Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 708 › Conversation 708-007

Nixon alone in the Oval Office on Canada and Speech preparation

Thursday, April 13, 1972 · 4:34 PM–4:37 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation708-007 on Tape 708 (tape position 00:28:33–00:29:48)StartThursday, April 13, 1972 at 4:34 PMEndThursday, April 13, 1972 at 4:37 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 708-007 ↗

President Nixon utilized this session to rehearse portions of an upcoming speech in French ahead of his diplomatic visit to Canada. The brief meeting focused exclusively on linguistic preparation for the international trip. No substantive policy matters or broader political strategies were addressed during this practice session.

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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 00:28:33 into the tape and ends around 00:29:48.

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

On April 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:37 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 708-007 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 708-7

Date: April 13, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:34 pm and 4:37 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President rehearsed French portions of a speech for his Canadian trip.

       Speech
            -Rehearsal in French
  • 708-003 4:28 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen Hess, Elena (Shayne) Hess, Charles P. Hess, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Stephen B. Bull, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:28 pm to 4:31 pm.
  • 708-004 4:31 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:31 pm.
  • 708-005 4:31 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:31 pm.
  • 708-006 4:31 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Frank DeMarco, Jr., and John W. Dean, III met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:31 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 708-008 4:34 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:37 pm.
  • 708-009 4:37 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Henry A. Kissinger, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:37 pm to 4:46 pm.
  • 022-123 4:38 PM · 9 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:38 pm and 4:46 pm.
  • 022-124 4:38 PM · 11 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:38 pm and 4:46 pm.

Conversation 708-007, April 13, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/708-007 (accessed October 1, 2026).