Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-029

Nixon phone call with Stein on Health and Dean Acheson

Thursday, November 18, 1971 · 10:56 AM–10:58 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Stein, HerbertConversation015-029 on Tape 15 (tape position 00:33:43–00:35:37)StartThursday, November 18, 1971 at 10:56 AMEndThursday, November 18, 1971 at 10:58 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 015-029 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls Herbert Stein to check on his recovery following eye surgery and to express the administration's need for his return. During the informal exchange, Stein shares a humorous anecdote about Dean Acheson and a Harvard reunion. The conversation concludes with Nixon advising Stein not to rush his return to work and lightheartedly joking about maintaining a political bias to the right.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Mr. Herb Stein.
There you are.
Hello.
Good morning.
I think probably the best crack of the week is that you said, well, you read too much anyway, so... Well, what I said was that half of what I read wasn't worth reading.
That's right.
That's probably an exaggeration.
Well, I think there's a great story that Acheson told about going back to his reunion, you know, at Harvard, and he went back and he went back...
one year and one old fellow around there was uh he uh it's uh uh had just looked sour he'd been a real gay blade and all that sort of thing looks sour and uh mean and all that sort of thing and uh actually what's the matter with this well he'd uh he had be he had to uh give up drinking because it affected his uh hearing so uh he went back there as
five years later and the same fellow was there and he was just as drunk as he could be and deaf as a post.
And he said, what made you change your mind?
He said, I found that
liked what I was drinking a hell of a lot better than what I was hearing.
So anyway, you take care.
We need you.
And when will you be back?
Well, I think I'll probably stop in sometime tomorrow.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
I can see perfectly well out of my right eye, and they say there's no implication that this thing that just coincidentally happened in the left eye is going to happen in the right eye.
Just keep on the right.
Okay.
Yeah, I guess maybe I saw everything too much from the right anyway.
That's right.
Well, let's bias it a little more.
I'll be back soon.
Sure.
Well, take care.
Bye.

NARA Description

On November 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Herbert Stein talked on the telephone from 10:56 am to 10:58 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-029 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 15-29

Date: November 18, 1971
Time: 10:56 am - 10:58 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Herbert Stein

The President talked with Stein..

[See also Conversation No. 294-11A]

     Stein quotation
           -Dean G. Acheson anecdote
                -Harvard reunion

     Stein’s health
           -Surgery

Also recorded on November 18, 1971

  • 015-026 10:54 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 10:54 am to 10:55 am.
  • 294-008 10:54 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:54 am to 10:55 am.
  • 015-027 10:55 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:55 am.
  • 015-028 10:55 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:55 am.
  • 294-009 10:55 AM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 10:55 am.
  • 294-010 10:55 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 10:55 am.
  • 294-011 10:55 AM · 1 hr 45 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:55 am to 12:42 pm.
  • 015-030 10:59 AM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan talked on the telephone from 10:59 am to 11:00 am.

All 77 conversations from November 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 015-029, November 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-029 (accessed September 28, 2026).