Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 610
Nixon White House Tape 610 (November 1, 1971)
3 conversations · Oval Office · about 1 hr 5 min of released audio
Featuring Nixon, Kissinger, United States Secret Service agents
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed strategies to counter media narratives, particularly articles in the New York Times, that diminished the President’s role in the China initiative. They also addressed the potential political ramifications of granting executive clemency to Jimmy Hoffa, weighing the possibility of gaining support from the Teamsters against potential public and political backlash. Finally, the two men examined the internal disputes within the Pay Board concerning wage controls and contingency planning for labor resistance.
President Nixon met with an unknown individual, likely Dr. W. Kenneth Riland, in the Oval Office shortly after concluding a series of consultations with key advisors regarding labor policy, executive clemency, and 1972 campaign planning. While the participants of this specific brief encounter remain officially unidentified, it occurred in the immediate wake of high-level discussions involving John Mitchell, George Shultz, and H.R. Haldeman. These preceding deliberations focused on the potential pardon of Jimmy Hoffa and the administration's management of the Pay Board's economic policies, though the content of this final recorded exchange was not preserved.
Secret Service agents gathered in the Oval Office to coordinate logistics regarding the President’s movements and daily schedule. The brief and largely unintelligible exchange focused on confirming the President's current location and ensuring secure operational status. The conversation concluded abruptly without documenting any major policy decisions.