Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 665 › Conversation 665-005

Nixon & Rogers on Moscow Summit and Soviet-US relations

Thursday, February 3, 1972 · 11:33 AM–11:53 AM ET · Oval Office · 16 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation665-005 on Tape 665 (tape position 02:13:31–02:31:25)StartThursday, February 3, 1972 at 11:33 AMEndThursday, February 3, 1972 at 11:53 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 665-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon dictates a confidential memorandum to Secretary of State William P. Rogers to guide his upcoming discussions with Soviet Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin ahead of the Moscow summit. The President emphasizes a cautious approach toward the summit agenda, specifically regarding the Middle East, Vietnam, and SALT negotiations, while urging Rogers to avoid premature commitments or explicit references to linkage. Nixon further instructs that US trade and credit concessions should be utilized as strategic bargaining chips rather than early giveaways. Finally, the President mandates that these sensitive guidelines remain restricted to Rogers and Henry Kissinger to maintain tactical control over the diplomatic process.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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This is a memorandum from Secretary of State.
With regard to your memorandum on February 1,
See ya.
Here, this is regarding your memorandum of February 1.
I would like for you to have the following.
guidelines in mind in your conversations with uh gabrina paragraph he obviously will be trying to find out uh
what we are prepared to discuss or to concede at the Moscow summit, at the Soviet summit.
And we, on our part, should therefore try to find out as much as we can as to what the Soviet leaders
in regard to the summit.
As much as possible, therefore, I would like for you to get her in.
in his evaluation of the recent conversations he's had with the press this evening.
And other Soviet leaders on the side.
And to avoid as much as possible
giving him any more generalities with regard to with regard to some agenda.
I would suggest that you say that we both should be thinking about the agenda, but that it will depend in large part on events that may occur between now and the time of our meeting today, and that consequently,
affinity discussion on agenda should not take place until around the 1st of April.
This leaves, this is of course true with regard to such subjects as the Middle East, Seoul, and Vietnam.
All of which are under active discussion in other channels at this time.
that we will be able to appraise when we get closer to the day of the summit.
Eric, on European security, a comment, you know,
My views are moving slowly and cautiously.
It's visible.
In fact, since meeting with Romiko, I have told Lums and others who have...
I have told Lums, he, Brown, and Pops, in discussions with some people... that there is, we know,
comforts this year.
And that while we do not reject the idea, we cannot agree to it even in principle until we have an opportunity to with our allies and later with the Soviets.
The substance of such a conference would be the discussion of the European Security Conference.
should be our line at this point.
Better with regard to solving the guidelines.
They've all got a verification now.
Are the, uh...
Which singer provides the best line for all of us to follow?
Very good.
With regard to trade...
You can get to indicate entrance.
But again, avoid the entrance.
Until you're further down the road on the other side.
Here, while...
Correct reference to linkage, of course, must be avoided for a reason we are both aware.
I agree with that.
As far as our actions are concerned,
how forthcoming we will be on the trade issue, particularly where credits are concerned, will depend on how forthcoming the Soviet leaders are on our political issues, which we are concerned.
And to that way, on this point, I am not sure if you love Stan Peterson at all.
That trade with the Soviets is a good thing for us in and of itself.
Trade is far more important than the Soviet.
than it is to us.
It is one of the few, one of the few bargaining chips we have.
And while we must not say that we consider it to be a bargaining chip, we must be sure that we don't give it away for nothing.
Our sensitivity on this issue during 1972 in this country.
I believe it is essential for us to assess the ongoing discussions with the government of Israel and the other governments in the area, the other governments concerned in the area.
are going forward with discussions with the Soviets on recycling.
This does not mean that we may not want to discuss the subject with them at a later time.
However, this is an excellent example of one of those subjects on which no determination should be made with regard to the agenda until we get much closer to the summit date due to the fact that there are ongoing negotiations, ongoing discussions
at this time, which might change the situation before we meet in December.
All right.
I would love for you to keep this memorandum for your own guidance only, and not be attributed in chance to
Because of the frankness of some of the views I have expressed in this memorandum, I would like you to keep it in your own possession and not distribute it to others in the department.
It is for
your guidance on that.
Period.
I am giving Henry a copy so that in any talks he may have with, in any discussion he may, he might have with a friend, he will follow the same guidelines.
Very good.
Hands in the air.

NARA Description

On February 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:33 am and 11:53 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 665-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 665-5

Date: February 3, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:33 am and 11:53 am
Location: Oval Office

The President dictated a memorandum to William P. Rogers.
     Rogers’s memorandum, February 1, 1972

     Rogers’s forthcoming conversation with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
         -President’s forthcoming trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
                -Leonid I. Brezhnev, Aleksei N. Kosygin
                -Agenda
                     -Timing of discussions
                     -Middle East
                     -Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]
                     -Vietnam

     European Security Conference
          -Andrei A. Gromyko
          -President’s conversations
                -Joseph M. Luns, Edward R.G. Heath, Willy Brandt, Georges J.R. Pompidou
          -Timing
          -Substance
                -Evaluation with allies and USSR

     SALT
         -Verification panel

     US trade with USSR
          -US negotiating position
          -Linkage
          -Credits
          -Views of Maurice H. Stans and Peter G. Peterson
          -Negotiations

     Middle East
         -Israel
         -Negotiations
               -USSR
                   -Upcoming summit
                        -Timing

     Distribution of President’s memorandum
           -Henry A. Kissinger
           -Dobrynin

Also recorded on February 3, 1972

  • 020-043 9:52 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 9:52 am to 9:55 am.
  • 020-044 9:55 AM · 12 sec — the White House operator and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:55 am and 12:49 pm.
  • 665-002 10:53 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:53 am.
  • 665-003 10:53 AM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ellsworth F. Bunker, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:53 am to 11:33 am.
  • 665-004 11:33 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:33 am and 11:53 am.
  • 665-006 11:53 AM · 1 hr 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:53 am to 1:30 pm.
  • 020-045 12:49 PM · 3 min — Julie Nixon Eisenhower and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 12:49 pm to 12:51 pm.
  • 665-007 1:30 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:30 pm and 2:25 pm.

All 21 conversations from February 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 665-005, February 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/665-005 (accessed September 30, 2026).