Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 16 › Conversation 016-132

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Telecommunications

Tuesday, December 21, 1971 · 10:35 PM–11:59 PM ET · White House Telephone · 9 min

Participants[Unknown person(s)]; White House operatorConversation016-132 on Tape 16 (tape position 05:07:24–05:08:10)StartTuesday, December 21, 1971 at 10:35 PMEndTuesday, December 21, 1971 at 11:59 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 016-132 ↗

AI Summary

An unknown individual attempted to reach the White House via the operator, but the call remained incomplete. No substantive information was exchanged as the connection failed before any discussion could take place. Consequently, no policy decisions or developments occurred during this brief interaction.

Audio

Download MP3 · 11.9 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

NARA Description

On December 21, 1971, unknown person(s) and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:35 pm and 11:59 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 016-132 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 16-132

Date: December 21, 1971
Time:
Location: White House Telephone

An unknown person signaled the White House operator.

     Call was not completed

Also recorded on December 22, 1971

  • 016-131 10:11 PM · 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 10:11 pm to 10:35 pm.
  • 640-001 9:46 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:46 am and 9:48 am.
  • 640-002 9:46 AM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:46 am and 9:48 am.
  • 640-003 9:48 AM · 1 hr 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, George P. Shultz, and Arthur F. Burns met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:48 am to 11:02 am.
  • 640-004 11:02 AM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:02 am to 11:03 am.
  • 640-005 11:03 AM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Richard S. Smith, Christopher Sumner, Lewis F. Powell, III, William H. Rehnquist, James Rehnquist, James Rehnquist, John N. Mitchell, Wallace H. Johnson, John D. Ehrlichman, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., Richard A. Moore, Charles W. Colson, Herbert G. Klein, Geoffrey C. Shepard, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:03 am to 11:33 am.
  • 086-005 11:33 AM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon and members of the President's Commission on Financial Structure and Regulation, including Reed O. Hunt, Atherton Bean, Morris D. Crawford, Jr., Morgan C. Earnest, James H. Edgerton, Richard G. Gilbert, William D. Grant, Alan Greenspan, Walter S. Holmes, Jr., [Joseph] Lane Kirkland, Donald S. MacNaughton, Edward H. Malone, Rex J. Morthland, William H. Morton, Ellmore C. Patterson, K. A. Randall, Ralph S. Regula, Dr. Raymond J. Saulnier, Ezra Solomon, Robert H. Stewart, III, Dr. Donald Jacobs, Dr. Almarin Phillips, Allen R. Rule, Henry Shine, Jr., Clarence Scruggs, James Lynch, Edward J. Gannon, Charls E. Walker, Paul A. Volcker, Peter M. Flanigan, George P. Shultz, the White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 11:33 am to 12:11 pm.
  • 640-006 12:11 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Peter M. Flanigan, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:11 pm and 12:31 pm.

All 15 conversations from December 22, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 016-132, December 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/016-132 (accessed October 10, 2026).