Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-004
Nixon & Haldeman on Soviet trade and Maurice Stans
Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 8:03 AM–8:11 AM ET · Oval Office
AI Summary
President Nixon dictated a memorandum to H.R. Haldeman expressing dissatisfaction regarding the lack of credit given to Maurice Stans for his pivotal role in Soviet trade negotiations. Nixon argued that Stans, a loyalist who handled the difficult management work, was being overlooked in favor of Peter Peterson and Peter Flanigan. Consequently, he instructed Haldeman to reprimand Peterson and Flanigan for this oversight and mandated that actions be taken to ensure Stans receives formal recognition for his contributions.
- Soviet trade
- Maurice Stans
- Peter G. Peterson
- Peter M. Flanigan
- Executive personnel management
- Diplomatic credit
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 100.2 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 00:11:03 into the tape and ends around 00:15:18.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
NARA Description
On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:11 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-004 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 725-4
Date: May 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 8:03 am and 8:11 am
Location: Oval Office
The President dictated a memorandum to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Memorandum concerning meeting with Donald McI. Kendall
-Soviet trade
-Peter G. Peterson
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Maurice H. Stans
-Knowledge of negotiations compared with Peterson
and Flanigan
-The President’s view
-Job
-Peterson
-White House staff
-Credit for negotiations
-Peterson
-Stans
-Flanigan
-Briefing on Soviet trip
-Peterson and Flanigan
-Stans
-Instructions for Haldeman
-Peterson
-Flanigan
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Memorandum copy
-Recognition of StansAlso recorded on May 16, 1972
- 725-002 7:57 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:57 am to 8:03 am.
- 024-137 8:03 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:11 am.
- 024-138 8:03 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:11 am.
- 725-003 8:03 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:11 am.
- 725-005 8:03 AM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:11 am.
- 725-006 8:03 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:11 am.
- 725-007 8:03 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:03 am and 8:12 am.
- 024-140 8:10 AM · 6 min — William M. Lukash, President Richard M. Nixon, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 8:10 am to 8:25 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 725-004, May 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/725-004 (accessed October 9, 2026).