President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to discuss persistent tensions between the White House and the State Department, specifically addressing Kissinger’s frustrations with Secretary of State William Rogers and his own potential resignation. The conversation encompassed broader foreign policy concerns, including the military situation in Laos, trade negotiations, and strategic arms limitations. Nixon reaffirmed his support for Kissinger’s role, prioritizing the need to manage bureaucratic leaks and unfavorable media coverage while coordinating future diplomatic strategies for Vietnam and the Middle East.
On March 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:01 pm to 3:42 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 464-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 464-17
Date: March 9, 1971
Time: 3:01 pm - 3:42 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Henry A. Kissinger
Meeting with William P. Rogers
-Postponement
-Rescheduling
-Kissinger’s possible attendance
-Richard M. Helms
-Melvin R. Laird
-Kissinger’s possible attendance
Kissinger
-Role in administration
-Possible resignation
-Reasoning
-State Department
-Rogers
-Possible resignation
-Reasoning
-John N. Mitchell
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Work on the White House staff
-Rogers’ role
-Kissinger’s view
-President’s support
-Current situation
-Calls from State Department
-Rogers
-Relationship with Rogers
-Relations with Defense Department
-Laird
-Public attacks
-State Department
-Senate
-New York Times, March 7, 1971
-Bureaucratic leaks
-State Department
-Defense Department
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Privacy]
[Duration: 30s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
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-Rogers
-Department of State
-Call from Kissinger
-Results
-Bureaucracy
-Richard F. Pedersen
-U. Alexis Johnson
-John N. Irwin, II
-State Department
-Kissinger’s role
-Support for the President
-Possible problems
-Press credibility
-Effect on Kissinger
-Liberal journalists
-Bureaucracy, liberal senators, and press
-J. William Fulbright
-W[illiam] Stuart Symington
-Laos operation (Lam Son)
-Kissinger’s conversation with General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Need for President’s support
-Role of possible successor
-Changes
-Effect
-Rogers
-Role in administration
-Rogers
-Press commentary
-Laos (Lam Son)
Foreign policy
-Outstanding issues
-President’s view
-Japanese textiles
-Peter G. Peterson
-George P. Shultz
-Harry S. Dent
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Wilbur D. Mills
-State Department
-Vietnam
-Soviet Union
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Middle East
-President’s view
-Rogers
-Laird
-Kissinger’s role
-State Department
Middle East
-State Department analysis
-Suez Canal
-Golda Meir
-Joseph J. Sisco
-Possible US negotiating strategy
-Israel
-Suez Canal
-Soviet Union involvement
Foreign policy
-President’s advisors
-Role
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-President’s foreign policy report
-State Department
-Kissinger’s possible resignation
-President’s view
-Effect on foreign policy
-Shultz
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Peterson
-John B. Connally
-Peterson
-Possible letter from President
-A memorandum
-Trade
-Great Britain
-Peterson’s view
-Options
-Connally, Clifford M. Hardin, and Maurice H. Stans’ positions
-Kissinger’s conversations with Peterson, March 8, 1971
-Bureaucracies
-US Department of Agriculture [USDA] involvement
-Negotiating role
-Peterson’s negotiations with George R. S. Baring [Earl of Cromer]
-USDA position
-Connally
-Peterson’s role
-Work with Connally and Hardin
-Soviet Union
-Kissinger’s future role
-President’s future role
-Public criticism
-Relationship
-Kissinger’s possible resignation
-President’s view
-SALT
-Status
-Soviet Union response
-Possible speech by the President
-Gerard C. Smith
-US negotiators
-Instructions
-Timing
Vietnam
-Peace talks
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Chou En-lai
-Possible effect
-Possible developments
-Xuan Thuy and Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-Newsweek
-Possible talks
-Lieutenant General Vernon A. Walters
-US position
-Strategy
-Use of Soviet Union
-Summit
An unknown man [Stephen B. Bull?] entered at an unknown time after 3:01 pm
Robert A. Taft, Jr.
The unknown man [Bull?] left at an unknown time before 3:42 pm
Vietnam
-Peace talks
-US position
-Strategy
-Soviet Union
-Walters
-Military situation in Laos (Lam Son)
-Laird and Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Kissinger’s view
-South Vietnamese position
-General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
-General Nguyen Van Thieu
-Abrams’ view
-South Vietnamese position
-Possible results
-Kissinger’s view
-Public opinion
-Los Angeles Times
-President’s meeting with press
-Comparison with Cambodian operation
-Reinforcements
-Battlefield positions
-Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN]
-North Vietnamese army
-Tchepone
-Possible ARVN attack
-Kissinger’s view
-Moorer’s briefing
-Enemy losses
-Moorer’s briefing
-Congress
-Enemy losses
-Effect on future negotiations
-Air strikes
-US Air Force
-Moorer
-Timing
-Problems
-Weather
-US Air Force
-Timing
-North Vietnamese army
-Casualties
-Hill 31
-Continued ARVN action
-Ground and air power
-Abrams’ view
-Possible ARVN withdrawal
-Timing
-Possible troop announcement
-Timing
-Scenario
-President’s forthcoming speech to editors
-Format
-Possible troop announcement
-Timing
-President’s schedule
-Haig
-Laird
Kissinger’s role in administration
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-Kissinger’s possible resignation
-President’s position
-State Department
-Kissinger’s background
-State Department
-Foreign Service
President’s schedule
-A meeting with Kissinger
-Middle East
-Timing
-Haldeman
-Taft
Kissinger left at 3:42 pmNo transcript is available for this conversation. The audio may not contain audible speech, or the recording may not yet have been processed.