trying to convey the impression that there was freedom of religion.
1:40:39Now that the church is not being suppressed anymore,
1:41:07The state is prepared.
1:41:07So it's going to be very careful.
1:41:08I don't understand why you would call it a domestic reaction in this country.
1:41:11There should be a follow-up on two problems.
1:41:12One, they're not cardinal clothes, but...
1:41:43This is, of course, the main objective.
1:42:14and I believe it would be of enormous importance to us if we could arrange it.
1:42:16We don't have a list through the State Department, so it would be some other channel to look into.
1:42:18A follow-up to this instance, I am far more interested in
1:42:43So what's the issue?
1:42:43Sending houses, this is kind of funny.
1:42:44I just looked up the actual date.
1:42:46Five day weather forecast.
1:42:46It's cloudy with thunderstorms.
1:43:11in Washington, clouding with thunderstorms in Camp David, clouding with thunderstorms in Peter's Game, clouding with thunderstorms in San Clemente, and clouding with thunderstorms in Palm Springs.

NARA Description

On June 6, 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 10:15 am and 10:26 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 340-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 340-17

Date: June 6, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:15 and 10:26 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President dictated a memorandum to Henry A. Kissinger.

     Poland
          -President's previous talk with Edward Gierek
                -Freedom of religion
                      -Catholic leaders
                      -Compared with Soviet Union
                -Domestic reaction in US
                -John Cardinal Krol
                      -Possible trip to Poland
                -Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
                      -Possible trip to US
                -Exclusion of State Department
                -Economic issues

Also recorded on June 6, 1972

  • 025-008 9:21 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:21 am and 9:58 am.
  • 340-008 9:21 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:21 am and 9:58 am.
  • 025-009 9:58 AM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John Cardinal Krol, and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:58 am and 10:15 am.
  • 340-015 9:58 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John Cardinal Krol met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:58 am to 10:15 am.
  • 340-016 10:15 AM · 24 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 10:15 am and 10:26 am.
  • 025-010 10:26 AM · 17 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:26 am and 12:23 pm.
  • 025-011 10:26 AM · 2 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:26 am and 12:23 pm.
  • 340-018 10:26 AM · 1 hr 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), White House operator, John D. Ehrlichman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:26 am to 12:23 pm.

All 40 conversations from June 6, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 340-017, June 6, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/340-017 (accessed October 9, 2026).