Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 10 › Conversation 010-042

Nixon phone call with Mitchell on Supreme Court appointments

Tuesday, October 5, 1971 · 3:59 PM–4:02 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.Conversation010-042 on Tape 10 (tape position 01:25:01–01:28:25)StartTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 3:59 PMEndTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 4:02 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 010-042 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell discuss the ongoing search for Supreme Court nominees, specifically evaluating potential candidates such as David Dyer, Mildred L. Lillie, and Hershel H. Friday. They review the political viability of these candidates, including the necessity of securing support from key Senate figures like James O. Eastland and John L. McClellan. The conversation concludes with Nixon urging Mitchell to finalize the list of nominees, with Mitchell pledging to deliver a formal package of candidates before the end of the week.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello.
The Attorney General, sir.
There you are.
Yes, Mr. President.
Well, anything new on your search?
We're still on the same course that we talked yesterday morning and are doing the background.
One question that I had that I was going to try and catch you on the helicopter.
Would you feel it appropriate that we put your friend Dyer into this southern malaise?
Dave?
Isn't he too old?
Well, he's 61.
No, I think it would be appropriate.
It might be an attractive fallback position, you know, if that came to the top.
And I can't think it'd be other than complimentary.
Yeah, well, he's maybe not too old, I mean, really, and you come to think of it, he's the same age as Berger.
Berger, 62, as a matter of fact.
And we have the three others that will be in there that are all much younger, of course.
One other one, incidentally, a name came up before me by Dudley Swim, who is in here today, who is, as you know, to the right of...
whoever is right.
But anyway, he said there's a fellow that's going to be the next president of the EBA or the present president from Texas with some sort of a Polish name.
Leon Jaworski.
Jaworski.
Leon is the present president.
I know him very well.
He's a very close friend of Lyndon Johnson's.
Oh.
And Leon has to be 62 or 63.
That's enough.
That's right.
That's good.
Well, I hope you can sell Lily.
I believe that this can be done.
I don't believe that anybody's going to be able to stand the way of her.
I hope you can sell her to the C.J.
He understands the politics.
He's just got to it.
Well, and the other one on the man.
I just wouldn't...
I'd put the Mississippi guy in there, too, John.
I've talked to Jim Eastland, and he feels that...
that we can do this without too much difficulty, and we'll take a look and see what comes out.
What's Jim think of Friday?
Did you mention him to him?
Yes.
He didn't know him too well.
He knew who he was, of course.
But he liked the idea that you were still staying with this type of people.
And I told him that as far as I know, you weren't about to get off them.
And he said, well, I'm with you and I'll do anything you want me to.
I told him that.
Does McClellan know Friday?
Oh, yes.
Very, very, very, very close to him.
Very strong.
And strong for him.
Well, that helped.
No question about that.
Okay, well, Your Honor, just get it, incidentally, you'd have no idea as to when you can get any name we can submit.
I just think that it's, we don't want to appear to be just, I know we don't want to rush, but, so that we have the wrong fellow, but I just feel that
You see what I mean, that there's just sort of a feeling of what the hell with the court meeting and the rest, and what are we doing?
Well, I would hope that before the week is out, we can have the package up there.
Good.
All right.
Fine.
Whatever you recommend, I'll do.
Well, we're working on all of the angles to make sure that we cover the bases.
Right.
Hopefully we'll have these people back here and have our prayer sessions with them and get it going.
Good.
Okay.
Right, sir.
I'll see you later.

NARA Description

On October 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 3:59 pm to 4:02 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 010-042 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 10-42

Date: October 5, 1971
Time: 3:59 pm - 4:02 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked to John N. Mitchell.

[See Conversation No. 585-7A]

     Supreme Court appointments
          -Dave Dyer [sp?]
          -Warren E. Burger
          -Dudley Swim
               -Leon Jaworski
                      -Lyndon B. Johnson
          -Mildred L. Lillie
               -Burger
          -Charles Clark
               -James O. Eastland
                      -Hershel H. Friday
                           -John L. McClellan
          -Mitchell's schedule

Also recorded on October 5, 1971

  • 585-002 3:26 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 3:27 pm.
  • 585-004 3:27 PM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Joseph L. Vicites, Cooper T. Holt, Charles W. Colson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:27 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 585-005 3:49 PM · 4 min — Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:49 pm and 3:55 pm.
  • 585-006 3:55 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:55 pm and 3:59 pm.
  • 585-007 3:59 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John N. Mitchell, Charles W. Colson, Manolo Sanchez, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:59 pm to 4:02 pm.
  • 010-043 4:02 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:02 pm and 4:26 pm.
  • 010-044 4:26 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 4:26 pm to 4:30 pm.
  • 010-045 4:30 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 5:18 pm.

All 36 conversations from October 5, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 010-042, October 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/010-042 (accessed September 19, 2026).