Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 548 › Conversation 548-008

Tower, Newman & White House photographer on Lockheed Corporation

Tuesday, July 27, 1971 · 3:23 PM–3:26 PM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsTower, John G.; Newman, Guy D.; White House photographer; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation548-008 on Tape 548 (tape position 00:58:45–01:02:29)StartTuesday, July 27, 1971 at 3:23 PMEndTuesday, July 27, 1971 at 3:26 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 548-008 ↗

AI Summary

Senator John G. Tower and Howard Payne University President Guy D. Newman met with President Nixon for a brief, ceremonial visit that included the presentation of a university medallion and an honorary gift. The discussion quickly shifted to substantive legislative strategy regarding the pending Lockheed loan guarantee bill. Senator Tower briefed the President on the precarious vote count for cloture, outlining his plan to persist with further petitions if the initial vote failed.

Audio

Download MP3 · 8.0 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 58% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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).
Well, the gentleman gave permission to use his name to find their cabin there.
And on that problem, the historical science is, yeah, that Robert Evans, in general, I don't think he was born in 1630, and he remained, and I don't think he's dead.
You, uh, this person's got that famous, uh, well, of course, he always uses the computer, including on our country, and, uh, his famous, uh, speeches.
That's one of the greatest speeches of all time.
You probably got it recorded, didn't you?
You heard that speech?
So I, I, I, I spoke there on the call.
Well, I'm very happy to have this.
Can I give you a note?
We need some quiet now.
Shall we take a verse here?
Have you got a semester?
In Texas?
I may go back to it.
No, no, no.
You're a doctor.
You've got to stay with Clark.
I know we haven't seen each other.
You've got a chance?
Yeah, I think I've got a chance.
And they're going to do it right here, by cloture.
I don't know how to cloture on this thing that's in the mountain, but we're just going to decide whether we've got a bill to pay the Lockheed community from the congressional review now.
And again, by that, then we're going to get to it.
Mr.
Governor, the lockheeders.
You brought this up.
You see, there's a division in the bill that provides that the board will submit these proposed guarantees to Congress in 20 legislative days, give them a chance to act on it.
But we tend to ask anybody that came into the program to work over the first of this year.
The way you ought to do it throughout the day is mainly to be back to lockheeders.
Oh, we appreciate your work, sir.
All right, all right.
No, no, no, that's fine.
Then what happens if you win that vote?
If you win this test vote, and if you win cloture, I think the steam will go out.
Do you have a chance in future?
We may be two or three votes shy.
That will happen.
I'll file another petition and go again Friday.
We now have to give you the office of the president of the college.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Kelly.
That's the word of the day for today.
This is a medallion.
An honor of a medallion, which you should have.
You gave me a medallion.
Thank you.
And we've, let's see, you're a golfer.
Well, I was.
I'm going to raise some money.
I have friends.
Thank you.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On July 27, 1971, John G. Tower, Guy D. Newman, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:23 pm to 3:26 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 548-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 548-8

Date: July 27, 1971

Time: 3:23 pm - 3:26 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John G. Tower and Guy D. Newman; the White House photographer and
Stephen B. Bull were present at the beginning of the meeting.

     Introductions

     Howard Payne University
         -George Washington Carver (?)
              -Agricultural research

     Presentation of medallion

     Legislative action
          -Cloture
                -Lockheed bailout
                -Guarantees
          -Forthcoming vote
                -Effect

     Presidential gift

Tower and Newman left at 3:26 pm.

Also recorded on July 27, 1971

  • 007-010 2:51 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:51 pm and 7:42 pm.
  • 548-004 3:06 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Edward B. ("Pete") Biester, Jr., James E. Wood, Joseph D. Ceader, Alton B. Chamberlain, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.
  • 548-005 3:10 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:10 pm.
  • 548-006 3:10 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Durward G. ("Doc") Hall, Mrs. Durward G. ("Doc") Hall, Melanie Ellison, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:10 pm to 3:16 pm.
  • 548-007 3:17 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William J. ("Jack") Edwards, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:17 pm to 3:23 pm.
  • 548-009 3:26 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., Paul Calley, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:26 pm to 3:31 pm.
  • 548-010 3:31 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Otto E. Passman, William E. Timmons, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:31 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 548-011 3:49 PM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, White House photographer, William M. Magruder, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:49 pm to 4:37 pm.

All 31 conversations from July 27, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 548-008, July 27, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/548-008 (accessed September 24, 2026).