Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 624 › Conversation 624-027

Nixon, Kissinger & Bull on India-Pakistan conflict and Foreign aid policy

Wednesday, November 24, 1971 · 3:14 PM–3:20 PM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation624-027 on Tape 624 (tape position 05:17:15–05:22:48)StartWednesday, November 24, 1971 at 3:14 PMEndWednesday, November 24, 1971 at 3:20 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 624-027 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to coordinate administrative scheduling, including a potential meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in San Clemente. The discussion also addressed the escalating India-Pakistan crisis, specifically concerning internal administration friction and the need to curb unauthorized news leaks from the State Department. Nixon directed a firm policy stance regarding the cessation of military aid to India and requested that Treasury Secretary John Connally be utilized to exert further pressure on foreign aid allocations.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I will have a chance to talk on the plane, but I want to proceed immediately.
Call the ambassador on the phone.
The President just talked to the President.
The President wants him to get a message that he would be in the East.
The President will be in San Clemente.
He's going to be there.
We'd very much like to meet him since we are
And I fill in on the other two trips you did.
I've already done that.
I say that since we're doing that, the President was wondering if he could arrange to go from, he thought he was going to go from Florida to San Luis, like Florida is so far over there, I think, to San Luis, and he had a meeting that time between the 2nd and the 1st.
Right.
The only reason, and what I want to question is, we were told not to schedule anything while Mrs. Nixon was in Africa.
I don't, I think it would be an excellent time to do it.
Well, we'll have to do it then.
Well, we could do it around the 9th and 10th.
I think it's later.
Later in the week.
Later.
Why don't you have it, how long is she going to be in Africa?
I think she'll be back on the 8th.
We were setting aside the tents for heat as an alternate.
Oh, he doesn't read it.
No, he has, but I don't.
Why don't we give the Japanese a chance then?
All right.
It's just as well not to get into their tricks.
Well, that's what I thought.
That's fine with me.
I can get out there and do that right then.
10th and 11th.
10th and 11th.
I don't give it a chance.
President Biden, you see them at his home in Santa Maria.
You can say that the president particularly wanted you...
I just thought I would come here.
It would be the first time that any foreign head of state has been to this hall.
The head of state, then?
You've been up against him.
No, but I'm going to have him there.
It's my guess.
I've got room for him.
No, I think it would be better late, and I'm going to have him.
That would be pathetic, because you know Mr. Bess is at his home, and he'd like to have his private head of state there.
It would be the first time you've ever had a foreign head of state there.
Good.
Yeah, one other thing.
If you and I need to go out there,
Sure, sure.
Well, I'll leave it over there for Florida, so I don't know.
You can go to any other place.
Thank you.
I meant to say, thank you for all the facilities.
The other thing I was going to mention to you is this.
Rockets apparently is coming around to our viewpoint.
Why don't you talk to them in advance?
Well, I got Urban and Cisco in this morning, and I...
I raised, I raised, I'm sure to hell with them.
They came to a meeting and they had been ordered not to, not to produce any facts for us.
I called Urban and Sisker and I said, gentlemen, you know, you don't bother me.
Don't you start leaking stories to the newspapers that we do things without you.
I have never yet made a move without full, without knowing exactly what the president wants.
If you refuse to give the President the facts on which to make a decision, don't be surprised if he acts unilaterally.
That's the goddamnest thing I ever heard of.
I'm the one who wants to do this, Henry.
I'm harder than you are.
That's right.
Yeah, just one second.
All right.
So, see, I didn't know.
So he got the message.
And I want to get this thing out Friday.
I just said, well, we'll think about it.
No, I was clear.
And I think Bill understood it, because as soon as he came back to the department, he was a different man.
Friday, you and I will get out.
I think we'll make a public announcement on what we're cutting off.
Don't you agree?
Absolutely.
Cutting off the military.
I think that's the truth.
Do that, but we have to rest, boy.
You notice I've got Connolly on the act.
Now, you don't.
He may find some things with Henry Kirk or somebody else.
You never know.
We can cut the shit out of these people.
I want them all to report, though.
Tell Connolly I want Tracy to report this to Webber, and I want the cards to report to you.
Okay.
I think we should play hard at now, at the beginning.
Oh sure, otherwise they'll end up in the city right now, so they'll know what the thing is in the future, and this is just the beginning.
And we should show and say that we should just not do it.
That's right.
Except for the military and stuff.
Now at 3.30 or 4 o'clock, I want you to study for 15 minutes with Conley Schultz.
Schultz brought up the military much today.
He said he played with you.
But I want to be damn sure...
But there's no disagreement on this number.
Right.
You understand?
Right, Mr. Bishop.
I'll be there.
I've got the job coming at 4.15.
Well, we'll take only ten minutes to do that.
I don't know how to use that.

NARA Description

On November 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:14 pm to 3:20 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 624-027 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 624-027

Date: November 24, 1971
Time: 3:14 pm - 3:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Kissinger's forthcoming call to Nobuhiko Ushiba
           -Kissinger’s previous meeting with the President
                 -Possible meeting with Eisaku Sato
                      -San Clemente
                      -Thelma C. (“Pat’) Nixon's schedule
                      -Timing
                            -Edward R.G. Heath
                      -San Clemente

     India-Pakistan
           -William P. Rogers's views
           -Kissinger's meeting with John N. Irwin II and Joseph J. Sisco
                 -Leaks

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:14 pm.

     Charles W. Colson

Bull left at an unknown time before 3:20 pm.

     India-Pakistan
           -US Policy

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

                 -Rogers
                 -Possible announcement
                      -US military aid
                      -India
                      -Pakistan
                 -John B. Connally
                      -Henry Kearns
                      -Forthcoming conversation with Kissinger
                      -Kearns
                             -US aid

     The President's schedule
          -Connally and George P. Shultz
               -Kissinger
               -Military budget

     Kissinger's schedule
           -Ushiba

Kissinger left at 3:20 pm.

Also recorded on November 24, 1971

  • 624-024 2:40 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Najeeb E. Halaby, Peter M. Flanigan, White House photographer, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:40 pm to 3:11 pm.
  • 624-025 3:11 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:11 pm and 3:14 pm.
  • 624-026 3:11 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:11 pm and 3:14 pm.
  • 624-028 3:20 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:20 pm to 3:35 pm.
  • 624-029 3:35 PM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, John B. Connally, and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:35 pm and 4:06 pm.
  • 625-001 4:06 PM · 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John B. Connally, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:06 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 625-002 4:19 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:19 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 625-003 4:19 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:19 pm and 4:35 pm.

All 50 conversations from November 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 624-027, November 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/624-027 (accessed October 9, 2026).