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Conversation 646-007

TapeTape 646StartWednesday, January 12, 1972 at 6:23 PMEndWednesday, January 12, 1972 at 10:59 PMTape start time02:21:33Tape end time02:23:06ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsRecording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon expresses deep frustration regarding Henry Kissinger’s rigid control over information flow and foreign policy execution within the White House. The President complains that Kissinger is creating an unhealthy bottleneck, filtering out essential perspectives and isolating the President from necessary intelligence. Consequently, Nixon emphasizes the need for alternative channels of communication to bypass Kissinger’s restrictive influence.

Henry KissingerWhite House managementForeign policyInformation controlExecutive communicationNational Security Council
AudioNARA Description

On January 12, 1972, United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:23 pm and 10:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 646-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 646-7

Date: January 12, 1972
Time: Unknown between 6:23 pm and 12:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

An unknown person [Secret Service agent] talked with an unknown person.

[Conversation No. 646-7A]

     The President’s location
          -Residence

[End of telephone conversation]
Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

I said, now, there are going to be problems.
You must not be in a position where you come and talk to me.
Larry, of course, must do that.
But I said, fortunately, you have a man who is in the NFC, who is a close associate, a friend of yours, to whom you can talk, and you can bear with him, and you must do it.
I even counted to Henry, and I said, you know, I said, and also I told him I had problems, and he doesn't want to have the hilariousness, he can't, you know, the hilariousness, he can always have them talk on a very confidential basis.
Well, he ought to talk to me.
For Christ's sake, there's no way that Henry would trust me.
But you see, then I realized the guy's sick.
He is sick.
You know that Henry absolutely takes a position that nothing can come into this White House.
And either from a secretary or anybody else on national events or foreign affairs that doesn't appear to him,
It's wrong.
Absolutely, it's wrong.
I need to see some things sometimes that are other parts of you.
I can't have it all filtered out.
And I've got to be able to also take a position that I can't, shouldn't talk to anybody.
I've got to talk to whatever it is.
I've got to talk to the watchers.
They're not going to answer that.
I just don't understand where he gets this grandiose concept of his function here.
Now, it doesn't mean that I don't have a part of everything.
I have the occasions when I don't.
On matters of policy, they've had to be carried out.
This is the footage.
I'll point out that Rogers stated that it's absolutely true that Henry is getting into the execution of a lot of this stuff, which
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