Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 621 › Conversation 621-040
Nixon alone in the Oval Office on Cambodia and China
Monday, November 22, 1971 · 8:50 AM–9:10 AM ET · Oval Office · 10 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met to review administrative memoranda and discuss diplomatic strategies regarding international relations in Cambodia and China. The discussion touched upon the scheduling of upcoming meetings and coordination with government stakeholders. The participants evaluated the progress of ongoing policies while addressing logistical concerns related to state operations.
- Cambodia
- China
- Foreign Policy
- Administrative Memoranda
- Diplomacy
Audio
This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.
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Position in tape: 04:17:29 – 04:27:15
part A, 1:24:04
621a.mp3
621b.mp3
621c.mp3
621d.mp3
NARA Description
On November 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:50 am and 9:10 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 621-040 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 621-40 Date: November 22, 1971 Time: Unknown between 8:50 am and 9:10 am Location: Oval Office The President played back a portion of a memorandum. ***************************************************************** BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1 [Personal Returnable] [Duration: 2m 15s ] END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1 *****************************************************************
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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Twenty-nine at one, British, but not second.
That's right, sir.
13th and 14th.
We were talking about November of that.
Oh, you were?
Yes.
13th and 14th.
No, that's all I can remember.
It was 13th.
And then 28th and 29th, okay, keep his game.
No, 20th and 22nd is Bermuda.
And then 28th and 29th, keep his game.
Keep his game.
Right.
They have a hotel over there.
Uh, we are staying on a space and they have a hotel on another island.
Where do we meet?
We won't meet.
He will let you have one.
He'll have one meal with you on the day.
We'll meet in a hotel.
We'll meet either at the hotel or some... We don't intermediary ground, but I think it's not worth making a mistake.
Oh, I could be terrible.
I don't know how good the facilities on the base are.
We could set people to stay loose if I'd rather we don't get rid of the meal now.
If I had to get a meal there.
I don't think we're going to get rid of the space.
Whether you want to stay on the track, I just don't think we can tell.
The hotels are much better.
The halls, people can check it out.
Because these bases are pretty grubby.
Usually they are.
I mean, if we're not going to meet on the base, then we're not going to be plastic about your saying that we might as well just be in a nice hotel or any kind of hotel.
But we'll have to be at a hotel because that's the only place Pompidou is prepared to meet.
Anyway, he's not prepared to meet on the base.
That's right.
That's got to hold him, huh?
Oh, it looks like three casualties last week.
What is your analysis?
What is happening in Europe?
as we have seen in modern times.
Here, the North Vietnamese are invading Cambodia, running up and down Cambodia.
Not one word about it.
But when the South Vietnamese move 5,000 troops across the border,
Big headlines, South Vietnamese poised to invade Cambodia.
Let's put the headline in the Washington Post.
I think it's depressed.
And they have the vested interest in the New York Times editorial on Saturday or yesterday, I forget.
One of the recent days about the failure of your policy, what's going on in Cambodia, proved just the fact that there's open-ended escalation.
Just after you brought down the casualties from 350 to three, brought home 400,000 troops, they say you're failure to better withdraw, they'll be better withdrawn.
That's back last July.
Yes, they don't know about it.
Oh, they have to...
They don't know that.
The president, the one advantage of keeping them babbling about the withdrawal date is that that's where we can yank the rug out from under them.
I'm just announcing what we've done.
The fact of it is that the minute you get the withdrawal date, you'll be in the military aid debate, which is much harder.
You're right.
Also, the people of W.I.
have really just turned on you.
They say, now, what are you going to do about our hostages?
There's a goddamn thing to do, because they are about to give us those prisoners for a withdrawal.
They're going to wait for those prisoners for us getting them.
That's obvious.
That's obvious indeed for the New York Times, though, isn't it?
So what would you do with them now?
No, but I know... How about the Times people?
You've told them this.
I hope you've been... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Times hasn't really hit you on the...
The Cambodian thing is the most ridiculous goddamn thing I've ever heard of.
You said these people are going over and so forth.
It's a great big battle.
