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Conversation 659-004

TapeTape 659StartFriday, January 28, 1972 at 12:17 PMEndFriday, January 28, 1972 at 12:20 PMTape start time01:45:16Tape end time01:48:49ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Kissinger, Henry A.;  Bull, Stephen B.Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Stephen Bull met to coordinate the administration's public relations strategy following Nixon’s January 25 Vietnam peace proposal speech. They discussed favorable French press coverage and planned media engagement, specifically regarding upcoming *Time* and *Life* magazine features and interviews with journalist Jerrold Schecter. Additionally, the group reviewed administrative scheduling, including the signing of executive orders and updates regarding the health of Secretary of the Treasury John Connally.

Vietnam Peace ProposalPublic RelationsPress CoverageTime MagazineExecutive OrdersJohn Connally
AudioNARA Description

On January 28, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:17 pm to 12:20 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 659-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 659-4

Date: January 28, 1972
Time: 12:17 pm - 12:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger and Stephen B. Bull.

     Meeting with Rainer Barzel
          -Georges J.R. Pompidou
               -Speech

     France
          -Press briefings
               -The President’s leadership

     Vietnam negotiations
          -Public relations
               -Hugh S. Sidey
                      -Forthcoming articles

     -Time cover picture
          -Timing
          -Life
          -The President’s Vietnam peace proposal speech, January 25, 1972
                -The President’s efforts
                     -Paperwork

                          -Camp David
                      -Work with Kissinger
                          -Jerrold L. Schecter

     The President’s schedule
          -Signing of Executive Order
               -John B. Connally’s health
               -Paul A. Volcker
               -Myles J. Ambrose

Kissinger and Bull left at 12:20 pm.
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 Do not cite this transcript as authoritative.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.

So you want me to come back in?
Yes, sir.
Thank you, then.
With that remark you made about Montezuma and Cato, spectacular.
Yes, all right.
The French have been making favorable statements about that speech.
Yes.
Further than any president could possibly have done.
Yes.
They've been preaching the press.
And then, you see, we all just, everybody likes to feel that he's playing a part in the very events of history.
You know what I mean?
And Tom Coffey, of course, let people keep up with that whole Coffey event.
That's fine.
We bring him in.
No, you were right.
It's just not that.
I didn't, I don't see, I just heard you on, I just didn't know what Mrs. Coffey.
I've, I've decided, decided, decided in brief, I think, that this will be a long-term, a next week, in which you'll bring in, uh,
The cover is going to be this week or next week.
This is it.
Oh, it has to be.
No, but they're studying live.
Yeah.
Next week, they want to actually have the cover picture made next week.
I'm sorry.
That's fine.
They'd have to take it.
It's before time.
I know it.
Well, you can get in the time thing.
I didn't give a deal with how the speech was written.
But then I tell you that you've got the yellow sheets and the long dictation of Camp David.
They were both done together.
And all of those notes were held in all these memorandums.
You could say, I have to send the standard procedure, the heat of recovery portion, and the length from where you'd come, and the length of the hell it was all about, where you'd send these along.
But I said, you read the red things, the total things, and I just tacked up the 12 different things, and the red borders, and read the total.
Well, I made notes on them.
Well, what I said to Schenker was,
I can give you a full report.
You will then pass me on to the second act.
Mr. President, this is really, this is the first order we've signed.
This is the second order we've come out to handle this issue.
This is the first order we've signed.
This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
This is the first order we've signed.
This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
Granted, this is just for the family and people, they find this.
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