Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 488 › Conversation 488-025

Nixon, Etherington & Donnell on National Voluntary Action and Volunteerism

Tuesday, April 27, 1971 · 5:54 PM–6:15 PM ET · Oval Office · 21 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Etherington, Edwin D.; Donnell, Thmas R., Jr.; Cole, Albert L.; Fisher, Max M.; Ford, Henry, II; Goldenson, Leonard H.; Levy, Gustave; Mulford, Raymon H.; Pace, Frank, Jr.; Sonnabend, Paul; Stone, W. Clement; Townsend, Lynn A.; Grassmuck, George L.Conversation488-025 on Tape 488 (tape position 04:07:30–04:28:58)StartTuesday, April 27, 1971 at 5:54 PMEndTuesday, April 27, 1971 at 6:15 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 488-025 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417176781 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Edwin D. Etherington and a group of prominent business and civic leaders to discuss the National Voluntary Action program. The President emphasized his full administrative support for the initiative and urged the leadership to develop a pragmatic, goal-oriented plan to ensure the success of volunteer action centers. The discussion focused on leveraging private sector resources, coordinating existing organizations, and using high-profile figures to generate public enthusiasm and demonstrate tangible results.

  • National Voluntary Action
  • Volunteerism
  • Public-Private Partnerships
  • Philanthropy
  • Community Development

Audio

Download MP3 · 48.3 MB

NARA Description

On April 27, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Edwin D. Etherington, Thomas R. Donnell, Jr., Albert L. Cole, Max M. Fisher, Henry Ford, II, Leonard H. Goldenson, Gustave Levy, Raymon H. Mulford, Frank Pace, Jr., Paul Sonnabend, W. Clement Stone, Lynn A. Townsend, and George L. Grassmuck met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:54 pm to 6:15 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 488-025 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 488-25

Date: April 27, 1971
Time: 5:54 pm - 6:15 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull at 5:54 pm.

     President's schedule
           -National Voluntary Action leadership meeting
                 -Length
                 -Scheduling

Edwin D. Etherington, Thomas R. Donnelly, Jr., Albert L. Cole, Max M. Fisher, Henry Ford II,
Leonard H. Goldenson, Gustave Levy, Raymon H. Mulford, Frank Pace, Jr., Paul Sonnabend,

W. Clement Stone, Lynn A. Townsend, and George L. Grassmuck entered.

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm.

Members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting.

     Greetings
          -Cole's schedule
               -Florida

      Photo session
          -Grouping

     [General Conversation]

           -Volunteer
           -Chrysler

     [Machine Noise]

     Voluntary action
          -President
                -Etherington
                      -Leadership
          -Administration support
                -The President
                -Cabinet officials
          -Celebrity value
          -Merits
Show the rest of the log (103 more lines)
          -Organizations
          -New activities
          -Impetus
                -Boys Clubs
          -President's travels
                -Peace Corps
          -Youth
          -Older people
                -Creativity
          -President's schedule
                -Boys Club
                -Cystic fibrosis girl
                      -Cathy ("Mim") Frazier

          -Michael Newton
                -Picture
    -President's support
          -Mrs. Nixon
          -Cabinet
    -Ideas
    -Form
    -Centers
          -Goals
          -Performance
    -Resources
     -Robert H. Finch
          -Grassmuck
    -Government funds
    -Planning
    -Success
    -Publicity
    -Successes
    -Advertisement
    -Centers
          -Coordination
                -Local level
                -Agencies
                -National level
    -Agencies
    -Immunization program
          -Children
    -Program
    -Pragmatism
    -Centers
    -Goal
    -Pattern
    -Satisfactions
    -Examples
    -Publicity
    -Advertising
    -Rewards
    -Acceptance
    -Details
    -Deadline

Schedule

          -Reception for Voluntary Action leadership

     Voluntary Action
          -Plan
          -President's dinner with [Forename unknown] Borden
          -President's support
          -Assets
          -Cabinet
          -Congressmen and Senators
          -Celebrities
                -Elvis A. Presley
                      -Effect
                 -President's meeting with Presley
          -Older people
          -Talent
          -Lenore Romney
                -Activities
          -Astronauts

Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:54 pm.

     Schedule
          -Sports personalities

     Voluntary action
          -Volunteers
          -Carl M. Yastrzemski

Bull left at an unknown time before 6:15 pm.

                -Activities
                -Hank Aaron
                -Harmon Killebrew
          -President's meeting with Yastrzemski
                -Yastrzemski's activities

     [General conversation]

          -Children
          -John A. Scali
          -President's schedule
                -Reception for Voluntary Action group

           -Rose Garden

The President, Etherington, et al., left at 6:15 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 10% 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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You weren't here for the Boiling Air Award, were you?
I was down in Florida for this.
Oh, well, it's the 13th race.
Hi, how are you?
It's good to see you here.
Here's our business.
Hi, let's see you in a couple of hours.
We were going to do this.
Oh, we're going to do this.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
... ... ... ...