It's a goddamn big battle on our part.
It's a chicken little thing in all their plan.
Thank God they are.
I hope they are.
I hope they bomb the hell out of them at the Times.
And they're just grinding down, otherwise they'll just grind down the Cambodians.
But the point is that we are keeping the war going.
The argument now really is that unless we force the South Vietnamese to surrender,
The war goes on.
We can't end the war.
I, for a thing, I'd like to surrender.
But I found that the president, I found that Cincinnati and wherever I spoke, and these Air Force wives here don't count because they're for us anyway, but I spoke about 900 Air Force wives here.
They do.
Well, I talked to them and I said, I want you to know this administration is behind your husband.
We couldn't have done anything without them.
And then somebody else about the withdrawal rate and ending the war, a representative of the president.
And I made this argument, and they were all not feeling it.
Good.
And in Cincinnati, too.
Yeah.
I don't think...
I just look forward to them.
I wish to Christ something could happen.
Something could happen on the negotiating front.
Justice at least, and Henry, I couldn't agree more, if we get any kind of a break,
And I don't care what the political consequences are.
I personally want to take on this battle in the left wing press and establishment.
I'm going to take them on and tear them to shreds.
It's going to be done.
I think our weakness is an exploration, Mr. President, is we are not sufficiently dangerous to attack.
We are always defensive.
We sort of flick them away.
But no one comes charging out of fear.
when they emasculate foreign aid and scream treason or something close to it.
We have to think in the public mind.
The Democrats are laying the basis for the fact that he...
But you think I should do more of that myself?
Somebody, of course.
I do it, didn't I?
The cabinet ought to do it.
That's right.
You see, I'm the only one that's doing it.
I do it all the time.
I call these goddamn senators in on the continuing resolution.
It's stuck at home.
And, uh...
I don't think that you should do, but I think you should.
I mean, somebody.
Ideally, it shouldn't be you.
Somebody should hit them on the ground that on this consistent undermining of your foreign policy, when they end foreign aid and then you come, and then not you, but we come back and say, well, let's work out a compromise, they can then claim that they pushed us into reform.
And I think they're laying the basis for saying, even if you brought over negotiations, that they pushed us into it.
But I think once we got an agreement, if we get it, I think we can get it.
We can tear them to pieces.
And I think, incidentally, Dr. Joe is coming back.
The French have now announced that he's asked for a breakup.
And in fact, that he was going to come last week and fell ill.
Which I don't believe, but they're really getting the word out that he's held to every conceivable trial.
Which means they're trying to get it out to us.
That's right, that's what I mean.
Or else, they say.
That's what I mean.
I'm going to go for the way that he is.
Tell him to charge up.
I think, Mr. President, that we've got to take the offensive on this, and particularly on this Cambodian people.
Also recorded on November 22, 1971
- 015-082 8:20 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and George E. Allen talked on the telephone from 8:20 am to 8:27 am.
- 621-036 8:20 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George E. Allen met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:20 am to 8:27 am.
- 621-037 8:27 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:27 am and 8:30 am.
- 621-038 8:30 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:30 am to 8:50 am.
- 621-039 8:50 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:50 am and 9:10 am.
- 621-041 8:50 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 8:50 am and 9:10 am.
- 621-042 8:50 AM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:50 am and 9:10 am.
- 621-043 9:10 AM · 1 hr 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and Barry M. Goldwater met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:10 am to 10:22 am.
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- Nixon phone call with Kissinger on People's Republic of China and Vietnam War November 14, 1972 · 11 min
- Nixon phone call with Albert on Cambodia and Congressional Relations June 22, 1973 · 5 min
- Nixon & Kissinger on Foreign Policy and Diplomacy March 7, 1973 · 3 min
- Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam and People's Republic of China April 18, 1971 · 7 min
- Nixon, Rogers & Haldeman on China and Foreign Policy May 26, 1971 · 4 min
- Nixon phone call with Alvarez on United Nations and People's Republic of China October 23, 1971 · 12 min
Cite this conversation
Conversation 621-040, November 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/621-040 (accessed November 2, 2026).