Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 539 › Conversation 539-012
Nixon & Kissinger on People's Republic of China and Diplomatic Relations
Monday, July 19, 1971 · 12:08 PM–1:08 PM ET · Oval Office
AI Summary
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to discuss strategy and messaging regarding the recent announcement of the U.S. opening to the People’s Republic of China. They reviewed how to manage press coverage and addressed leaks emanating from the State Department, specifically concerning the administration's internal process and lack of awareness among other cabinet members. Nixon provided instructions for Kissinger’s upcoming press briefing, emphasizing the need to highlight the President's personal qualifications, diplomatic experience, and philosophical approach as uniquely suited for the high-stakes negotiation with Chinese leadership.
Audio
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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 01:44:31 into the tape and ends around 01:56:37.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
1:44:45Amaranth and Kissinger.
1:44:49One effective line you could use in your talks with the press is how RN is uniquely prepared for this meeting and how ironically, in many ways,
1:45:19Similar character characteristics and background.
1:45:25Uh, control.
1:45:30I'm just listening to the items that might be emphasized.
1:45:34One, strong convictions.
1:45:41Two, came up through adversity.
1:45:54that is best in a crisis, cool, unflavable, for a strong leader willing to take chances where necessary.
1:46:22Five.
1:46:23Up.
1:46:33Well, now I've got to see the brain.
1:46:36Yeah, over in the bathroom.
1:46:43And I'm seeing...
1:46:47I'm seeing Connolly this afternoon.
1:46:49That's good.
1:46:50And I'm seeing the press at seven.
1:46:52That's enough.
1:47:00And tomorrow I'm seeing the conservator.
1:47:04I don't think we have any problems with it.
1:47:08I think I got to Buchanan at the staff meeting.
1:47:16Well, I said, I didn't mention him, I said, but not him.
1:47:21I've read in the press that some people think they got a handle on the president by threat of withholding the invitation.
1:47:30They've given up so much by just extending the invitation that they are the ones who would lose.
1:47:38We may get some short-term benefits, but they must count on some long-term ones so they never have done it.
1:47:45And I said, now, you just think
1:47:48who would have thought that Hanoi would be calling Peking an imperialist.
1:47:54And if we had tried to arrange this, it would have been considered one of the greatest coups.
1:47:59But it is incredible.
1:48:00Sure it is.
1:48:03We all know it's incredible.
1:48:08We all know it's incredible.
1:48:09Well, I've been reading the weekly, the week, the news magazine.
1:48:12I saw it last year.
1:48:14Don't you think they are very popular?
1:48:23the national credit for the political thing in there, which that's inevitable.
1:48:34One thing I noticed, though, he was in Kramer, that Agnew, Laird, were kept in the dark.
1:48:44It said that Rogers and several of his aides were at Warrant.
1:48:53You didn't say that, did you?
1:48:55No, no.
1:48:56No, no.
1:48:56Joe Alsop told me last night that three different State Department guys called him yesterday and took credit for it.
1:49:03We may have overdone that a little bit.
1:49:06We've done enough.
1:49:08Let's put it that way.
1:49:10We've done enough now.
1:49:12We've done enough because they didn't do a damn thing.
1:49:14Except goddamn near screw it up.
1:49:16And the idea that Rogers...
1:49:18three of these, but they didn't know a goddamn thing.
1:49:21Not one goddamn thing.
1:49:23They didn't.
1:49:23Mr. President, they didn't.
1:49:25How do you think that got out?
1:49:27From state, no question about it.
1:49:30Well, of course, they would say, Ryder didn't say anything damn well that they didn't know.
1:49:34That came out from state.
1:49:35That's what he said.
1:49:36Somebody out of state, how are we not?
1:49:38I see, I see.
1:49:39Sure, they probably said, well, several of us do.
1:49:41That's right.
1:49:42Oh, yeah.
1:49:44Those sons of bitches.
1:49:46But when Cambodia goes on, even if, where they did know, but even if they hadn't known, you would have expected them to say, yes, we knew it, and we are behind the president.
1:49:56That's when they all put out the words that they didn't know.
1:49:58Yes, yes.
1:50:04Well, and extremely well.
1:50:09We just have to grow along with our other games.
1:50:11I think we ought to announce the other one if we ever bring it up just like this one.
1:50:15To tell them you sent a secret mission?
1:50:18If we get it out, I'm not going to worry.
1:50:22It's going to be announced like this, and they're going to be fooling around.
1:50:28And we'll go to Perino's again and check the hell out of it.
1:50:31Go to what?
1:50:32Perino's again.
1:50:32That's almost it.
1:50:33I know there's both magazines and Times that said that they checked out there, and they'd be trying to stick with the analysis.
1:50:40And I gleefully shook hands with people.