— 1 min 48 s with no transcribed speech —

Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
You know, but in the office here, basically this small, and really the heart of the organization, I want you to know first that I think we are very fortunate to have Ed Edrington in this position.
We had a meeting with him previously, gone over this whole thing, and he really didn't charge.
I want to question all of you in complete cooperation of this office, and not only this office, but every cabinet officer, every cabinet wife, sub-cabinet people, and of course that means government and so forth.
That means not only money, but president and so forth and so on, whatever it is.
All of you, of course, can provide that, and not just the whole business of
Most of you didn't think this year you're definitely in the jobs program or the boys clubs or whatever, you know what I mean, the things we work in there.
And I know that sometimes you must wonder, well now, can we take, can we develop something new here which is just another layer on top of all of this myriad
Anyway
and talk about peace for our kids.
And, you know, you all have been asking a little bit
and others and so forth who just need, who really need the, you know, the opportunity to do something that is great and helpful and the rest.
It's really good for all of us.
You feel a little better.
That little, that picture, that big of a dead boy, and they did a lot of other things for the fire department, sure.
Didn't spark anything else.
Just having that little kid in here.
And this is the kind of spirit that Ed, I mean, is bringing to this whole thing.
So we want you to know that this is the, that you have complete support of the White House, complete support of the President, First Lady, whatever that's word.
and the rest.
But what we really need from you is, and I know, of course, you say, oh, they're here against the devil, the unknown.
But also we need ideas
a lot of full services from the center.
We are short on resources, but we're not short on energy and hope.
And I have an idea that we may accept clients today where people want to get behind us.
But we're going to help them in the resource sector.
I don't want to start with you, but you know, we're going to find somebody.
Bob mentioned our office in the Georgia Crest, and I said, have you given him responsibilities?
and not in a way that doesn't control what will be done.
But what we need is a plan.
And just one success.
about putting up our devil and all that sort of thing.
Hold on, we'll have to break it.
Well, the plan of action we have
coordinating with the existing volunteer organizations.
You know, we're going to use the volunteer action centers as a method to find them.

— 1 min 1 s with no transcribed speech —

I just make a comment here on this because, as you say, nobody knows whether this will work until you try it.
And it is one of the most amorphous things that there is in our society.
And I think everybody will agree with me that the program as it's laid out is pragmatic.
It's limited.
Max made the point that you want to see it.
you're going to do it or you aren't.
You're going to have your centers working successfully and within a very limited period of time, far more limited than I thought.
And they really put themselves at a tough goal, but the point is, it is a provable or non-provable thing.
And if you don't,
Then you've got something that people can tie to.
I think all of us who've dealt with this old field are really pleased with the way it's laying on them.
The guarantee is success, but the pattern is sound.
as you know, and can't imagine anything more fun and more rewarding than working with boys.
And aside from the good that it'll do, the good that it'll do you is so tremendous.
And that can be told in a thrilling way.
We met at Deadline.
We would have met at Deadline better if it had been a month later.
I mean, it's sad, but we did what we could.
Yes.
But the two, you took a role and presented.
There's no, uh, knowledge.
No, there's no knowledge.
But we will have to leave that.
Yes, I guess we'll go over and say hello to everybody.
Why don't you try a little pop?
That's good.
of the businessmen, the major people who have to either make contributions or go out and get the contributions to support this.
The most important single thing is to show them a plan.
Some people work otherwise.
They're not going to put out the dough.
They're not going to go out and get it.
You've got to have a plan first.
And if he came up with that, well, that's what we needed, a good plan.
Thank you very much.
I mean, even today, I thought he was sort of old.
Yeah, they all were.
They were all expressing today.
here he is you know uh destined to be probably the best you
Thank you.
Thank you.

— 1 min 6 s with no transcribed speech —

Walk out this way.
Come on.
Great.
Nice to meet you.

Also recorded on April 27, 1971

  • 488-022 4:40 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:40 pm to 4:52 pm.
  • 488-023 4:52 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 4:52 pm and 4:57 pm.
  • 488-024 4:57 PM · 52 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Stephen B. Bull, William P. Rogers, Elmer H. Bobst, White House photographer, White House operator, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:57 pm to 5:52 pm.
  • 002-047 5:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:13 pm.
  • 002-048 5:13 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:13 pm and 5:24 pm.
  • 002-049 5:24 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 5:24 pm to 5:25 pm.
  • 488-026 6:15 PM · 37 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:15 pm and 6:19 pm.
  • 002-050 7:45 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:45 pm.

All 34 conversations from April 27, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 488-025, April 27, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417176781). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/488-025 (accessed November 5, 2026).