Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 708 › Conversation 708-011

Nixon alone in the Oval Office on Canada and Speechwriting

Thursday, April 13, 1972 · 4:47 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation708-011 on Tape 708 (tape position 00:41:11–00:41:16)StartThursday, April 13, 1972 at 4:47 PMEndThursday, April 13, 1972 at 4:47 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 708-011 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon utilized this session to rehearse French-language segments for his upcoming address before the Canadian Parliament. The discussion involved a review of his intended remarks and a brief assessment of his oratorical performance in previous international engagements. No major policy decisions were made, as the primary focus remained on refining the linguistic delivery of his speech.

Audio

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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 00:41:11 into the tape and ends around 00:41:16.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

40:50And I said, well, congratulations, you have proved what I've said on that.
40:54I ought to say, I probably was the most Canadian parliament speaker.
41:00I still live in France, yeah.
41:02And I didn't have to be very good, but I came out of it well.
41:07I don't know if this is incorrect.

NARA Description

On April 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:47 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 708-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 708-11

Date: April 13, 1972
Time: 4:47 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

       Speech
            -Rehearsal in French

Also recorded on April 13, 1972

  • 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.
  • 708-007 4:34 PM · 1 min — 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.
  • 708-008 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.
  • 708-010 4:46 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:46 pm and 4:47 pm.
  • 708-012 4:47 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vernon A. Walters, Rose Mary Woods, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:47 pm to 4:59 pm.

All 22 conversations from April 13, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 708-011, 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/708-011 (accessed October 12, 2026).