Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 945 › Conversation 945-011

Nixon, Kissinger & Haig on Leonid Brezhnev and SALT

Tuesday, June 19, 1973 · 4:40 PM–4:42 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation945-011 on Tape 945StartTuesday, June 19, 1973 at 4:40 PMEndTuesday, June 19, 1973 at 4:42 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 945-011 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Alexander Haig met briefly to coordinate the logistics and diplomatic agenda for Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev's upcoming visit. They discussed scheduling meetings with Senators and planning specific talks regarding SALT and Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR). Additionally, the group briefly addressed emerging press reports concerning John Dean’s handling of campaign funds, with Nixon emphasizing the need to manage the fallout from the Watergate-related allegations.

Audio

Download MP3 · 6.7 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Well, I had about 15 minutes left to go to that meeting with the Senators, but that still won't do it.

Well, we've got to have the Senators taking that much time off.

Now, isn't that something?

Yeah.

Start at one o'clock, and do that in two or three.

If you're in time for it, half are open.

So, I think it's okay, much less putting in less.

Try to come to your meeting.

You still didn't leave.

It's late at six.

I have to leave the meeting about 5.30 for 10 minutes to talk to Ransfeld about his briefing.

But I'll come back and I'll see to it that it gets ended.

Yes, Russell, the briefing, they don't need me.

Yes.

I don't know what the weather forecast now is, whether we can go all the way or whether you have time to talk.

If there's one thing you might get done now, it's to get the self-agreement commitment to 74.

We can do it.

What we could do, what we should do tomorrow morning, Mr. President.

Yeah.

When we're alone, Mr. President.

Is that why you want to meet him?

To bring him.

And to bring him to you?

And you might just take an occasion to say out to the group that we're pissing out tomorrow morning.

And probably we're going to deny it now.

But we could just elect those four.

That's up to us.

Use it.

You can invite whomever you want.

Oh, thank you.

And you could then get the agreement you said before.

Secondly, uh, if we can get the Europea, the MB of our date mailed out.

Yeah.

For October 30th.

Yeah.

You said it would be a good piece of news to come out on Monday.

Bizarre, but I think she's got being finished for this massive procreation of funds.

Oh.

Well, I see now.

I just don't know whether the press will go after all of this.

Or should they?

It's on the front page of the Times today.

That's Hershey's, his exclusive.

Well, I will say, I think people will, I will say that he's got a crazy firm, you know.

He said, well, he gave, he took $14,000 from the kids, and he took $4,800 and used it on his honeymoon, and the rest, and put an IOU in the safe.

And then, he did not return the $14,000 until after he'd been sold to a lawyer in April.

Ah, what the heck?

That lady's got the top of the seat on top of a man who's got lids that make it out of the cupboard up there.

I wonder what the situation is.

I don't know.

Just... No.

Yes, uh, I've learned about that, sir.

What we plan to do is, sir, we've got to find some work.

We've got to find some work.

You know what it is?

Hang it up.

Is there a possible issue when we get it up there?

No.

No, it's still something.

Alright, make sure this is out.

There's nothing about that that's out.

NARA Description

On June 19, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:40 pm to 4:42 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 945-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 945-11

Date: June 19, 1973
Time: 4:40 pm - 4:42 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry A. Kissinger.

     Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
          -Meeting with Senators
                 -Delay
          -Departure time
                 Sequoia
          -Economic meeting
                 -Kissinger’s schedule
                       -Donald H. Rumsfeld’s forthcoming briefing
                             -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
          -Camp David
                 -Weather
          -President’s meeting with Brezhnev
                 -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
                       -1974
                 -Forthcoming meeting
                       -President, Brezhnev, Kissinger, Antoliy F. Dobrynin
                       -William P. Rogers, Andrei A. Gromyko
                       -Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions [MFBR]

     Watergate
          -John W. Dean, III
                -Handling of funds
                     -J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.’s view
                     -Seymour M. Hersh
                            -New York Times
                     -$14,000
                     -$4,800
                     -Lawyer
                                             -40-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                             Conversation No. 945-11 (cont’d)

Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and an unknown man entered at 4:41 pm.

     Brezhnev’s schedule
          -Weather at Camp David
                -Hagerstown
                     -Travel time to Camp David

The President, Kissinger, Haig, and the unknown man left at 4:42 pm.

Also recorded on June 19, 1973

041-020 3:07 PM · 16 sec — White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:07 pm to 3:08 pm.
945-006 3:07 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:07 pm to 3:08 pm.
945-007 3:09 PM · 1 hr 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., Melvin R. Laird, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 4:30 pm.
945-008 4:30 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:40 pm.
945-009 4:30 PM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:40 pm.
945-010 4:30 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:40 pm.
945-012 4:42 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:42 pm and 11:59 pm.
126-003 4:45 PM · 1 hr 42 min — President Richard M. Nixon and members of diplomatic delegations from the United States and the Soviet Union, including William P. Rogers, Henry A. Kissinger, George P. Shultz, John B. Connally, Peter M. Flanigan, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, Leonid I. Brezhnev, Andrei A. Gromyko, Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, Nikolai S. Patolichev, Andrei M. Aleksandrov, Viktor M. Sukhodrev, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 4:45 pm to 6:26 pm.

All 41 conversations from June 19, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 945-011, June 19, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/945-011 (accessed October 10, 2026).