DCI Richard M. Helms and President Richard Nixon

First Collection of Audio Recordings between President and DCI Assembled

The collection below marks the first time that recordings of private meetings between a director of the CIA and any president have ever been made public. In this case, the Nixon tape recording system captured 11 meetings between DCI Richard Helms and President Nixon between February 27, 1971 and January 25, 1973. The meetings ranged from one-on-one telephone conversations to larger national security briefings to the swearing in ceremony of Vernon Walters as Deputy DCI.

While a portion of the conversations remain excised for national security reasons, the quality of the majority of the audio that is available below ranges from good to poor. In general, conversations with fewer participants, such as telephone conversations, tends to be the best quality, while meetings that included a greater number of individuals tend to be more difficult to decipher. 

The conversations were often lengthy and far ranging in content. The topics discussed include the Vietnam War, the India-Pakistan War of 1971, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Mexican President Luis Echeverria, Deputy DCI Walters, Iran, the Bay of Pigs, and many other subjects. Besides the audio files below, you will also find National Archives-prepared summaries, copies of the presidential daily diary (PDD) for the respective dates, as well as basic information about each conversation.

The participants are as follows:

P = President Richard Nixon

APB = Assistant to the President Alexander P. Butterfield

AMH = Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Alexander M. Haig

DP = Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard

GCS = Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Gerard C. Smith

GHWB = U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations George H.W. Bush

HAK = Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Henry A. Kissinger

HRH = Chief of Staff H.R. "Bob" Haldeman

JBC = Secretary of the Treasury John B. Connally

JDE = Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs John D. Ehrlichman

JHH = National Security Council, Senior Staff Member, Far East, John H. Holdridge

JJS = Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Joseph J. Sisco

JNI = Deputy Secretary of State John N. Irwin

MS = Valet to the President Manolo Sanchez

MRL = Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird

PGP = Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs Peter G. Peterson

RLZ = Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler

RMH = Director for Central Intelligence Richard M. Helms

RTK = National Security Council, Director for Staff Planning, Richard T. Kennedy 

SBB = Assistant to the President Stephen B. Bull

STA = Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

THM = Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Thomas H. Moorer

UAJ = Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs U. Alexis Johnson

VAW = Deputy Director for Central Intellgence Vernon A. Walters

WPR = Secretary of State William P. Rogers

WHO = White House Operator

WHP = White House Photographer

Unk = Unknown participant

 

For a key to other participants' names, click here (136k).