Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-134

Nixon phone call with Price on West Point speech and Vietnam War

Wednesday, May 26, 1971 · 3:12 PM–3:15 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation003-134 on Tape 3 (tape position 03:19:34–03:22:03)StartWednesday, May 26, 1971 at 3:12 PMEndWednesday, May 26, 1971 at 3:15 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-134 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consults with Raymond K. Price, Jr. to coordinate revisions for an upcoming West Point speech, requesting that Price bring speechwriter John K. Andrews to the Executive Office Building for a meeting. Nixon expresses concern that current drafts focus too heavily on Vietnam, directing his staff to pivot the speech toward post-Vietnam foreign policy and economic strategy. He emphasizes incorporating themes related to U.S. diplomatic initiatives with the Soviet Union and China to highlight the broader transition from war to peace.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yes, sir.
Did Andrews work on the West Point thing?
Yes, he did.
Yeah.
Is he there today?
Yes, he is.
I did some work on it last night.
I had sort of a new idea as to a cut of the thing.
And I was wondering, let's see, what time do you have now, 3.15?
3.15.
If you could come over in about 20 minutes, could you, to the...
and then I'll just give you come with him so that he can sort of get the feel as to how I think about it and Here's let me tell you that my concern right that my concern is and Versus not with regard to what is written, which I think is a damn good job.
My concern is that What is written in terms of lead and everything else is almost totally
vietnam and uh nixon defends policy in vietnam etc etc etc you know now uh i'm not gonna run away from it and i will of course uh make a mention but i think that uh i think there needs to be a rather different view than uh that presented at this time i think the emphasis has got to be in fact my whole idea and i i mean pete peterson whom i want if you had to talk with him lately
I want you to sit down and talk with him.
His whole theory, you know, about the foreign economic policy.
What do we do after Vietnam?
What's this nation going to be?
What's it going to develop?
He's thinking far beyond economics, as a matter of fact.
Now, in the military field and the diplomatic field and the other fields, the question is, I mean, after Vietnam, you know, as a matter of fact, of course, it goes clear back to our foreign affairs article, Asia after Vietnam, you know.
Now, I would like to cast most everything we do at this time in those terms.
Good.
In those terms of, as you see, it fits the Soviet initiative, it fits the Chinese initiative.
Some of these won't come off, but some may.
It fits the transition from war to peace.
It fits their economic problems and a lot of other things.
Mm-hmm.
See?
Good.
I like that very much.
Yeah.
All right.
About 20 minutes.
All right, sir.
That's in the Oval Office, right?
EOB.
EOB.

NARA Description

On May 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:12 pm to 3:15 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-134 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-134

Date: May 26, 1971
Time: 3:12 pm - 3:15 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 253-016]

     President's West Point speech

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

             -John K. Andrews
             -President's work
             -Meeting with Price and Andrews
             -Draft
                   -Vietnam references
             -Foreign policy
                   -Peter G. Peterson
                   -Post-Vietnam economic policy
                   -Foreign Affairs article
                   -People's Republic of China [PRC], Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
                   [USSR]
                   -War and peace
             -Meeting with Price and Andrews
                   -Location

Also recorded on May 26, 1971

  • 253-016 3:12 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:12 pm to 3:15 pm.
  • 003-135 3:15 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:17 pm.
  • 253-017 3:15 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:17 pm.
  • 003-136 3:17 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 3:17 pm to 3:18 pm.
  • 253-018 3:17 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:17 pm to 3:18 pm.
  • 003-137 3:18 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:18 pm and 3:30 pm.
  • 253-019 3:18 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:18 pm and 3:30 pm.
  • 003-138 3:30 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Leonard Garment talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:30 pm and 3:35 pm.

All 83 conversations from May 26, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-134, May 26, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-134 (accessed October 12, 2026).