Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 2 › Conversation 002-074

Nixon phone call with Washington on D.C. Protests and Municipal Employees

Tuesday, May 4, 1971 · 4:20 PM–4:22 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Washington, Walter E.Conversation002-074 on Tape 2 (tape position 02:54:00–02:56:46)StartTuesday, May 4, 1971 at 4:20 PMEndTuesday, May 4, 1971 at 4:22 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 002-074 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417188109 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls D.C. Mayor Walter E. Washington to commend the city's leadership and the conduct of municipal employees during recent anti-war protests. The two discuss the economic impact of the unrest, specifically noting a significant decline in tourism during the cherry blossom season. Nixon expresses his gratitude for the employees' professionalism and instructs the Mayor to publicize the administration's appreciation for their commitment to keeping the city operational.

  • D.C. Protests
  • Municipal Employees
  • Tourism
  • Civil Unrest
  • Walter E. Washington

Audio

Download MP3 · 2.0 MB

NARA Description

On May 4, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Walter E. Washington talked on the telephone from 4:20 pm to 4:22 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 002-074 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 2-74

Date: May 4, 1971
Time: 4:20 pm - 4:22 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Walter E. Washington.

[See Conversation No. 490-24C]

[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from
December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v. James M.
Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration produced this
transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

yeah mayor washington mr president yeah hello hello mr mayor hello mr president yes i wanted you to know that uh all the reports we have of this uh the activities the last couple of days have been that you and your staff have just done a splendid job and i'm most grateful well and uh i'm particularly you know the it seems to me very very interesting to note too that it's
That is a very small participation.
You know, they were trying to get a lot of the black militants in.
But this is mainly a white operation, isn't it?
That is.
At this point, we've just had a few that we've been able to provide.
Well, I know, but it's just minimal, minimal.
And that's to their great credit that they didn't join with this rat pack.
I think it is.
And I think the citizens here have been exceedingly responsive and positive.
What has happened on tourism?
How bad has it hurt you?
Well, it's hurt us pretty bad.
It came at a wrong time, didn't it?
Yes, at the wrong time.
It was just building up to, I'd say, about 200,000 in the cherry blossom period over last year.
Sure.
And it just died.
It just dies, huh?
Yeah, it just took a dip that left us in...
in real bad shape.
Isn't that a shame?
Most of our facilities have had to be used in this to deal with this situation.
We have a lot of citizens.
Maybe this week if we can, I think this could, I hope we'll finish it and then you get back and make up for it in the next two weeks, huh?
Well, I hope.
May is a good month there.
Yes, it is.
And what we hope, Mr. President, is that
that it won't take a lot of time that people will realize this is over.
No, no, no.
We'll advertise that fact, too.
I hope so.
I think after tomorrow, which is their last day, presumably, we'll just say, now, look here, everything's fine.
We're going to go ahead with this big salute to agriculture here on Friday on the White House lawn, and that'll be well advertised.
that'll make people may i uh say to the civilian employees mr president yes you tell i want you to tell all the civilian employees that i'm most grateful to two things one for their conduct for the way they handle the situation and two for the fact that they came and and came on the job and we're not uh despite whatever whatever views they had on policies that they they they recognize that there's a wrong and a right way to
do it and that they they weren't intimidated and they went to work and did their jobs and that's to their great credit they kept the city running and indeed and that we appreciate it would you do that yes you put you put that out and put it out to the press too i'll put that out to the fine

Also recorded on May 4, 1971

  • 490-020 2:05 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at 2:05 pm.
  • 490-022 2:14 PM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:14 pm to 3:06 pm.
  • 490-023 3:06 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:06 pm.
  • 490-024 3:07 PM — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, unknown person(s), Ronald L. Ziegler, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, Walter E. Washington, Arthur F. Burns, Paul W. McCracken, Paul A. Volcker, Richard G. Kleindienst, and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:07 pm to 6:19 pm.
  • 002-073 4:10 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:20 pm.
  • 002-075 4:22 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:22 pm and 4:27 pm.
  • 002-076 4:29 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 4:29 pm to 4:31 pm.
  • 002-077 4:31 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:31 pm and 7:46 pm.

All 35 conversations from May 4, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 002-074, May 4, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417188109). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/002-074 (accessed October 30, 2026).