President Nixon and Henry Kissinger met to coordinate strategy for the President's upcoming public address and evaluate the status of the Vietnam settlement, including the release of prisoners of war (POWs) and ongoing military enforcement. The discussion emphasized the necessity of a strong, firm posture to deter further North Vietnamese aggression and maintain the credibility of U.S. foreign policy. Additionally, they reviewed plans for future diplomatic outreach, including potential summits with European and Latin American leaders, and discussed the political landscape surrounding the Watergate investigation.
On March 27, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:54 am to 9:44 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 888-002 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 888-2
Date: March 27, 1973
Time: 8:54 am - 9:44 am
Location: Oval Office
Henry A. Kissinger met with an unknown person.
Agreement
[Pause]
Refreshment
-Breakfast
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
[Pause]
The President entered at an unknown time after 8:54 am.
Kissinger's schedule
-Acapulco, Mexico
-Meetings
-Miguel Aleman
-Admiration for President
-Characterization of President
-[First name unknown] Diaz [?]
-Wife
-President’s previous visit to Mexico
-Arrangements
-Foreign ministers
-Aristotle and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
-Kissinger at dinner
-Loel Guinness
-Praise for President
-Aristotle Onassis
-Jacqueline Onassis's characterization of the
President's accomplishments
-John F. Kennedy's accomplishments
-Death
-Demeanor
-Jacqueline Onassis's reaction
-Jacqueline Onassis
-Support for President's accomplishments
-Aristotle Onassis
-Future of West
US
-Future of West
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Problems
Vietnam
-Prisoners of war [POWs]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Press statement
-Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
-Vindication for President
-Release
-Delays
-Kissinger's meeting with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-President’s warning
-USSR equipment to North Vietnam
-Impact on relations with US
-Message from Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Halt of shipments
-People's Republic of China [PRC] route
-President's March 2, 1973 press conference
-Cease-fire
-Deescalation of incidents
-Infiltration
-Reasons
-Weather
-Impact of warning
-Time of year
-1972 spring events
-Easter weekend
-Camp David
-South Vietnam
President's press conference
-Freeze on food prices
-Format
Vietnam
-President's announcement
-POW release
-Troop withdrawal
-President's speech
-Future action
-Perception of involvement
-Domestic issues
-Food prices
-Inflation
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Overspending
-Support for Congress members
-Military budget
-Resistance to cuts
President's forthcoming speech
-Budget ceiling
-Explanation to public
-Military budget
-Progress toward peace
-PRC
-USSR
-Vietnam settlement
-Resistance to cuts
-Cuts
-Impact on arms agreements, reduction of troops, peace
-Controversy
-Kissinger's talking points
-Length of speech
-Veterans
-Respect
-POWs
-Support of American people
-Dissent
-Protest marchers
-Cambodia
-Haiphong
-December 1972 bombings
-Firmness of American people
-Vietnam
-Level of dissension
-Support from people
-Liberal attacks
-Appeal for support
-Inflation
-Strength of America
-Peace
Watergate
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Civil libertarians
-John J. Sirica's sentencing of G. Gordon Liddy
-Harshness
-First offenders
-Senate counsel
-Changes in public
-Comparison with Joseph McCarthy period
-Alger Hiss case
-Attacks on President
-New York Times, Washington Post
-Court case
-Media
-Double standard
Vietnam settlement
-Accomplishments
-Peace in world
-Cold War in East-West relations, Middle East, Uganda
-Credit in history
Foreign policy
-Opening to [PRC]
-Credit in history
-Motives
-Private and public
-Politics
-PRC
-Ambassadorial appointment
-Timing
-Ronald L. Ziegler's briefing
-Vietnam
-Offensive in 1972
-Press reports
-POW, troop withdrawal
-Nguyen Van Thieu
-Settlement
-Achievements
-POW release
-South Vietnam
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Survival chances
-PRC, USSR
-Negotiations
-Delays
-Timing
-POW release
-Cambodia
-Air strikes
-US legal rights
-Comment for Ziegler
-Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
-Vietnam settlement
-Southeast Asia Treaty Organization [SEATO]
-Congressional strictures
-Laos
-Air strikes
-US legal rights
-Cease-fire violations
-Liberal reaction
-Congressional actions
-Vietnam settlement
-Enforcement
-Ferocity
-Possibility of further military action
-Durability
-Undermining by war opponents
-North Vietnam
-Complaint
-Credibility of President
-Treaty for the Prevention of Nuclear War
-USSR’s acceptance
-Counter-draft
-POW release
-Operation Homecoming
-Letters to State and Defense Departments
-Congratulations
-Frank A. Sieverts [?]
