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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).

Conversation

Date

Time Participants Presidential Daily Diary Audio

Summary

OVAL 459-002a 2/27/1971 9:35 - 11:57 am P, APB, HRH, HAK, Unk, SBB, MRL, RMH, JJS, WPR, AMH, THM, WBR pdf (151k) mp3 (92.4m) pdf (26k)
OVAL 459-002b         mp3 (35.8m)  
CAB 048-004a 2/28/1971 Unk after 10:00 am until 12:35 pm P, STA, WPR, MRL, RMH, THM, JNI, HAK, GHWB, UAJ, FJS, JJS, ALA, AMH, JHH, HHS, RTK, SBB pdf (169k) mp3 (46.8m) pdf (17k)
CAB 048-004b         mp3 (63.5m)  
OVAL 462-005a 3/5/1971 8:30 - 10:15 am P, HAK, Unk, WHO, APB, AMH, RLZ, WPR, MRL, THM, RMH pdf (238k) mp3 (60.2m) pdf (38k)
OVAL 462-005b         mp3 (57.0m)  
OVAL 462-005c         mp3 (16.8m)  
OVAL 587-007a 10/8/1971 10:58 am - 12:12 pm P, JDE, RMH, SBB, DMK, HAK, PGP, Press, RLZ, Unk, MS pdf (527k) mp3 (48.6m) pdf (21k)
OVAL 587-007b         mp3 (15.5m)  
CAB 086-001 12/9/1971 4:41 pm to Unk before 4:56 pm P, JNI, DP, RMH, THM, HAK pdf (196k) mp3 (14.1m) pdf (11k)
OVAL 689-006 3/20/1972 4:48 - 5:14 pm P. RMH, JBC pdf (444k) mp3 (20.5m) pdf (14k)
WHT 022-109 4/11/1972 2:06 - 2:08 pm P, RMH pdf (178k) mp3 (1.3m) pdf (9k)
CAB 099-010 5/01/1972 3:07 pm - Unk before 11:59 pm P, GCS, WPR, MRL, THM, RMH, RBA, HAK, RLZ pdf (343k) mp3 (57.3m) pdf (16k)
OVAL 717-012 5/02/1972 11:42 - 11:50 am P, SBB, VAW, ETamm, LJones, FJW, JWalters, VCW*, RWalters, PAdams, RMH, RMW, WRT, AMH, MHartley, NOvellette, WHP pdf (299k) mp3 (7.7m) pdf (11k)
WHT 025-071 6/16/1972 12:20 - 12:33 pm P, RMH pdf (295k) mp3 (1.6m) pdf (10k)
WHT 036-113 1/25/1973 6:18 - 6:22 pm P, RMH pdf (139k) mp3 (2.7m) pdf (14k)
 

 

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