Henry Kissinger
February 14, 1972 -- 10:32PM
020-092
White House Telephone

President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger discuss a dinner that they had attended that night with French writer André Malraux, a China expert whom Nixon admired. Malraux told Nixon: "Your trip [his upcoming historic trip to China] can change the whole future of the world." Nixon and Kissinger speculate as to why Mao and the Chinese wanted to open relations with the Americans. The president closes by telling Kissinger, "Get a good sleep, you deserve it."

(It is difficult to hear Kissinger on this recording.)

(Photo: President Richard Nixon meeting Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung in China, 1972.)