Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 188 › Conversation 188-014

McLenden & Camp David Operator on Camp David and Telecommunications

Thursday, May 18, 1972 · 5:56 PM–11:59 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 20 min

Participants[Unknown person(s)]; Camp David Operator; McLenden, Kenneth T.Conversation188-014 on Tape 188 (tape position 00:46:05–01:09:34)StartThursday, May 18, 1972 at 5:56 PMEndFriday, May 19, 1972 at 11:59 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 188-014 ↗

AI Summary

Technical staff, including Kenneth T. McLenden, conducted maintenance and operational testing of communication equipment at the Aspen Lodge at Camp David. The participants coordinated the relocation of specific hardware and performed telephone connectivity checks to ensure system reliability. The session concluded with routine audio testing and internal scheduling discussions regarding staff leave.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 3% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Good question.

I'm sorry.

We took the ones that I talked with, didn't we?

That's already been removed, and Doug is getting the one out of Birch right now and checking it.

Okay.

Now let's go check it.

I just checked to find out.

But if he doesn't use the basket regular, I'm going to relocate it.

I don't know how reliable it is.

Frontier is no problem.

Can you pick a phone up in the kitchen, sir?

And I'll buzz you and let you know when I'm buzzing.

This is Harry.

I made you pick up a phone in the kitchen tonight.

Could you connect me to it?

In the kitchen.

There is a gallon there.

Okay, here we go.

Okay.

Okay, let me try it here.

I noticed a couple of seconds hold down, but that's about normal.

Yeah, okay.

You can be reliable now.

There's just one out there.

Okay, well I just wanted to make sure that was okay before I let him use it.

Okay, thank you.

I ain't forgotten no ventilator yet.

No, I keep buying that phone.

Then I leave your company off.

Yeah, I ain't trying to do it all.

Thank you.

Test, test, test, test.

This is an audio test.

I've got 271.

3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Take another couple.

3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

I don't know, yeah.

I think maybe he used his head to take a bath in it, but did you see the rug in that head?

Yeah.

Step on it.

I wanted to see if I had a bath in that head.

I had it, but I wanted to see if I had a bath in that head.

I don't know.

I don't know why he's back.

Could have just huddled the other side.

Couldn't figure it out that way.

I think I might take the weekend off if you would feel that was a good time to do it.

Because I don't get home very often.

Yeah.

So if you don't mind, we'll go ahead and do that.

Okay.

Very good.

I'd like to tell... What was the question?

I know you had a question there.

Yeah.

All right.

NARA Description

Unknown person(s), Camp David operator, and Kenneth T. McLenden met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 188-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 188-014

Date: Unknown between May 18 and 19, 1972
Time: Unknown between 5:56 pm, May 18 and 11:59 pm, May 19
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

Unknown persons met.

     The President's location

     [Unintelligible]

     Unknown objects
         -Removal
              -Locations

     Installation of equipment

     Telephone check

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

            -Kitchen

Harry [Surname unknown] talked with the Camp David operator at an unknown time.

[Conversation No. 188-14a]

[See Conversation No. 130-7]

Harry talked with an unknown person at an unknown time.

[End of telephone conversation]

     Telephone check
          -Testing

     Repairs and cleaning

An unknown person talked with the Camp David operator at an unknown time.

[Conversation No. 188-14B]

[See Conversation No. 130-8]

Bill talked with Kenneth T.[?] McLenden at an unknown time.

Bill talked with Nancy [Surname unknown] at an unknown time.

[End of telephone conversation]

The unknown persons left at an unknown time before 11:59 pm, May 19, 1972.

Also recorded on May 18, 1972

130-006 5:55 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 5:55 pm to 5:56 pm.
130-007 5:56 PM · 2 min — Unknown person(s) and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.
130-008 5:56 PM · 1 min — Unknown person(s), Camp David operator, Kenneth T. McLenden, and Robert Mahaffey talked on the telephone at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.
188-009 5:56 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
188-010 5:56 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
188-011 5:56 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
188-012 5:56 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
188-013 5:56 PM · 40 sec — Unknown person(s) met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.

All 90 conversations from May 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 188-014, May 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/188-014 (accessed October 12, 2026).