{"conversationCode":"656-020","tapeNumber":656,"conversationNumber":20,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-656-020","startDateTime":"1972-01-26T18:02:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-01-26T18:58:00.000Z","startDate":"26-Jan-1972","startTime":"1:02 PM","endDate":"26-Jan-1972","endTime":"1:58 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;","description":"On January 26, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:02 pm and 1:58 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 656-020 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 656-20\n\nDate: January 26, 1972\nTime: Unknown between 1:02 pm and 1:58 pm\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n\n     Henry A. Kissinger briefing\n          -Preparation for briefing book\n               -Questions and answers [Q&A]\n               -Patrick J. Buchanan\n               -William L. Safire\n               -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman\n               -Distribution of Q&A\n                     -Congressman, senators, press","filename":["656-020.mp3"],"tapeStart":"03:15:32","tapeEnd":"03:17:36","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Haig, Alexander M., Jr."],"prevCode":"656-019","nextCode":"656-021","transcript":[{"start":0.13,"end":0.47,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":1.91,"end":3.25,"text":"Could I get his head there?"},{"start":4.01,"end":4.27,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":14.58,"end":27.99,"text":"It would be a good idea to take Henry's breathing thing and to go over it in terms of and get somebody"},{"start":29.06,"end":34.12,"text":"who's on how the questions come up and so forth."},{"start":35.12,"end":42.85,"text":"But what he tries to do is answer various questions there and prepare about two or three pages of questions and answers."},{"start":43.89,"end":55.52,"text":"What I meant is that he answers the question about what we offered this and what we did that and so forth and so on."},{"start":55.56,"end":57.94,"text":"is probably the one that could do that the best."},{"start":59.27,"end":64.17,"text":"to Gannon or Sapphire, one of the two."},{"start":64.93,"end":67.01,"text":"Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe Sapphire."},{"start":67.87,"end":80.8,"text":"But what I mean is I get it right away and get to how to, you could talk to Paul about who should get the part."},{"start":82.44,"end":85.82,"text":"Or maybe some congressmen probably need them."},{"start":85.84,"end":87.94,"text":"Senators are on that."},{"start":89.79,"end":91.12,"text":"in the press, people that"}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander Haig discussed the preparation of a briefing book based on Henry Kissinger's recent work to effectively manage anticipated public and political inquiries. The President directed that a concise two-to-three-page list of questions and answers be drafted, specifically identifying William Safire or James Gannon as potential authors to refine the material. This document was intended for strategic distribution to members of Congress and the press to ensure a controlled and consistent administration message.","topics":["Henry Kissinger","Briefing materials","Public relations","William Safire","Media strategy","Congress"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-07T01:59:55.602Z"},"topicSlugs":["henry-kissinger","briefing-materials","public-relations","william-safire","media-strategy","congress"],"audioDurationSec":98,"audioFiles":[{"file":"656-020.mp3","bytes":3931738,"durationSec":98.15,"bitrate":320453,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:54.664Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/656-020.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/656-020","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/656/conversation-656-020","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}