Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-154

Nixon, Ellington & Haldeman on Soviet Union and Diplomacy

Thursday, June 24, 1971 · 9:10 AM–10:01 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsWhite House operator; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ellington, Edward K. (Duke)Conversation005-154 on Tape 5 (tape position 04:35:51–04:37:30)StartThursday, June 24, 1971 at 9:10 AMEndThursday, June 24, 1971 at 10:01 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 005-154 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon called jazz legend Duke Ellington to offer well wishes for his upcoming diplomatic trip to the Soviet Union. The President also provided an update on his administration's efforts to facilitate the logistics for a Youth Symphony project spearheaded by Leonard Garment. The call concluded with an exchange of mutual appreciation regarding the success of a recent White House event honoring Ellington.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Hello.
Mr. President.
This is Haldeman.
Oh, Mr. Haldeman, I have Mr. Duke Ellington on the line.
Oh, just a second.
All right.
I'm just telling Mr. Haldeman about it.
Just a second.
Hi, Mr. Nelson.
Yeah, I got Ellington.
Just operator?
Yes, Mr. Haldeman.
Just a minute.
All right, Mr. Haldeman.
He's answering, yeah.
Okay, he'll take the call.
He'll take it.
Thank you very much.
Hello.
Hello.
I just wanted to wish you well on your trip to Russia.
And also to tell you that I've had Len Garment working on that youth symphony, you know, the suggestion you had about their trip.
And our problem there is that they're going to take a trip.
The question is getting the places that they want to go.
But he's giving top priority to it.
But I want you to know that I don't think of anybody that will do a better job for this country and the Soviet Union than you will be, you will.
And I'm just delighted that you can take the trip and give them that old style back there.
Oh, thank you very much, Mr. President.
I wanted to wish you a joyous post-anniversary.
Thank you very much.
Well, it was quite an affair, and we all enjoyed it.
We never have an affair that people don't remember those days when you were there.
That Ellington night will never be topped.
It was beautiful.
That's right.
Well, we wish you the best.
Thank you very much.

NARA Description

On June 24, 1971, the White House operator, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, President Richard M. Nixon, and Edward K. (Duke) Ellington talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:10 am and 10:01 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-154 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 5-154

Date: June 24, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:10 am and 10:01 am
Location: White House Telephone

The White House operator talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman; the White House operator
conferred with another operator in the background.

[See Conversation No. 528-4A]

     Call to Edward K. (“Duke”) Ellington
           -President

The President talked with Ellington between 10:01 am and 10:02 am.

     Ellington's forthcoming trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]

     Youth Symphony
          -Leonard Garment
          -Schedule

     Ellington's forthcoming trip to USSR

     President's anniversary

Also recorded on June 24, 1971

  • 528-003 9:04 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:04 am and 9:10 am.
  • 528-004 9:10 AM · 1 hr 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Alexander P. Butterfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House operator, Edward K. (Duke) Ellington, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:10 am to 10:45 am.
  • 005-155 10:33 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:33 am.
  • 528-005 10:33 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:33 am.
  • 005-156 10:42 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills talked on the telephone from 10:42 am to 10:44 am.
  • 528-006 10:42 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:42 am to 10:44 am.
  • 005-157 10:45 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes talked on the telephone from 10:45 am to 10:47 am.
  • 528-007 10:45 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:45 am.

All 28 conversations from June 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 005-154, June 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-154 (accessed October 10, 2026).