Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 666 › Conversation 666-002
Nixon, Sanchez & Haldeman on People's Republic of China and Argentina
Monday, February 7, 1972 · 9:32 AM–11:54 AM ET · Oval Office
AI Summary
President Nixon met with various staff members and advisors to manage his schedule and coordinate messaging regarding his upcoming trip to the People's Republic of China. The participants discussed handling press inquiries, the timing of the announcement of the press list, and how to address potential questions about administration policy. Additionally, Nixon held a telephone conversation with Argentine General Alejandro A. Lanusse to discuss bilateral economic cooperation and regional diplomatic relations.
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 15.2 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 00:15:27 into the tape and ends around 02:35:57.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
NARA Description
On February 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), John D. Ehrlichman, Rose Mary Woods, Ronald L. Ziegler, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, Donald F. Barnes, Henry A. Kissinger, and Gen. Alejandro A. Lanusse met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:32 am and 11:54 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 666-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 666-2
Date: February 7, 1972
Time: Unknown before 9:32 am and 11:54 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Manolo Sanchez.
[Unintelligible]
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 9:32 am.
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 9:32 am.
Instruction
Vietnam negotiations
-Xuan Thuy
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 9:32 am.
Executive Office Building [EOB]
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 10:35 am.
Vietnam negotiations
-Withdrawal
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
-Compared to October 1971
-Possible advantages
-Edmund S. Muskie’s plan
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 57m 32s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
******************************************************************************
[Haldeman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 9:32 am and 10:35 am.]
[Conversation No. 666-2A]
Request for John D. Ehrlichman to come to the Oval Office
[End of telephone conversation]
[No conversation]
Ehrlichman entered at 10:35 am.
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 29s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
******************************************************************************
The President’s schedule
-Peter M. Flanigan’s memorandum
-Compared to Peter G. Peterson’s
-Forthcoming telephone call to Alejandro A. Lanusse
-Suggested conversation
[No conversation]
-Memorandum
-Forthcoming meeting with US attorneys
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Flanigan
Economic matters
-International Monetary Fund [IMF]
-Export-Import [Ex-Im] Bank
-John B. Connally
-Flanigan’s role
-Kissinger
-Political
-Connally
-Diplomacy
-Internal politics
-Lanusse
-IMF
-Flanigan
-Memorandum
-Peterson
-Complexity of job
-Example
-Pantyhose
-State Department
-Treasury Department
-Panty hose industry
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 11m 29s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
******************************************************************************
Campaign finances
-Robert L. Vesco
-Donald A. Nixon
-Securities And Exchange Commission [SEC]
-F. Donald Nixon
-J. Willard Marriott, Jr.
**************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14
[Privacy]
[Duration: 11s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14
**************************************************************************
-Location
-John N. Mitchell
-William J. Casey
-F. Donald Nixon
-Marriott
-Finances
-Political contribution
**************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
[Privacy]
[Duration: 10s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 15
**************************************************************************
-Location
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 7m 4s ]
Rose Mary Woods entered at 10:59 am.
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
******************************************************************************
Personnel
-“Official Family”
-Kissinger
-William P. Rogers
-People’s Republic of China [PRC] trip
-Rogers
-State Department
-Foreign policy briefing
-Wives and State Department staff
-Kissinger
-Joseph J. Sisco
Cabinet and congressional leadership meeting
-Rogers
-Timing
-Press
-Kissinger
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 46s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
******************************************************************************
Roger Hull
-Death
-Presidential wreath
-Note to [Rosalie (Paschal) Hull]
-President’s instructions
Ehrlichman’s trip to California
-Leonard K. Firestone
-Foundation
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 21s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
******************************************************************************
Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 11:09 am.
The President’s schedule
PRC trip
-Press list
-Announcement
-Timing
-Hawaii
-Guam
-Departure time
-President’s instructions
-Press list
-Briefing
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Questions
-John A. Scali
-Subjects
Ziegler left at 11:12 am.
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 7m 53s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 9
******************************************************************************
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:12 am.
Schedule
-Rogers
-Call to Lanusse
-Donald F. Barnes
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:24 am.
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3m 30s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
******************************************************************************
[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 11:12 am and
11:24 am.]
