On November 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:11 pm to 1:19 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 817-017 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Is there any tone that I should strengthen the meeting to?
No, same as yesterday.
Same as yesterday?
Yeah.
Which is a?
Yeah.
Not a?
Sorry.
Okay, fine.
Yeah, yeah.
So I'll just add, I was thinking that.
You mentioned the State Department.
Yes, sir.
All right, good.
What did you get in those things that I cut across?
Words and flavors.
Yes, sir.
Not in the course of the briefing, but I've been to UPI.
I've been shown the star.
Then I'll be asking on it tomorrow.
But I'm just very sure he used the words that I used.
I didn't.
I used everything that I used.
I used the stenographer to add a part of it.
He used a tall man on top of the job, top of the ground, trying to make a reflection on the scene.
He used the light to help him shake up in the morning service.
He flies to the embassies across the land and gets to the country.
He's the one who ends up being the spokesman for the country.
He's a useful person.
That's a good story.
I made a point that this would be carried out by the .
Okay.
We'll go now.
All right, sir.
What's that?
You already got the sign.
I got the sign.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
President, I think you've done anything that human language can do.
I think you've shaped them.
Well, you know, shaped them in my view.
Because they don't have the qualities I do.
I'd like to say that as an institutionalist, I would say.
Yes, Kelly.
Sorry, five minutes.
I've got to five minutes more.
All right, Scott.
Five minutes.
When you're ready to say it, I'll say it.
Yes, Lord.
4 o'clock.
We've been talking about it all night.
I had a different experience than that guy yesterday.
I think he did a very good job.
He had a whole list of that.
He was able to offer churches to be more supportive.
I'm going to break this alliance.
That's that.
No, but I think they're going to do it to each other over the next week.
The funny thing is, I don't know what the hell you can do.
You can't go and do your goddamn thing with an R-15 so they don't go along and make sense.
Stop the line.
Stop the bombing.
Get our prisoners right.
There's a wrong decision.
Number seven, they'll demand military aid.
Oh, for that?
They demand that we stop military aid.
Oh, you don't need to worry about it.
I got you the advice, and that's going to be cut again.
We'll say yes, fine.
It's exactly what we need to do.
And they'll do it, and then we can be quick.
Of course it is.
I understand that.
That's what these guys and some of the other guys are doing.
Yes, we'll take it from there.
I mean, we're not finished.
The Congress isn't facing this deal.
If you strike at this point, it doesn't change anything.
If the Congress sees that, it'll be 98 votes to 2 in the Senate, or 98 votes to 3.
This is not a deal.
They've got themselves into a position that's insane.
That's what they've achieved with this.
Now, Mr. President, if I compare what you asked us to threaten this summer with what you achieved, you are a hell of a lot better off than what you chose to threaten.
You won.
We achieved more than we ever have than you wanted.
Together.
When you talked to the President, you didn't say you wanted to withdraw the proceeds from the project.
At that time, we were willing to throw in an election as a recognition of truth.
Do you think that you think the message from the NARC is going to knock off the meeting?
I think the message from the NARC, I had noticed that I didn't want to meet in their place anymore, but that I wanted to also actually be one of ours and one of theirs.
Or meet in a different place, like after we split bands.
I think it would work that way.
If they want to knock off the meeting, just to figure it out, knock off the meeting then.
It's made a big decision to keep going.
I don't think they do though.
I do know about it.
They knock off the meeting.
They say they blow the debriefing.
They back off the debriefing.
They won't do it.
They need to have the brief.
They have to prepare.
They need to have the brief.
So this is what they do.
They back off.
The tragedy is, Mr. President, we could agree to this agreement.
It's a tremendous history.
It doesn't do it inside out.
I don't know if they come along.
I think it's a good idea.
I think it's a good idea.
I agree.
Something that happens.
I'm sure.
Also, it gives you a chance to make a commitment to the