Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-108

Nixon phone call with Safire on Speechwriting and Scientific research

Friday, May 21, 1971 · 9:37 AM–9:40 AM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Safire, William L.Conversation003-108 on Tape 3 (tape position 02:05:05–02:08:06)StartFriday, May 21, 1971 at 9:37 AMEndFriday, May 21, 1971 at 9:40 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-108 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted speechwriter William Safire for assistance in refining rhetoric for an upcoming presentation of science medals. Nixon sought to incorporate historical quotes from Thomas Jefferson and Alfred E. Smith to challenge the contemporary anti-science sentiment and pushback against technological progress. Safire agreed to research the specific phrasing of the requested quotes and identify additional references to Benjamin Franklin that would resonate with an audience of scientists.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yeah.
Mr. Sapphire.
Bill.
Yes, Mr. President.
Would you send over for me, I was in one of the talks I made recently about the Jefferson quote about fear.
The flutteries of hope and the bloom of despair.
Yeah.
Was that what it was?
Yes.
Was it despair or fear?
Fear and hope.
It was fear and despair.
What?
It was...
I much prefer the flatteries of hope to the gloom of despair, or something like that.
But it was against the gloom of despair, not fear.
I see.
Well, maybe that won't fit.
Well, I'm going to have to present some science medals, and I was trying to give a little kick in the pants to the people, you know, that let's don't do any more, make any scientific research, whether in flying through the air or
nuclear breakthroughs and so forth because of our fears that a plant will explode or we'll get skin cancer or we don't want to do this or that other thing and what we really have to do is to simply go back to nature and zero growth rate and all that crap.
You know what I mean?
And maybe that quote fits.
I don't know.
You think it would?
The flatteries of hope.
I don't know.
That doesn't quite hit it.
The flatteries of hope.
Not the exact
I think that the way you put it, you paraphrased it then in the talk where you just said we, as Thomas Jefferson said, we much prefer hope to the gloom of despair.
We can paraphrase it another way.
We prefer hope to, we much prefer hope to this is a nation.
Why don't you just go back to see that little talk you had set there.
Just send me over the
the pertinent lines, will you please?
I remember one line of Al Smith, that the American people never carry an umbrella.
Yeah.
They are prepared to walk in eternal sunshine.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I pray this audience probably wouldn't, a bunch of scientists probably wouldn't appreciate Smith, but they might appreciate Jefferson.
All right.
Not that they ought to appreciate him, but nevertheless.
Franklin, of course, was the great scientist of the bunch, wasn't he?
Of course, all of them, Jefferson and Frank and all those early guys, they were all interested in architecture and science and so forth and so on.
Right.
Let me see if I can come up with something that might...
But if there was something on Franklin... Well, anyway, if there is something there, that's fine.
I don't need much.
And I won't need it until around 10.30.
Okay, fine.
Thank you.
Hmm.

NARA Description

On May 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 9:37 am to 9:40 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-108 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-108

Date: May 20, 1971
Time: 9:37 am - 9:40 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William L. Safire.

[See Conversation No. 503-003]
     A quote from Thomas Jefferson
          -President's previous use
          -Theme
          -Science medals presentation
                -Theme
                -Paraphrase
          -President's previous use

     A quote from Alfred E. Smith

     Audience
          -Appreciation of Smith and Jefferson

     Founding Fathers
         -Benjamin Franklin
         -Interests
               -Franklin, Jefferson

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

     President's forthcoming speech
          -Time

Also recorded on May 21, 1971

  • 503-001 8:13 AM · 1 hr 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 9:25 am.
  • 503-002 9:25 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:37 am.
  • 503-003 9:37 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:37 am to 9:40 am.
  • 503-004 9:40 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:40 am to 9:46 am.
  • 503-005 9:46 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:46 am and 9:53 am.
  • 503-006 9:53 AM · 35 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, Gerard C. Smith, Paul H. Nitze, Llewellyn E. ("Tommy") Thompson, Jr., Philip J. Farley, Alexander P. Butterfield, and William P. Rogers met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:53 am to 10:43 am.
  • 503-007 10:46 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:46 am to 10:47 am.
  • 503-008 10:47 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:47 am and 11:02 am.

All 40 conversations from May 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-108, May 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-108 (accessed October 12, 2026).