[Conversation No. 666-2B]
[See Conversation No. 20-46]
Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Woods left at 11:24 am.
Kissinger and Barnes entered at 11:24 am.
The President on the line
[Barnes talked with an unknown colonel at an unknown time after 11:24 am; the President and
Kissinger can be heard in the background.]
[Conversation No. 666-2C]
Colonel on the line
Memorandum
-Connally
Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Letter to the President
-Economy
-Arthur F. Burns
[The President talked with Lanusse between 11:24 am and 11:41 am; Kissinger can be heard in
the background.]
[Conversation No. 666-2D]
[See Conversation No. 20-46]
[End of telephone conversation]
Ziegler
-Briefing
President’s appreciation
-Barnes’s translation
Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:41 am.
President’s schedule
-Ziegler
-Forthcoming meeting
-Film production
-Reception of diplomatic credentials
-Meeting with attorneys [drug prosecution program]
-Length
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Attorney General [John N. Mitchell]
-Meeting
-Attendance
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:43 am.
Mujibar Rahman
-Compared to Sukarno
-Aid to Pakistan
Ziegler entered at 11:43 am.
Haldeman’s interview on Today show, February 7, 1972
-Ziegler’s previous conversation with Haldeman
-Ziegler briefing
-Press
-Personal point of view
-Haldeman’s intent
-Critics of war
-Disunity
-Questions
-Ziegler’s talk with the President
-Possible agreement with Haldeman’s statement
-Handling
-President’s position
-Motives of critics
-Ziegler’s strategy
-Criticism
-Effect
-Peace proposal
-Possible administration response
-Muskie
Xuan Thuy
-Negotiations
-Acknowledgement
-Statements
-Agreement with administration
-Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu
-Election
-Military compared to political issues
-May 31, 1971 proposal
-Proposed details
-Thieu
-Election
-President’s instructions
-Rogers
-Political condition
-North Vietnamese
-Propaganda
-Negotiations
-Transcript
Ziegler left at an unknown time before 11:54 am.
Vietnam negotiations
-Military compared to political issues
-August 971
-May 31, 1971
Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:43 am.
Kleindienst
-Arrival
The President, Kissinger, and Bull left at 11:54 am.Also recorded on February 7, 1972
- 020-046 8:55 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, Henry A. Kissinger, Donald F. Barnes, unknown person(s), and Gen. Alejandro A. Lanusse talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:55 am and 11:41 am.
- 666-001 8:55 AM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:55 am and 9:32 am.
- 020-047 11:41 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:41 am and 3:41 pm.
- 090-001 11:54 AM — President Richard M. Nixon, United States Attorneys, Treasury Department officials, and Justice Department officials, including Whitney N. Seymour, Jr., William D. Keller, James R. Thompson, Jr., Harold H. Titus, Jr., Louis C. Bechtle, Ralph Guy, Jr., Joseph L. Tauro, James L. Browning, Jr., Richard L. Thornburgh, George Beall, Herbert J. Stein, Anthony J. P. Farris, Eldon B. Mahon, Stan Pitkin, John W. Stokes, Jr., Donald O'Connor, Harry D. Steward, Robert W. Rust, James L. Treece, Gerald J. Gallinghouse, Daniel Bartlett, Frederick Coleman, Sidney I. Lezak, William Smitherman, William W. Milligan, David J. Cannon, John L. Briggs, Wayman G. Sherrer, James M. Sullivan, Jr., F. L. Peter Stone, Richard G. Kleindeinst, Myles J. Ambrose, Henry E. Petersen, Jerris Leonard, John E. ("Jack") Ingersoll, Harlington Wood, Jr., Eugene T. Rossides, John F. Hanlon, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., Geoffrey C. Shepard, the White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 11:54 am to 12:18 pm.
- 666-003 11:54 AM · 2 min — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 12:23 pm.
- 666-004 11:54 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 12:23 pm.
- 666-005 11:54 AM · 1 min — Manolo Sanchez and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 12:23 pm.
- 090-004 12:18 PM — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 12:18 pm on February 7, 1972 and 11:22 am on February 9, 1972.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 666-002, February 7, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/666-002 (accessed September 18, 2026).