Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 12 › Conversation 012-019

Nixon phone call with Moore on Supreme Court and American Bar Association

Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 6:05 PM–6:07 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Moore, Richard A.Conversation012-019 on Tape 12 (tape position 00:36:36–00:38:33)StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 6:05 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 6:07 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 012-019 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417191553 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Richard A. Moore discuss the political fallout from the American Bar Association (ABA) rating Mildred L. Lillie as unqualified for the Supreme Court, with plans to leak the ABA's contradictory acknowledgment that she was nonetheless the best-qualified woman available. The President also seeks confirmation of John Ehrlichman’s support for William H. Rehnquist as a potential fallback candidate should Howard H. Baker, Jr. decline the nomination. Nixon expresses a clear intention to bypass the ABA's approval process for the Rehnquist appointment.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore talked on the telephone from 6:05 pm to 6:07 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 012-019

Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 6:05 pm- 6:07 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Richard A. Moore.

[See Conversation No. 282-35]

     Supreme Court appointments
          -American Bar Association [ABA] Committee
                -Mildred L. Lillie
                      -Vote
                      -Compared with other women
                      -John N. Mitchell
          -William H. Rehnquist
                -Howard H. Baker, Jr.
                -John D. Ehrlichman’s view
                -ABA involvement
          -William French Smith
                -Harvard Law Review
                -University of Southern California

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Richard Moore, Mr. President.
Yeah.
Yes, Mr. President.
Dick, we still don't know what's going to happen on the bars.
Incidentally, that's all worked out.
That played right into our hands.
Oh, good.
You know, it's an interesting thing.
For your very private information, we're going to get this leaked.
They voted against her 11 to 1.
Uh-huh.
But...
But they said that of all the women in the country, she was probably the best qualified that they could think of, but she was not qualified to be in the court.
How do you like that?
That is, of course, what could be more important or better than that?
Mitchell has got to, of course, you've got that information now, and that's, you can, but that he says, I says, for Christ's sakes, let's get it out, so that'll.
We're going to really, really ream them on that.
Oh, that's superb.
Now, incidentally, the one thing I want to know, because we're going to have to move fast and I can't consult anybody on it, is on the Rehnquist one, in case I don't get the Baker.
Baker is the first choice, and we'll know on him within an hour or two.
But in case we don't get that.
On Rehnquist, you checked as far as Ehrlichman now.
Did you say he is for it or not?
Very enthusiastic before it, I think I could say.
He says he'd just throw him right up there and understand we're not going to clear these with the bars.
I understand.
It was my impression, Mr. President, that it was Ehrlichman's number one recommendation.
Okay, good.
Well, that's good.
Between you and him, that's and don't go any further.
Because it's going to be damn hard for those people to turn him down.
I checked Bill Smith, who was not on the Harvard Law Review, but he was summa cum laude in Phi Beta Kappa at USC.
I see.
So he might have been just below it.
All right, fine.
All right, sir.
Right.

Also recorded on October 20, 1971

  • 282-035 6:05 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:05 pm to 6:07 pm.
  • 012-020 6:08 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:08 pm.
  • 012-021 6:08 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 6:08 pm to 6:09 pm.
  • 282-036 6:08 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:08 pm to 6:09 pm.
  • 012-022 6:09 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:09 pm and 6:10 pm.
  • 282-037 6:09 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:09 pm to 6:10 pm.
  • 012-023 6:10 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 6:10 pm to 6:11 pm.
  • 282-038 6:10 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:10 pm.

All 81 conversations from October 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 012-019, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417191553). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-019 (accessed November 4, 2026).