Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 311 › Conversation 311-002

Nixon & Bobst on New Year's Eve and Mike Wallace

Friday, December 31, 1971 · 9:08 PM–9:11 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bobst, Elmer H.Conversation311-002 on Tape 311 (tape position 00:01:22–00:03:13)StartFriday, December 31, 1971 at 9:08 PMEndFriday, December 31, 1971 at 9:11 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 311-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief, informal New Year's Eve telephone exchange with Elmer H. and Dodo Bobst. Nixon explained that he was working late in his office to prepare for an upcoming interview. The conversation concluded with casual well-wishes and a brief exchange regarding contact information for CBS journalist Mike Wallace.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 61.7 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 00:01:22 into the tape and ends around 00:03:13.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
1:27Hello.
1:30Alright, thank you.
1:33I want to wish you a good and happy new year.
1:39Are you going out to a big party up there?
1:50Yeah.
1:50Sure, sure.
1:51I see, I see.
1:53No, I understand.
1:54You can still go with the best of them.
1:58No, I'm just here, I'm working in the office tonight, as a matter of fact.
2:02Yeah, I'm here in Washington, and just doing a little work on a year interview.
2:08Yeah, a little, so we'll just do the work that we can.
2:18Right.
2:19Right.
2:20Yeah.
2:21Right.
2:28Fine.
2:28I love it now.
2:34Well, brother, now you be sure that Tommer doesn't drive all night.
2:39Yeah.
2:39Yeah, and, uh, I'm proud to thank you, but he's doing great, and, uh, we just know he just could.
2:48So we enjoyed our Christmas and everything, and we just hope that you wish you the very best.
2:54Are you at the beach club?
2:56All right, that's a real one.
2:57That place is dark chocolate.
2:59Probably a lot of our old friends there.
3:02Well, if you see him, give him our best, will you?
3:07Yeah.
3:07Yes, sir.
3:08Okay.
3:08Bye.
3:08Mike Wallace.
3:09He is with CBS.
3:12You can call CBS and ask for his number, please.

NARA Description

On December 31, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Elmer H. Bobst met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:08 pm to 9:11 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 311-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 311-2

Date: December 31, 1971
Time: 9:08 pm - 9:11 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Elmer H. and Momdouha (As-Sayyid) “Dodo” Bobst.

[See Conversation No. 17-116]

Also recorded on January 1, 1972

  • 311-001 9:05 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:05 pm and 9:08 pm.
  • 017-116 9:08 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Elmer H. Bobst talked on the telephone from 9:08 pm to 9:11 pm.
  • 017-117 9:11 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:11 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 017-118 9:11 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:11 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 311-003 9:11 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:11 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 311-004 9:11 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:11 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 017-119 9:13 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 9:13 pm to 9:14 pm.
  • 311-005 9:13 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:13 pm to 9:14 pm.

All 58 conversations from January 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 311-002, January 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/311-002 (accessed September 18, 2026).