Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-028

Nixon phone call with Boland on Supersonic Transport and SST

Wednesday, May 12, 1971 · 5:34 PM–5:36 PM ET · White House Telephone · 48 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Boland, Edward P.Conversation003-028 on Tape 3 (tape position 00:31:28–00:32:18)StartWednesday, May 12, 1971 at 5:34 PMEndWednesday, May 12, 1971 at 5:36 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-028 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiated this call to personally thank Representative Edward P. Boland for his pivotal leadership in securing House support for the Supersonic Transport (SST) program. The two discussed the importance of the project to national prestige and the necessity of maintaining American technological superiority. Boland pledged to continue his efforts in the upcoming Senate vote and during the subsequent House-Senate conference to ensure the project's survival.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Mr. President, how are you?
Well, I just wanted to call you to tell you how grateful I am for your fine work in this SST.
I know that you take a lot of heat, you know, from people that are on the other side, but without your help, we could have never done
Well, without that, down there we could have done all that.
And I must say that, you know, you went in there and you took the leadership on your side, and I'm very grateful, and we're going to do our best to try to see if we can turn the Senate around.
If we can't, we're going to make those conferees do their best.
Well, that's fine.
But I think from the standpoint of the country, that's the main thing.
I agree.
And that's what's really involved there, apart from whether we can go faster to Europe.
You and I don't care about that.
But, my God, we don't want the United States to be number two in a place where we've been number one around the world.
Exactly.
Right.
I appreciate your call, Mr. President.
Okay.

NARA Description

On May 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Edward P. Boland talked on the telephone from 5:34 pm to 5:36 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-028 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-028

Date: May 12, 1971
Time: 5:34 pm - 5:36 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Edward P. Boland.

[See Conversation No. 499-002/498-001B]

     Supersonic transport [SST] vote
          -Boland's role
          -Upcoming Senate vote
          -House-Senate conference action
          -National spirit

Also recorded on May 12, 1971

  • 003-025 5:28 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:28 pm and 5:29 pm.
  • 499-002 5:28 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Leslie C. Arends, Stephen B. Bull, Frank T. Bow, John B. Connally, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:28 pm and 6:03 pm.
  • 003-026 5:29 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Leslie C. Arends talked on the telephone from 5:29 pm to 5:31 pm.
  • 003-027 5:32 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Frank T. Bow talked on the telephone from 5:32 pm to 5:33 pm.
  • 498-001 5:33 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Frank T. Bow, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, John B. Connally, and Wilbur D. Mills met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:33 pm and 6:03 pm.
  • 003-030 5:37 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:37 pm and 5:41 pm.
  • 003-031 5:37 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:37 pm and 5:41 pm.
  • 003-032 5:41 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 5:41 pm to 5:45 pm.

All 37 conversations from May 12, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-028, May 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-028 (accessed October 22, 2026).