-Scowcroft
-Rogers
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Letter to Melvin R. Laird
-Praise for Vietnamization
-Vietnam
-Vietnamization
-Success
-Letter to Laird
-Medal
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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Laird
-Political activities
-Wisconsin
-Vacation in Mexico
-Political activities
-Insurance executives’ convention
-Financing
-Candidate for vice president
-Qualities
-Compared to Spiro T. Agnew
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
Vietnam
-Letters of congratulations
-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] chairman
-Defense Secretary
-Operation Homecoming
-Former ambassadors to South Vietnam
-Loss of Vietnam
-November 3, 1969 speech
-Cambodia
-Laos
-Margin for North Vietnam’s victory
-1971 offensive
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Impact on North Vietnam
-Press criticism
-Divisiveness
-Thieu
-Peace settlement
-Clark M. Clifford
-Criticism
-Coalition government
-Posterity's judgment
-Negotiations
-North Vietnam’s proposals
-US withdrawal
-Criticism
-May 8, 1972 decision
-Impact on US-USSR summit
PRC
-Relations with USSR
US foreign policy
-President's successors
-Ability to carry on President's foreign policy
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-John B. Connally
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Connally
-Subtlety
-Latin America
-Kissinger's meeting with Luis Echevarria Alvarez
-Echeverria's plans
-Kissinger's response
-Anti-American comments
-President's meeting with Organization of American States [OAS] Head,
Carlos de Santamaria
-Nixon Doctrine
-William J. Jordan
-Work with Santamaria
-Kissinger's meeting with Mexico’s foreign minister
-Meeting with Rogers
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Value
-Latin American charter
-Preparation
-Announcement
-Mexicans, Brazilians
-Cubans
-Chileans
-Cuban fisherman
-State Department action
-Return to Cuba
-President’s orders
-Liberal editorial writers’ reaction
-Cuba
-President's future policy
-Rogers
-US relations with Fidel Castro
-Mexico’s relations with Cuba
-Cuban foreign minister
-Panama meeting [?]
-Santamaria
-Need for new charter
-Economic development
-Military development
-Political development
-Comments on OAS
-Latin American ambassadorships
-Numbers
-OAS
-US
-United Nations [UN]
-Future US strategy
-European relations
-France, Great Britain
-Willy Brandt
-European summit
-Atlantic Charter
-Latin American summit
-USSR summit
-Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Chou En-lai’s visit
-Japan
-Visit by [Emperor of Japan] Hirohito
-President's visit in 1974
-PRC and USSR
-Africa
-President's trip
-Problems
-Priority
-Guilio Andreotti visit
-President's visits
-Edward R. G. Heath
-Brandt
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Africa
-Value
-Statesmanship
-Domestic issues
-Pompidou
-Meeting place
-Martinique
-Arrangements
-Prior to US-USSR summit
-Brandt
-Pompidou
-Mohammed Reza Pahlavi [Shah of Iran]
-Visit to US
-Foreign visitors
-Kakuei Tanaka
-Public relations [PR]
-Brezhnev
-President’s visit
-Europe
-Latin America
-Brazil
-Mexico
-Venezuela
-Mexico
-Meeting of Latin American presidents
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Location
-Mexico City
-Cozumel
-Yucatan peninsula
-Guadalajara
-Mexico City
-Control
-Lyndon B. Johnson’s visit
-Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia
-Venezuela
-Caracas
-Security
-Nixon Charter
-Meeting of Latin American presidents
-Cozumel
-New OAS
-Atlantic Charter
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Africa
-Election year
-Japan, USSR, PRC
-Timing of events
-Time of year
-PRC
-Chou
-Reception in US
PRC
-Ambassador to US
-Qualities
-Announcement
-Meeting with President
US foreign policy
-President's visits
-Atlantic Charter
-Latin America
-Japan
-Second-rate defense
-President's achievements
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Toughness
-Respect
-Kissinger's Mexico trip
-OAS focus
-Latin America
-Economic development
-Actions
-Expropriations
-Peru
-Chile
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
-Senate investigation
-Salvador Allende Gossens
-Meeting with Kissinger
-Offer of money
-US corporations
-Support for free enterprise candidates
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[National security]
[Duration: 15s]
CHILE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
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-1970 election
-Allende's margin
-Opponents
-Impeachment possibility
-New York Times editorial
-Japan, Europe, PRC, USSR and focus of US foreign relations
-President's record
-Compared with Kennedy, Johnson
-Consultations
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)
-Europe
-Meeting with communist leaders
-Motives
-Contrarianism
-Administration dealings with New York Times
-Compared with Washington Post
-Desire for attention from administration
POWs
-Laos
-Administration's position
-Press criticism
-Support from POW families
-National League of American Families
-Wives
-Press criticism
US foreign policy
-Mexico
-Credit for President
-Aleman
-Mexican foreign minister
-President, Rogers
-Depth of reaction
-Vietnam War settlement
-Operation Homecoming
-Letters of thanks
-Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, Elliot L. Richardson
-Roger E. Shields [?]
-Major General Gilbert H. [?] Woodward
-Saigon
-Letter of thanks
Kissinger left at 9:44 am.
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Conversation No. 888-2 (cont’d)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.