Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 664 › Conversation 664-002
Nixon & Gubser on China-United States relations and Taiwan
Wednesday, February 2, 1972 · 9:10 AM–9:13 AM ET · Oval Office
AI Summary
President Nixon and Congressman Charles S. Gubser discuss the political optics and strategic challenges surrounding the upcoming diplomatic mission to China. Gubser expresses concern regarding the difficulty of reaching a consensus on the Taiwan issue that would satisfy domestic critics. Nixon maintains that while total agreement on Taiwan is impossible, the administration has successfully secured the Chinese government’s consent to disagree on other sensitive matters, such as the Japan defense treaty.
- China-United States relations
- Taiwan
- Diplomacy
- Foreign policy
- Japan-United States Security Treaty
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 169.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 41.4 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 00:16:51 into the tape and ends around 00:18:04.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data
NARA Description
On February 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles S. Gubser met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:10 am to 9:13 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 664-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 664-2 Date: February 2, 1972 Time: 9:10 am - 9:13 am Location: Oval Office The President talked with Charles S. Gubser. [See Conversation No. 20-17]
Also recorded on February 2, 1972
- 020-016 8:51 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:51 am and 9:10 am.
- 020-017 9:10 AM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles S. Gubser talked on the telephone from 9:10 am to 9:13 am.
- 020-018 9:13 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:13 am and 9:14 am.
- 664-003 9:13 AM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:13 am and 9:14 am.
- 664-004 9:13 AM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:13 am and 9:14 am.
- 020-019 9:14 AM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thomas N. Downing talked on the telephone from 9:14 am to 9:15 am.
- 664-005 9:14 AM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thomas N. Downing met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:14 am to 9:15 am.
- 664-006 9:15 AM · 49 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:15 am to 10:05 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 664-002, February 2, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/664-002 (accessed October 12, 2026).