Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-034

Nixon, Granfil & Sonnenfeldt on Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 12:54 PM–1:01 PM ET · Oval Office · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Granfil, Toma; Sonnenfeldt, Helmut ("Hal"); White House photographerConversation725-034 on Tape 725 (tape position 04:01:57–04:11:20)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 12:54 PMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 1:01 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-034 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Yugoslavian representative Toma Granfil and advisor Helmut Sonnenfeldt to discuss diplomatic relations and upcoming geopolitical objectives. The discussion centered on fostering strong bilateral ties with Yugoslavia, including the exchange of birthday greetings for President Josip Broz Tito, and clarifying the objectives of Nixon’s impending trip to Moscow. Nixon emphasized his commitment to maintaining independent state sovereignty and pledged to provide Tito with a personal, frank report on the outcomes of his Soviet negotiations.

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Position in tape: 04:01:57 – 04:11:20

part C, 2:23

725a.mp3
725b.mp3
725c.mp3

NARA Description

On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Toma Granfil, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:54 pm to 1:01 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-034 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 725-34

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: 12:54 pm - 1:01 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Toma Granfil and Helmut Sonnenfeldt; the White
House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

     Greetings

      [Photograph session]
          -Josip Broz Tito

      Gift to President
          -Film
                -President and Mrs. Tito
     Greetings
          -The President and Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon

Tito
       -President's trip to Belgrade
       -Tito's visit to US
       -Continued relationship
       -Age
             -President's age
       -The President’s view
       -Message from President for birthday
             -Instructions for Sonnenfeldt
             -Timing

President's trip to Moscow
    -Effect on Yugoslovia
    -Tito's wishes
          -People’s Republic of China [PRC] visit
    -Purposes
          -Improved understanding of other countries
          -Improved relations with Soviet Union
          -Improved relations with Yugoslavia
    -Bilateral agreements
          -Assurances for Tito
    -Report to Tito
    -Report to President of Mexico [Luis Echeverria Alvarez]
    -Report to Europeans
Show the rest of the log (30 more lines)
Tito
       -Report to President
       -Appreciation of President's previous visit[?]
       -The President’s view
       -Concerns
            -Vietnam
                  -Efforts of non-aligned countries in Paris peace talks
                        -Time to intervene
                        -Nature of talks
                  -Settlement
                        -Possibility
            -Relations with Soviet Union
                  -Compared with relations with US
            -Relations with US
                  -The President’s view
                  -Granfil’s view
            -Smallpox
                  -Luncheon for doctors

           -Gift to President
                 -Thank-you letter from President
                 -US ties with film's production
                       -US Information Agency [USIA]
                            -White House, Washington DC

      Best wishes
          -For President
          -For all countries

The President, Granfil, and Sonnenfeldt left at 1:01 pm.

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.

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I don't think I've met Mr. Mujica.
I don't think on any of my trips.
But I hope to meet him sometime.
But he has our good wishes.
I don't know if you can work with our State Department people.
Our White House people.
We will be as helpful as we can.
Right.
All right.
That's right, you used the name of the Prime Minister.
You have a residence here, yeah?
Yeah.
Residence.
It's that way, mister.
Please, the other way.
So we can send it back to President Tito of Delacrosse.
I don't think I've met Mr. Mugine, and I don't think on any of my trips, but I hope to meet him sometime.
But he has our good wishes, not on me.
You can work with our city, our people, our most people in the world.
We will be as helpful as we can, and there's a fair chance of it.
That's right.
You'll, uh, you'll have a residence here, yeah?
Well, we'll be, uh, we'll be having a little meeting.
You've been here already, so you know the town well.
I hope you find a comfortable residence.
I must say, you said a country girl would have a seat with you, couldn't you?
Bye.
Bye.
It's that way.
It leads to the other way.
Thank you.
So we can send it back to President Tito.
It's a film about his last visit to KFR.
And at the same time, I'm thankful for my best wishes to God.
So this is for all of us.
Our President, Mr. Nixon.
Well, I don't remember what
I want you to convey to them that we have some fondest recollections of our own visit to your country.
And also recollections of his visit to our country.
And we feel we have a very close personal tie down and we want to continue it.
It's hard to realize he's going to be in his 80th birthday on the 25th.
But he will tell me tonight that I hope that I'll be 60 on my next birthday, and I hope I'm as much bigger at 60 as he gets at 80.
Amazing.
Thank you.
It's not about 80.
It's about the whole country celebrating it.
All right.
So let's be sure.
I just want to go over to Joe.
You know, I prepared a message on that.
Would you work it out to send it through the ambassador?
I will.
So that's, you know, a personal letter that you can send by policy or by any way you can do that.
Yeah, perfect.
I'm sure that's the 25th of May, right?
Yes.
And that's fixed, right?
We've got to get it off before we leave for Moscow.
Right.
So the president sent me a message.
He is hoping that it will be a successful like that.
Making visit was successful and very important for our people to have a better understanding and stability in the world and about peace.
And this time, especially in Europe, it will make the world safer, make it safer for independence.
Yes, part of our visit to Beijing is held that way.
We hope to visit Moscow.
By independent countries, I mean their Soviet system is their own business.
They have a Soviet system.
This country has a right to its own existence, its own existence.
It's been the example of that for many years.
We believe in that principle.
We want good relations, so we want good relations with the U.S. government.
And we will make some agreements with the Soviet Union that are probably not our own.
They will not be deriving against anybody else.
And I think, too, you know, President, that we will have a write-in afterwards to get some of that information.
And so it's just, you know, we've got him on that list for quite a week.
Don't tell any of your colleagues, because I just write some old friends.
I mean, I write Ian, and, you know, the president of Mexico, and actually the Europeanist guy I met recently.
But I'll write him a note so that I can give him my personal observations for his own information, because he talked to me very frankly about his visits and his observations, and I don't ever have the same observations from me.
We'll have a good exchange of views.
So President Tito, I very much appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
I mean, yeah, it's very fortunate.
I can see where he got where he did.
So he said that just after your last meeting, just at this house, that he was quite impressed that he was better informed about, you know, standpoints and positions and possibilities, especially in Vietnam and so on.
That's going to work out.
I mean, he will destroy it.
That's all.
We've got to get this war out of the way, and then we can go on to other things.
So in recent days, President Tito has a greater government to what is up to a small independent country to contribute also bringing together some efforts of non-aligned countries contributing to the solution, peaceful solution in Vietnam.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

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  • 725-032 12:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:46 pm to 12:49 pm.
  • 725-033 12:49 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Knayet Karim, Samuel Hoskinson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:49 pm to 12:53 pm.
  • 725-042 1:01 PM · 7 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:01 pm and 4:58 pm.
  • 340-001 1:12 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:12 pm to 1:13 pm.
  • 340-002 1:13 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Zosimo T. Monzon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:13 pm and 1:19 pm.
  • 340-003 1:19 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:19 pm to 1:20 pm.
  • 024-151 1:20 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:20 pm.

All 74 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 725-034, 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/725-034 (accessed November 2, 2026).