Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 539 › Conversation 539-013

Nixon alone in the Oval Office on Henry Kissinger and Diplomacy

Monday, July 19, 1971 · 12:55 PM–1:08 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation539-013 on Tape 539 (tape position 01:56:37–01:58:25)StartMonday, July 19, 1971 at 12:55 PMEndMonday, July 19, 1971 at 1:08 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 539-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon dictated a memorandum to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger regarding the framing of their strategic outreach and diplomatic image. The President emphasized the need to subtly communicate personal characteristics and specific relational dynamics to influence public or foreign perception. This effort reflects an ongoing interest in utilizing personal narrative as a tool for political or diplomatic leverage.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 70.0 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 01:56:37 into the tape and ends around 01:58:25.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

1:57:01where, as a matter of fact, one of the ways that you can subtly get this across is to describe Joe and mine, and to go into how R.N.
1:57:13's personal characteristics are.
1:57:16Somewhere.

NARA Description

On July 19, 1971, 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. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 539-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 539-13

Date: July 19, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:55 pm and 1:08 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President dictated a memorandum to Henry A. Kissinger

[This is a continuation of Conversation No. 539-12]

     The People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
          -Kissinger’s press briefing
               -Content

Also recorded on July 19, 1971

  • 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.
  • 539-014 1:08 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:08 pm to 1:21 pm.
  • 539-015 1:21 PM · 55 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:21 pm to 1:22 pm.
  • 262-001 1:26 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 262-002 1:26 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 262-003 1:26 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 262-004 1:26 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.

All 26 conversations from July 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 539-013, 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/539-013 (accessed October 11, 2026).