Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-064

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Milton Friedman

Wednesday, December 13, 1972 · 4:15 PM–4:47 PM ET · White House Telephone · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation034-064 on Tape 34StartWednesday, December 13, 1972 at 4:15 PMEndWednesday, December 13, 1972 at 4:47 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 034-064 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 647841732 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with the White House operator to clarify the identity and location of economist Milton Friedman, whom Treasury Secretary George Shultz had recommended for contact. The President initially expressed confusion due to conflicting information suggesting the contact might be a physician requiring heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic. After verifying that the individual was indeed the prominent academic professor rather than an ear, nose, and throat doctor, the President confirmed the correct contact information.

Audio

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NARA Description

On December 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:15 pm and 4:47 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-064 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 34-64

Date: December 13, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:15 pm and 4:47 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 822-11A]

       Milton Friedman
            -Identification
                  -Dr. Friedman
                         -Location
                               -Mayo Clinic
                               -Heyward, California
                                     -Harvey Milton
                  -George P. Shultz
                  -Health
                         -Heart surgery
                  -Location
                         -Telephone number

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Hello.
Mr. President, may I ask you something?
Yeah.
This Dr. Friedman has left...
The Mayo Clinic?
...as of July 1972, and they say he's now in Hayward, California.
And this one that we have is... Oh, what did they give the first name?
Harvey Milton Friedman, and he's ears, nose, and throat.
Would that be the one and the same?
Well, actually, who this is, is the... You might ask...
Let me see.
Maybe I've got a card on it that may tell us more about it.
But George Shultz gave me that information.
Maybe he had it wrong.
This is Milton Friedman.
He has to have early heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic.
He can be reached late afternoon Thursday at 507-282-2581.
Well, maybe it's not the doctor then.
Maybe it's that professor.
Oh, it is a professor.
Okay.
We had that number.
Yeah.
It's a professor I'm trying to talk to, but he's called a doctor.
I see.
That's what the whole.
Okay.
He's not a doctor.
He's a professor.
Right.
Right.
Okay.
Great.
And you can get him in.
Okay.

Also recorded on December 13, 1972

  • 822-007 3:47 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:47 pm and 3:48 pm.
  • 822-008 3:48 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, Edwin S. Cohen, and Lewis A. Engman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:48 pm to 4:13 pm.
  • 034-063 4:13 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:13 pm and 4:15 pm.
  • 822-009 4:13 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:13 pm and 4:15 pm.
  • 822-010 4:13 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:13 pm and 4:15 pm.
  • 822-011 4:15 PM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry M. ("Scoop") Jackson, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, and Milton Friedman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:15 pm to 4:55 pm.
  • 034-065 4:47 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Milton Friedman talked on the telephone from 4:47 pm to 4:48 pm.
  • 034-066 4:48 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:48 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 45 conversations from December 13, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 034-064, December 13, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 647841732). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/034-064 (accessed November 1, 2026).