Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 16 › Conversation 016-122

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Time magazine and Press relations

Sunday, December 19, 1971 · 6:49 PM–6:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation016-122 on Tape 16 (tape position 04:25:20–04:28:01)StartSunday, December 19, 1971 at 6:49 PMEndSunday, December 19, 1971 at 6:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 016-122 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss the positive reception of a recent hour-and-a-half-long interview conducted with Time magazine representatives Jerrold Schecter, Hedley Donovan, and Henry Grunwald. The conversation highlights the magazine staff’s favorable impression of the President’s thoughtful and confident demeanor, particularly regarding his comments on maintaining a non-candidacy stance and his overview of the South Asia situation. Ziegler reports that the interviewers found the session productive, anticipating that the President's remarks will generate significant news coverage.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Hi, Ron.
Well, they said it went an hour and a half.
Oh, it did?
That long?
Yeah.
They were very pleased.
They were also pleased with the money clip you gave them for the new dollar.
Yeah, yeah.
But, of course, Runewald and Donovan, as you can suspect, were less restrained than, excuse me, more restrained than the sighting at Checker.
But they were very pleased with it.
uh, even Grunwald, uh, felt it was very strong and, uh, very thoughtful and, uh, very productive session.
And I think there's going to be some news out of it, too.
Yeah.
The part, uh... About not campaigning?
Well, that whole thing, yes, sir.
Yeah, I know that.
Well, the, uh, part during the, uh, you know, not campaigning indeed part, uh, to maintain the non-candidacy as president, too.
That's right.
I thought this was a pretty good place to put that in.
Yes, sir.
And that will carry big.
They were also pleased on the section of South Asia.
Your impressions of the President Schechter and the statics on that.
The general overview of the office of the President.
So,
And then I talked to Schechter by phone later.
He called me back after he got out of the presence of the ball, and he talked more freely to me.
He told me what they said, you know, amongst themselves.
And Donovan was particularly positive about how strong and thoughtful and...
relaxed you were, and confident, and apparently...
The mood is more important than what we say, anyway.
Well, the mood apparently was just that, because they did refer to that, as I say, in terms of thoughtful, reflective, and confident.
They've got all this stuff.
So, an hour and a half is far more than that.
Right, that's enough.
But I told them, I told the sector, I said...
Right, good.
That's good.
That leads us up to that spot.
Okay, fine.

NARA Description

On December 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 6:49 pm to 6:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 016-122 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 16-122

Date: December 19, 1971
Time: 6:49 pm - 6:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     Press
             -Time interview
                  -Success of interview
                  -Jerrold L. Schecter
                  -Hedley W. Donovan
                  -Henry A. Grunwald
                  -Interview
                         -Impressions
                  -Newsletters
                         -Campaign
                         -South Asia
                               -Overview
             -Ziegler’s talk with Schecter
                  -Donovan impression
                         -Interview
                               -Mood

Also recorded on December 19, 1971

  • 016-119 2:26 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:26 pm and 3:10 pm.
  • 016-120 3:10 PM · 30 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone from 3:10 pm to 3:36 pm.
  • 016-121 3:36 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:36 pm and 6:49 pm.
  • 016-123 6:50 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 7:44 pm.

Cite this conversation

Conversation 016-122, December 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/016-122 (accessed October 5, 2026).