Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 698 › Conversation 698-007

Nixon & Kissinger on Soviet Union and Vietnam

Thursday, March 30, 1972 · 5:07 PM–5:11 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation698-007 on Tape 698 (tape position 01:58:05–02:01:37)StartThursday, March 30, 1972 at 5:07 PMEndThursday, March 30, 1972 at 5:11 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 698-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to discuss diplomatic leverage regarding the Soviet Union, specifically weighing how ongoing conflicts in Vietnam and economic incentives influence Soviet cooperation. Kissinger reported progress in Middle East negotiations, noting a rare departure from the Soviets' previous blanket support for Egypt, while Nixon emphasized the need for a cautious and controlled approach to these engagements. The President also confirmed his strategic decision to signal disengagement to the Israelis to maintain his negotiating position and gain greater clarity on current developments.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 73.4 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 01:58:05 into the tape and ends around 02:01:37.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
1:58:30I was thinking more about your conversation with Mr. B.
1:58:42Trying to look at it pragmatically, Henry, what in the hell is in it for them to pull an insult to a computer now?
1:58:54Well, I'm not sure they're going to do it.
1:58:56That's what I mean.
1:58:57That's why we don't know whether it's worth exploring.
1:59:00But what's in it for them is, as long as Vietnam goes on, we have an additional incentive to fly with the Chinese.
1:59:08Secondly, we are setting up a lot of things now in the economic field.
1:59:16We're really moving massively with them.
1:59:19And I have every intention of letting, well, at any rate, it's so set up that we can control the delivery.
1:59:28And I don't think we should deliver unless they do something.
1:59:32Then they're really panting after the Middle East now.
1:59:36I haven't bothered you with all the details, but I've made some propositions to them of the Middle East, which they won't accept.
1:59:43But they have promised me a reaction, which is the first time that they have moved off the position of just blanket endorsement of the Egyptian position in turn.
1:59:58What I have to do with the Israelis, it's got to be very tricky.
2:00:01I told them there were such shovel crosses that I was disengaging from the negotiation.
2:00:05That's better.
2:00:06I did.
2:00:08I told Robbie.
2:00:11And I told the Israelis this only in order to be able to stay in the negotiations, because if they think we're talking, we've got to be a little, I want to be a little bit more of what's going on.

NARA Description

On March 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:07 pm to 5:11 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 698-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 698-7

Date: March 30, 1972
Time: 5:07 pm - 5:11 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Middle East

     Soviet Union
          -Kissinger's meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
          -Vietnam
               -The People's Republic of China [PRC]
               -Most Favored Nation [MFN] status
               -Negotiations
          -Middle East
               -Soviet interests
               -Egypt
               -Israel
                     -Negotiations
                           -Yitzhak Rabin

     Schedule
          -Weather

The President and Kissinger left at 5:11 pm.

Also recorded on March 30, 1972

  • 698-003 4:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:40 pm to 4:41 pm.
  • 698-004 4:42 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Phillip V. Sanchez, George P. Shultz, Alexander P. Butterfield, White House photographer, Rose Mary Woods, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:42 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 698-005 5:03 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm.
  • 698-006 5:03 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm.
  • 698-008 5:18 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:18 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 698-009 5:32 PM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Stephen B. Bull, Charles W. Colson, Rose Mary Woods, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:32 pm to 6:11 pm.
  • 698-010 6:11 PM · 1 min — Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:11 pm and 6:13 pm.
  • 022-054 6:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:13 pm and 7:16 pm.

All 48 conversations from March 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 698-007, March 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/698-007 (accessed October 12, 2026).