Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 256 › Conversation 256-018

Nixon & Haldeman on gun control and press conference preparation

Tuesday, June 1, 1971 · 11:30 AM–12:06 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation256-018 on Tape 256 (tape position 00:27:13–00:28:15)StartTuesday, June 1, 1971 at 11:30 AMEndTuesday, June 1, 1971 at 12:06 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 256-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discussed strategy for an upcoming press conference, specifically regarding gun control legislation. Nixon instructed Haldeman to ensure that Republican committee members hold firm to their position against proposed gun control measures, emphasizing that they should not "cave" on the issue. The immediate action item was for Haldeman to return a call with this guidance.

gun control
press conference preparation
Republican strategy
legislative position
Nixon administration

Audio

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

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Position in tape: 00:27:13 – 00:28:15

25:59

256a.mp3

NARA Description

On June 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:30 am and 12:06 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 256-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 256-18

Date: June 1, 1971
Time: Unknown between 11:30 am and 12:06 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

     Press conference preparation
           -Return call with response

     Gun control

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

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).

NixonOh, say Bob, would you return call to [unintelligible] just give him this guidance that he'll hold to his position. He's called saying the Republicans on the Committee are gonna go down, and of course maybe, maybe, they won't, but let's, we can't cave before the, gun control, okay?

HaldemanYeah.

NixonHold to the, hold to the position.

HaldemanOkay.

Also recorded on June 1, 1971

004-001 11:25 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 11:25 am to 11:30 am.
256-016 11:25 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:25 am to 11:30 am.
256-017 11:30 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:30 am and 12:06 pm.
256-019 11:30 AM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:30 am and 12:06 pm.
256-020 11:30 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:30 am and 12:06 pm.
509-001 12:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Mary Kay Leavitt, Harley O. Staggers, John E. Nidecker, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:07 pm to 12:09 pm.
509-002 12:10 PM · 35 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:10 pm to 12:50 pm.
256-021 1:20 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 7:35 pm.

All 49 conversations from June 1, 1971 →

Haldeman & Timmons on Fred Thompson and Howard H. Baker Jr. February 22, 1973 · 2 min
Nixon, Byrnes & Ehrlichman on Japanese textile negotiations March 11, 1971 · 34 min
Nixon phone call with Rogers on Middle East diplomacy May 31, 1971 · 7 min
Nixon phone call with Colson on George Wallace assassination attempt May 15, 1972 · 29 min
Nixon phone call with Colson on John C. Stennis and FBI January 30, 1973 · 6 min
Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Vietnam settlement March 1, 1973 · 2 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 256-018, June 1, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/256-018 (accessed November 3, 2026).