1:50:42Now he remembers I came along here, right?
1:50:44They were walking out.
1:50:46We were trying to go out and search on him.
1:50:48But that's just the usual...
1:50:50I wouldn't worry about it.
1:50:52It gives it a nice human touch anyway.
1:50:56Time to think about it.
1:50:57They think they've been dealing with it, but it doesn't really... That makes you human.
1:51:01That's right.
1:51:03Why shouldn't you be a little gleeful?
1:51:06That's right.
1:51:07With one 386-word speech,
1:51:10you threw the old foreign policy of the world into a new direction.
1:51:18I'm dictating a very short memorandum for you that we're talking about for you tonight.
1:51:31And I'll tell you what it is briefly, is that I thought one thing you could do to give something that is new, and you've seen a lot of the stuff that's in here,
1:51:41is the fact that the personal, how it's ironic and also very fortunate, coincidental, that probably no president in history could be better qualified to do this at this time, not simply to hold the Conservatives, but because of the background, first, in terms of
1:52:08And also, when you compare his background with Cho's, ironically, a man of very strong convictions, a man that's come up through adversity, a man in school in a crisis, a man who's a student, and so forth and so on, a man who takes the long view rather than the short view, a man who's philosophical in his approach, a man who, looking at a technical thing, works totally without pellets.
1:52:32I've been at the 73s, heads of state, never had a coat in front of me, just as Cho works.
1:52:38The man also knows a lot about Asia, and I imagine in other characters you could mention who in his meetings is very tough, but also is subtle and somewhat graceful.
1:52:49And I think those points, that's something that could give them an entirely new thing to pick up that reveals the man.
1:53:02I noticed they were playing this
1:53:05Lincoln sitting room.
1:53:06Sure.
1:53:06See, they like that sort of thing.
1:53:09Sugar says, well, see, these guys haven't had the Lincoln sitting room.
1:53:14These guys will not hear the interesting things.
1:53:17These attributes of the president will be serving very well in this meeting.
1:53:24Okay, I'll do that.
1:53:28Good luck.
1:53:35five or six of charity.
1:53:37A man who takes the long view, never being concerned about tomorrow's headlines, but about how the policy will look years from now.
1:53:55Seven, a man with a philosophical turning line.
1:54:06A man who works without notes, dashed in meetings with 73 heads of state and heads of government, has had hours of conversation without any notes.
1:54:18When he met with Khrushchev in 1959 in a 7-hour luncheon at the Dachshund, neither he nor Khrushchev had a note.
1:54:26And yet discussed matters of the greatest consequences in covering many areas.
1:54:35be a man who knows Asia.
1:54:39Maybe particular point of traveling nation, studying nation.
1:54:53And I'm a man who, in terms of his personal
1:55:06is very strong and very tough where necessary a very steely but who is subtle and appears almost gentle very the tougher words he uses the tougher his position usually the lower his voice paradigm
1:55:36You can point out that most of these attributes are ones that you also saw in the online.
1:55:41You can point out that most of these attributes are ones that you also saw in the online.
1:56:03And a two.
NARA Description
On July 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 1:08 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 539-012 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 539-12
Date: July 19, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:08 pm and 1:08 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President dictated a memorandum to Henry A. Kissinger
The US-People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
-Kissinger’s press briefing
-Content
[End of dictation]
Kissinger entered at 12:48 pm
Kissinger’s schedule
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-John B. Connally
-The press
-July 20, 1971
-Meeting with conservatives
The PRC initiative
-Staff meeting
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Press story
-The PRC’s stance
-North Vietnam
-News magazines
-Coverage
-Knowledge
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, William P. Rogers
-Call from Joseph W. Alsop
-State Department knowledge
-Comparison to Cambodian action
-Future handling of announcements
-Possible Soviet summit
-The President’s visit to Perino’s Restaurant
-Press coverage
-Effect of announcement
-Memorandum for Kissinger’s briefing
-The President
-Meeting in Lincoln Sitting Room
-The President, Kissinger
Kissinger left at 12:55 pm
The President dictated a memorandum to Kissinger at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and
1:08 pm
The PRC initiative
-Kissinger’s press briefing
-Content
[The President played back a portion of the dictation]
[End of dictation]
[This dictation continues on Conversation No. 539-13]Also recorded on July 19, 1971
- 539-004 11:12 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:12 am and 11:18 am.
- 539-006 11:18 AM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:18 am to 11:37 am.
- 539-007 11:58 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:58 am to 12:08 pm.
- 539-008 12:08 PM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:48 pm.
- 539-009 12:08 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:48 pm.
- 539-010 12:08 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:48 pm.
- 539-011 12:08 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:48 pm.
- 539-013 12:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 1:08 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 539-012, July 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/539-012 (accessed October 11, 2026).