{"conversationCode":"004-097","tapeNumber":4,"conversationNumber":97,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-004-097","startDateTime":"1971-06-09T19:13:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-06-09T19:14:00.000Z","startDate":"9-Jun-1971","startTime":"3:13 PM","endDate":"9-Jun-1971","endTime":"3:14 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Haldeman, H. R. (\"Bob\");","description":"On June 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and H. R. (\"Bob\") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 3:13 pm to 3:14 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 004-097 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. 4-97\n\nDate: June 9, 1971\nTime: 3:13 pm - 3:14 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nRonald L. Ziegler talked with the President.\n\n[See Conversation No. 255-38B]\n\n     Melvin R. Laird's Air Force Academy speech\n         -Vietnam casualty list\n         -Source of Howard K. Smith's story\n\nPresident conferred with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman at 3:14 pm.\n\n     Casualty figures\n          -Laird as source of story","filename":["004-097.mp3"],"tapeStart":"03:26:21","tapeEnd":"03:26:52","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ziegler, Ronald L.","Haldeman, H. R. (\"Bob\")"],"prevCode":"004-096","nextCode":"004-098","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":1.4,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":1.74,"end":2.78,"text":"Mr. Ziegler, sir."},{"start":2.86,"end":3.16,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":4.08,"end":13.47,"text":"Mr. President, Secretary Laird refers to this today in his Air Force Academy speech, where he says it will be less than 20, and he refers to it as being down..."},{"start":13.78,"end":16.93,"text":"90% and talks about the 1965."},{"start":17.03,"end":18.56,"text":"They released that text last night."},{"start":18.62,"end":21.67,"text":"I think that's probably where Howard K. Smith got it."},{"start":21.69,"end":26.44,"text":"But he indicates that they will formally, you know, the official announcement will be made Thursday."},{"start":26.76,"end":27.71,"text":"So that's where that came from."},{"start":27.93,"end":31.34,"text":"It was Laird that did it."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon consulted with Ronald Ziegler and H.R. Haldeman to identify the source of news reports regarding upcoming Vietnam casualty figures. The participants determined that Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird was responsible for the information appearing in Howard K. Smith's report following a speech at the Air Force Academy. The discussion confirmed that an official announcement regarding the casualty statistics was scheduled for the following Thursday.","topics":["Vietnam War","Melvin Laird","Casualty statistics","Media relations","Howard K. Smith"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T21:48:54.674Z"},"topicSlugs":["vietnam-war","melvin-laird","casualty-statistics","media-relations","howard-k-smith"],"audioDurationSec":31,"audioFiles":[{"file":"004-097.mp3","bytes":392364,"durationSec":31.3,"bitrate":100285,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:21.078Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/004-097.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/004-097","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/4/conversation-004-097","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}