{"conversationCode":"002-023","tapeNumber":2,"conversationNumber":23,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-002-023","startDateTime":"1971-04-21T18:12:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-04-21T18:13:00.000Z","startDate":"21-Apr-1971","startTime":"1:12 PM","endDate":"21-Apr-1971","endTime":"1:13 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Dean, John W., III;","description":"On April 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Dean, III talked on the telephone from 1:12 pm to 1:13 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 002-023 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 2-23\n\nDate: April 21, 1971\nTime: 1:12 pm - 1:13 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with John W. Dean, III.\n\n[See Conversation No. 484-13B]\n\n[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from\nDecember 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v. James M.\nPowell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration produced this\ntranscript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]\n\n[End of transcript]\n\n                                                                                               Back to Top\n\n       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542","filename":["002-023.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:35:24","tapeEnd":"00:36:06","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Dean, John W., III"],"prevCode":"002-022","nextCode":"002-024","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":0.87,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":0.91,"end":1.57,"text":"President, sir."},{"start":1.59,"end":1.83,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":2.1,"end":2.82,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":2.84,"end":3.76,"text":"I want to be sure."},{"start":3.78,"end":6.95,"text":"I talked to the attorney general this morning earlier than was here."},{"start":7.55,"end":9.09,"text":"Nothing is done on these veterans."},{"start":9.13,"end":9.77,"text":"Is that understood?"},{"start":10.09,"end":10.63,"text":"Absolutely."},{"start":10.79,"end":14.1,"text":"Now, now, as a word out that they are not to touch him or do a thing."},{"start":14.68,"end":20.66,"text":"And if you ask any question, just say, well, it came too late or they're only going to be here a couple of days or how are you handling it?"},{"start":20.64,"end":24.02,"text":"My thought is that we don't know what the Supreme Court's going to do yet."},{"start":24.82,"end":30.09,"text":"We have a meeting scheduled at 3 o'clock over in Kleindienst's office to kick it around to see what we can do."},{"start":30.11,"end":34.2,"text":"You just kick it around and kick it around and kick it around and don't do a damn thing."},{"start":34.24,"end":35.56,"text":"Get a hold of the district police."},{"start":35.6,"end":36.46,"text":"They're not to touch them."},{"start":36.62,"end":37.34,"text":"They're to do nothing."},{"start":37.61,"end":38.59,"text":"Just let them raise hell."},{"start":38.99,"end":40.71,"text":"I agree, and we will pursue the court."},{"start":41.03,"end":41.51,"text":"Okay, sir."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon directs John Dean to ensure that local police and authorities take no action against anti-war veterans demonstrating in Washington, D.C. Nixon emphasizes a strategy of inaction, instructing Dean to stall any decision-making through meetings while allowing the protesters to continue their activities undisturbed. This directive reflects the President's desire to avoid confrontation and potential negative optics pending a resolution from the Supreme Court.","topics":["Vietnam Veterans Against the War","protest management","John Mitchell","Richard Kleindienst","police policy","White House strategy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T21:09:38.710Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-veterans-against-the-war","protest-management","john-mitchell","richard-kleindienst","police-policy","white-house-strategy"],"audioDurationSec":42,"audioFiles":[{"file":"002-023.mp3","bytes":999966,"durationSec":41.59,"bitrate":192343,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:20.570Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:42:32.959Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/002-023.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/002-023","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/2/conversation-002-023","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}