Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 646 › Conversation 646-007

United States Secret Service agents on Henry Kissinger

Wednesday, January 12, 1972 · 6:23 PM–10:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsConversation646-007 on Tape 646 (tape position 02:21:33–02:23:06)StartWednesday, January 12, 1972 at 6:23 PMEndWednesday, January 12, 1972 at 10:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 646-007 ↗

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.

Audio

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Position in tape: 02:21:33 – 02:23:06

part B, 21:18

646a.mp3
646b.mp3

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

I'll be there.

Also recorded on January 12, 1972

  • 646-003 4:30 PM · 57 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:30 pm.
  • 646-004 4:30 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and Rosemary Manarin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:30 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 646-005 4:34 PM · 1 hr 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George W. Romney, John D. Ehrlichman, John C. Whitaker, Manolo Sanchez, Stephen B. Bull, John N. Mitchell, Rose Mary Woods, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:34 pm to 6:21 pm.
  • 646-006 6:21 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:21 pm and 6:23 pm.
  • 018-071 7:30 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:30 pm and 8:09 pm.
  • 018-072 8:09 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 8:09 pm to 8:11 pm.
  • 018-073 8:11 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:11 pm and 8:13 pm.
  • 018-074 8:13 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:13 pm to 8:40 pm.

All 13 conversations from January 12, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 646-007, January 12, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/646-007 (accessed November 2, 2026).