Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 17 › Conversation 017-094

Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Busing and John B. Connally

Saturday, December 25, 1971 · 11:51 AM–11:55 AM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation017-094 on Tape 17 (tape position 03:21:33–03:24:44)StartSaturday, December 25, 1971 at 11:51 AMEndSaturday, December 25, 1971 at 11:55 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 017-094 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman discussed the strategic political utilization of a pending Texas busing case to catalyze national legislative action. The President instructed Ehrlichman to coordinate with John Connally to initiate this effort while also addressing various administrative matters, including upcoming meetings with George Romney and diplomatic preparations for Eisaku Sato. The conversation concluded with personal exchanges regarding the successful reception of Julie Nixon Eisenhower's television special and Nixon's efforts to place holiday calls to cabinet members and constituents.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Mr. Ehrlichman on the line?
Yes sir.
It occurred to me that that Texas case maybe could be the thing that would accelerate our
You noticed the paper this morning.
Didn't you think that was very significant?
Yes, and it's very logical for Connolly to be speaking out now.
Yeah, I think in the light of that, you could talk to him.
But I think he is the one.
If he'll take the first bite, then we can get it moving.
Because with that case and the California case, it's just inevitable now that we have a hell of a crisis.
Somebody else is going to bite it if we don't.
You see, the court gave him two years.
yeah to try and solve it well they'll crash around in the legislature for a whole year right right john fine okay all right merry christmas julie's show last night was just special you liked it good i didn't see it but i is but uh well it was the i think the best piece of family television that has ever been done really yeah you're a pretty good critic well you came across beautifully well i i think uh
pat was saying afterwards that she wished there'd been sort of less of me and the others you know they always see me and more of julie and i i'm fine think she's right but of course we can't control those no and it was a good balance i thought everybody got a little bit in david was awfully good yeah he's got uh all of all in all we we came away just feeling that it was the best thing we'd ever seen any of you do well that's nice this is first rate well
fine.
I hope it gets people in the Christmas spirit.
Oh, I think it will.
I've been making, I've made a lot of Christmas, I've been making, I've made about, I've been up since about 8 o'clock and I've made 40 calls already.
I've covered all the cabinet.
I've covered all, well, one call was Wisconsin.
An 18-year-old had written me a very moving letter.
So I called him and he put his
mother, two sisters out in Molloy.
That was worthwhile.
And then, of course, you find out things, too.
I called Albert and found that George Andrews of Alabama died this morning.
I'm calling his wife now.
But otherwise, it's going fine.
Well, Merry Christmas to you.
Incidentally, on the calls, actually, I got my usual request for appointments.
One, Romney.
And I said, well, just as soon as
I'm traveling back and forth.
You get a hold of John.
John, come in.
Well, I've been holding him off because he's got three very half-baked ideas.
But if you'll bake him a little bit, you can point out that we have to get through Sato before I can do it, though.
Well, I've told him that.
But I set it up for him.
I said, you know, George, I'm on these trips, and you grab him.
So I'm going to get through Sato around the 10th of the month is the time.
But he should get in front.
He didn't press it.
He was very nice about it.
He said he'd like to see me sometime.
Yeah, I know.
We've had two letters from him, and I've been meeting with him.
But I hope he didn't ask for anything, so that was good.
It was a good day.
Yeah, I got off fast.
Okay.
Bye.
Merry Christmas.

NARA Description

On December 25, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 11:51 am to 11:55 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 017-094 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 17-94

Date: December 25, 1971

Time: 11:51 am - 11:55 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.

     Busing
          -Texas case
                -John B. Connally
                      -Ehrlichman’s forthcoming talk with Connally
          -California
          -Texas
          -Legislative matters

     Julie Nixon Eisenhower's television show
           “Christmas at the White House”
                -Praise from Ehrlichman
           -Thelma C. (“Pat’) Nixon
           -Balance
           -[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II

     The President's calls
          -Number
          -Michael Lauer letter

**************************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under deed of gift 12/22/2017. Segment cleared for
release.]
[Privacy]
[017-094-w001]
[Duration: 3s]

     The President’s call with Michael Lauer
          -Suicide
               -LSD

**************************************************************************

                -Mother

                -Family

     George W. Andrews death
          -Carl B. Albert
          -Call to Elizabeth Andrews

     The President's calls
          -George W. Romney
               -Ehrlichman meeting
               -Ideas
               -Eisaku Sato meeting
               -Letters
          -John A. Volpe

Also recorded on December 25, 1971

  • 017-088 11:34 AM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield talked on the telephone from 11:34 am to 11:36 am.
  • 017-089 11:38 AM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 11:38 am.
  • 017-090 11:38 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:38 am and 11:45 am.
  • 017-091 11:45 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Melvin R. Laird talked on the telephone from 11:45 am to 11:46 am.
  • 017-092 11:47 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Edward R. G. Heath talked on the telephone from 11:47 am to 11:48 am.
  • 017-093 11:49 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and James D. Hodgson talked on the telephone from 11:49 am to 11:51 am.
  • 017-095 11:55 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:55 am and 12:44 pm.
  • 017-096 11:55 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:55 am and 12:44 pm.

All 57 conversations from December 25, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 017-094, December 25, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-094 (accessed October 10, 2026).