Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 634 › Conversation 634-009

Nixon, Arguelles & Haig on Francisco Franco and Law of the Sea

Thursday, December 9, 1971 · 3:32 PM–3:36 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Arguelles, Jaime; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation634-009 on Tape 634 (tape position 01:03:24–01:08:38)StartThursday, December 9, 1971 at 3:32 PMEndThursday, December 9, 1971 at 3:36 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 634-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Jaime Arguelles and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. to discuss a letter from Spanish leader Francisco Franco regarding Spain's position on Law of the Sea negotiations. Beyond the diplomatic correspondence, the conversation largely consisted of pleasantries and an exchange of personal regards. The President fondly recalled his previous visit to Spain and extended an open invitation for Franco’s grandchildren to contact the White House if they visit the United States.

Francisco Franco
Law of the Sea
US-Spain relations
Diplomacy
Foreign policy

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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It's good to see you, Pat.

We seem to have a bit of a war.

I'm trying to sleep, but I don't know what I'm trying to sleep on.

I'm actually, that's what I'm making.

I'm doing what I said this morning, so I'm... No doubt at all.

Absolutely.

This is the letter.

Yes.

All right.

I think the point of this is to make sure that it's not official.

That's fine.

I will.

The law of the city.

Yes.

I think so, sir.

The man with the glasses.

You have a special problem, because he knows you.

We do.

He's looking for me.

That's very, very reasonable.

And we're looking at it in different kinds of ways.

Sure.

We know that in such matters of this sort, the public starts to work out in terms of their interests.

And we've done very well working on that.

We've done a good thing.

Thank God.

It's good.

And the visit that was made here was good.

Excellent.

And we will never forget our reception.

It was the greatest day of all.

I'm looking forward to going back sometime.

Well, see you.

Thank you.

I also told him that I remembered his granddaughter.

and, uh, and, uh, grandchildren in the United States.

We haven't seen them, but if they come, it's just actually what I'd like to do.

Well, actually, I'm here.

the main trip, I mean, the German, well, now they should come, you know, I mean, it's dark.

But if they should come, I mean, sometimes in the fear, you get a hold of, I don't know how to use your name, is this because...

They said they were going to have a party, you know, or something.

And at the end of the day, we consider them rather special people.

And whenever they come, you let us know.

Because they told us they were going to have a party.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

NARA Description

On December 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Jaime Arguelles, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:32 pm to 3:36 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 634-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 634-9

Date: December 9, 1971
Time: 3:32 pm - 3:36 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Jaime Arguelles and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Greetings

     Letter from Gen. Francisco Franco
           -Spain's “Law-of-the-Sea” position
                -State Department

     The President's regards to Franco
          -President’s previous visit to Spain
                -Reception
          -Franco's Family
                -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                -Daughter and grandchildren
                      -Location
                -Henry A. Kissinger

     Closing remarks
          -Invitation from the President

Arguelles and Haig left at 3:36 pm.

Also recorded on December 9, 1971

016-074 2:46 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes talked on the telephone from 2:46 pm to 2:48 pm.
016-075 2:48 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:48 pm and 7:42 pm.
634-006 2:59 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:59 pm to 3:00 pm.
634-007 3:00 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Hubert Maga, Sophia K. Porson, White House photographer, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:00 pm to 3:29 pm.
634-008 3:29 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:29 pm and 3:32 pm.
634-010 3:36 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:36 pm and 3:57 pm.
634-011 3:57 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:57 pm to 3:59 pm.
634-012 4:00 PM · 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vladimir V. Marskevich, Yuli M. Vorontsov, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:00 pm to 4:41 pm.

All 44 conversations from December 9, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 634-009, December 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/634-009 (accessed October 12, 2026).