Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 659 › Conversation 659-004

Nixon, Kissinger & Bull on Vietnam Peace Proposal and Public Relations

Friday, January 28, 1972 · 12:17 PM–12:20 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation659-004 on Tape 659 (tape position 01:45:16–01:48:49)StartFriday, January 28, 1972 at 12:17 PMEndFriday, January 28, 1972 at 12:20 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 659-004 ↗

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.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 84.7 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 01:45:16 into the tape and ends around 01:48:49.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
1:45:41So you want me to come back in?
1:45:45Yes, sir.
1:45:45Thank you, then.
1:45:46With that remark you made about Montezuma and Cato, spectacular.
1:45:49Yes, all right.
1:45:50The French have been making favorable statements about that speech.
1:45:53Yes.
1:45:55Further than any president could possibly have done.
1:45:59Yes.
1:45:59They've been preaching the press.
1:46:05And then, you see, we all just, everybody likes to feel that he's playing a part in the very events of history.
1:46:16You know what I mean?
1:46:18And Tom Coffey, of course, let people keep up with that whole Coffey event.
1:46:22That's fine.
1:46:23We bring him in.
1:46:24No, you were right.
1:46:24It's just not that.
1:46:26I didn't, I don't see, I just heard you on, I just didn't know what Mrs. Coffey.
1:46:28I'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,
1:46:34The cover is going to be this week or next week.
1:46:36This is it.
1:46:36Oh, it has to be.
1:46:37No, but they're studying live.
1:46:38Yeah.
1:46:40Next week, they want to actually have the cover picture made next week.
1:46:43I'm sorry.
1:46:45That's fine.
1:46:47They'd have to take it.
1:46:48It's before time.
1:46:49I know it.
1:46:50Well, you can get in the time thing.
1:46:53I didn't give a deal with how the speech was written.
1:46:58But then I tell you that you've got the yellow sheets and the long dictation of Camp David.
1:47:03They were both done together.
1:47:07And all of those notes were held in all these memorandums.
1:47:10You 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.
1:47:23But 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.
1:47:32Well, I made notes on them.
1:47:33Well, what I said to Schenker was,
1:47:43I can give you a full report.
1:47:44You will then pass me on to the second act.
1:47:45Mr. President, this is really, this is the first order we've signed.
1:47:49This is the second order we've come out to handle this issue.
1:47:54This is the first order we've signed.
1:47:55This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
1:47:57This is the first order we've signed.
1:48:01This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
1:48:03This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
1:48:04This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
1:48:07This is the first order we've come out to handle this issue.
1:48:12Granted, this is just for the family and people, they find this.

NARA 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.

Also recorded on January 28, 1972

  • 659-002 11:17 AM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:17 am to 11:27 am.
  • 659-003 11:32 AM · 45 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, Rainer Barzel, Heinz Weber, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:32 am to 12:16 pm.
  • 659-005 12:21 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Myles J. Ambrose, John N. Mitchell, Paul A. Volcker, John D. Ehrlichman, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe, Geoffrey C. Shepard, Mark W. Alger, John J. Caulfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House photographer, Stephen B. Bull, Elaine (Miller) Ambrose, Myles J. Ambrose, Jr., Kevin Ambrose, Elise Ambrose, Nora Ambrose, Kathleen Ambrose, and Christopher Ambrose met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:21 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 659-006 12:34 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, Max M. Fisher, Yitzhak Rabin, Jeremiah Kaplan, Herbert Stein, Lawrence Y. Goldberg, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:34 pm to 1:21 pm.
  • 659-007 1:21 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:21 pm and 1:35 pm.
  • 019-146 1:24 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:24 pm and 1:35 pm.
  • 019-147 1:35 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:35 pm.
  • 659-008 1:35 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:35 pm.

All 37 conversations from January 28, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 659-004, January 28, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/659-004 (accessed October 12, 2026).