Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 631 › Conversation 631-002

Nixon & Ziegler on India-Pakistan conflict and Henry Kissinger

Tuesday, December 7, 1971 · 2:59 PM–3:02 PM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation631-002 on Tape 631 (tape position 00:31:59–00:35:22)StartTuesday, December 7, 1971 at 2:59 PMEndTuesday, December 7, 1971 at 3:02 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 631-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discussed the administration's public messaging regarding the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict and the flow of refugees. They considered having Henry Kissinger provide a press briefing to explain the White House position and counter criticisms from figures like Senator Edward Kennedy. The goal was to establish a more effective diplomatic posture at the United Nations without directly engaging in a political confrontation with Kennedy.

Audio

Download MP3 · 6.8 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
I thought I'd rephrase it with you just briefly.
I talked to Henry, and I'm convinced in my mind that he's not hung up on it.
You know, his interest is not because he's hung up on the state thing.
Kennedy's come out with an attack this afternoon, which doesn't bother me a whole lot.
He wouldn't take on Kennedy.
But I think maybe about 20, 25 minutes to Henry this afternoon, just to
Putting this into our position, into perspective here, for this group over here would be to our benefit.
And I'm convinced after talking to Henry, and I did it in a subtle way, that he's not going to get into any problem that he may have in his line of state.
But I do think we need a little posturing with the UN thing today, with the ya-ya calling for the coalition government thing.
And just an overall...
assessment from Henry, I think, would be much better than me standing out there today.
And the other thing I would do, it would give me a good deal to bridge on in the future.
It would give states and stuff to bridge on, McCloskey, which he would do.
It would give other spokesmen within the government things to bridge on.
Because Henry, I think... Well, see, they've had a backgrounder.
Cisco had a very good backgrounder about four or five days ago.
Uh-huh.
Well, it's a superficial line, which you would expect.
Why didn't we condemn Pakistan when we rushed to condemn India?
No, when the West Pakistan forces moved into East Pakistan and caused the
the killing which led to the refugees flowing into India, why didn't we condemn that action at that time?
Well, there's an excellent answer to that, without taking Kennedy on.
The reference, again, to the amount of humanitarian assistance we provided, the diplomatic context that was provided, the reference to, and this is what Henry could catalog again, you see, and I think to a great extent, diffuse what I sense to be a little bit of a
a building extension in that other direction.
Not that that's going to make a big blip domestically, but I think in our posture internationally and for those who are interested.
Yeah, what else?
Okay, fine.
I'll just wait here for you.
Yeah, I'll give you a buzz as soon as I find out.
Okay, sir.

NARA Description

On December 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:59 pm to 3:02 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 631-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 631-002

Date: December 7, 1971
Time: 2:59 pm - 3:02 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     Henry A. Kissinger
          -Ziegler’s talk with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
          -Talk with Ziegler
                -State Department

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

           -Edward M. Kennedy
           -United Nations [UN]
                -India-Pakistan
                      - Agha Muhommad Yahya Khan
                            -Coalition government
                            -Kissinger
                      -Paul N. (“Pete”) McCloskey, Jr.
                      -State Department
                            -Joseph J. Sisco
                                  -Backgrounder
                                        -Timing
                      -Kennedy
                            -India-Pakistan
                            -Refugees into India
                                  -Humanitarian aid
                                  -Kissinger
                                  -The President's forthcoming talk with Ziegler

Ziegler left at 3:02 pm.

Also recorded on December 7, 1971

  • 631-001 12:57 PM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:57 pm and 1:58 pm.
  • 631-003 3:04 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:04 pm to 3:11 pm.
  • 631-004 3:12 PM · 1 hr 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Maurice H. Stans, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Peter G. Peterson, White House photographer, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, unknown person(s), and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:12 pm to 4:29 pm.
  • 631-005 4:29 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Harold H. Saunders met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:29 pm and 4:33 pm.
  • 631-006 4:29 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:29 pm and 4:33 pm.
  • 631-007 4:33 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:33 pm to 5:05 pm.
  • 631-008 5:05 PM · 1 hr 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Daniel P. Moynihan, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:05 pm to 6:16 pm.
  • 631-009 6:10 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:10 pm and 6:28 pm.

All 20 conversations from December 7, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 631-002, December 7, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/631-002 (accessed October 12, 2026).