Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 634 › Conversation 634-011

Nixon & Kissinger on India-Pakistan War and Leonid Brezhnev

Thursday, December 9, 1971 · 3:57 PM–3:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation634-011 on Tape 634 (tape position 01:22:10–01:24:13)StartThursday, December 9, 1971 at 3:57 PMEndThursday, December 9, 1971 at 3:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 634-011 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417180291 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to refine the administration's response to the escalating India-Pakistan conflict, specifically regarding a letter to be sent to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The discussion focused on discouraging Indian military aggression against West Pakistan and leveraging potential trade consequences to exert pressure. Nixon directed Kissinger to keep the communication firm and direct, explicitly avoiding a prolonged debate over the technical details of ongoing negotiations.

Audio

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NARA Description

On December 9, 1971, 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. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 634-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 634-11

Date: December 9, 1971
Time: 3:57 pm - 3:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger

     India-Pakistan situation
           -Backgrounder
                 -Ceasefire
                 -Resumption of East-West negotiations
                 -Possible Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] action
                       -India
                             -Possible military action
                 -Trade
                 -Yuli M. Vorontsov
           -Letter from Leonid I. Brezhnev

Kissinger left at 3:59 pm.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, you can, as far as I'm concerned, we can skip this paragraph here.
I don't know whether you've had a chance to look at it.
On the resumption of the Swiss negotiations.
If you don't want to get that technical.
What do we want to say?
No, this is all.
I just don't want to restrain the Indians.
Yeah.
But you can say this is just, I didn't know whether you wanted to get that technical.
I don't know what else to do.
What do you want to get out of it?
That's the point.
I mean, I'll make a point that it's going to be very rational.
What do I want to tell them to do?
Well, now, this is all I had to tell him.
Well, I'm not sure you have anything else to tell him.
Well, first, they must attack West Pakistan.
That's right.
Let's get that over there.
And...
It imperils our nation.
It must not interfere.
It will affect, and you might say it will affect all these prospects of trade.
Well, I'd slip that in.
I'd slip that in.
And I would not let myself get drawn into a debate with... No, no, no.
No, I'm not here to discuss that.
I'll do it and then I'll want the Translator to go up and I'll stand up and then we can sit down.
I'll sit down and I'll tell people that's a very warm letter.
I'll do that first and then I'll say that I want this passed on and I don't want to discuss it.
This is not about discussing it.
I want to debate it in my feelings.
I've been in correspondence.

Also recorded on December 9, 1971

  • 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.
  • 634-009 3:32 PM · 4 min — 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.
  • 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.
  • 634-012 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.
  • 086-001 4:41 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John N. Irwin, II, David Packard, Richard M. Helms, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 4:41 pm and 4:56 pm.
  • 634-013 4:54 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:54 pm and 4:56 pm.
  • 634-014 4:54 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:54 pm and 4:56 pm.

All 44 conversations from December 9, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 634-011, December 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417180291). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/634-011 (accessed November 2, 2026).