Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 459
Nixon White House Tape 459 (February 26, 1971 – February 27, 1971)
5 conversations · Oval Office · about 5 hr 17 min of released audio
Featuring Nixon, Bull, Kissinger, Butterfield, Haldeman
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss managing media strategy regarding a potential interview or article with a journalist named Brandon. The President distinguishes between the candor expected for a book project versus a breaking news story, expressing concern over how the material might be framed. They coordinate logistical arrangements for the upcoming meeting, noting that Secretary of State William Rogers will facilitate the journalist's arrival.
President Nixon met with his senior national security and military advisors, including Henry Kissinger, Melvin Laird, and Admiral Thomas Moorer, to receive an update on the ongoing Lam Son 719 operation in Laos. The discussion focused on the military situation on the ground, the effectiveness of South Vietnamese forces, and strategies to manage press coverage regarding the conflict. Nixon emphasized the importance of maintaining a unified administration message and advised his team to treat the press as an adversarial force rather than providing direct, vulnerable answers to speculative inquiries.
President Nixon met with his aide Stephen B. Bull to briefly discuss administrative details regarding the President’s daily schedule. The conversation focused on the presence of a security guard on the premises and the scheduling of an upcoming appointment with Leonard Garment. Bull received instructions to coordinate these logistics before exiting the Oval Office.
President Nixon met with his senior staff and advisors to discuss communication strategies for the administration's policy achievements and historical outreach. The group explored ways to better leverage the President's personal historical expertise, such as his recent presentation on John Quincy Adams, to improve public perception through televised forums rather than relying on the mainstream press. Nixon emphasized the need to bypass the press corps by speaking directly to key demographics, including the elderly and youth, while instructing his staff to maintain stricter control over who is permitted to discuss substantive policy on television.
Robert H. Finch hosted Taft Schreiber, Mrs. Taft Schreiber, and Charles W. Butterfield for a meeting in the Oval Office. The recording consists primarily of room noise and muffled background conversation, rendering the specific substance of the meeting unintelligible. Consequently, no policy decisions or action items can be identified from the audio record.