{"conversationCode":"005-154","tapeNumber":5,"conversationNumber":154,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-005-154","startDateTime":"1971-06-24T13:10:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-06-24T14:01:00.000Z","startDate":"24-Jun-1971","startTime":"9:10 AM","endDate":"24-Jun-1971","endTime":"10:01 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"White House operator; Haldeman, H. R. (\"Bob\"); Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ellington, Edward K. (Duke);","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.","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. 5-154\n\nDate: June 24, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 9:10 am and 10:01 am\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe White House operator talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman; the White House operator\nconferred with another operator in the background.\n\n[See Conversation No. 528-4A]\n\n     Call to Edward K. (“Duke”) Ellington\n           -President\n\nThe President talked with Ellington between 10:01 am and 10:02 am.\n\n     Ellington's forthcoming trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]\n\n     Youth Symphony\n          -Leonard Garment\n          -Schedule\n\n     Ellington's forthcoming trip to USSR\n\n     President's anniversary","filename":["005-154.mp3"],"tapeStart":"04:35:51","tapeEnd":"04:37:30","participantsList":["White House operator","Haldeman, H. R. (\"Bob\")","Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ellington, Edward K. (Duke)"],"prevCode":"005-153","nextCode":"005-155","transcript":[{"start":0.28,"end":3.01,"text":"Hello."},{"start":3.05,"end":3.49,"text":"Mr. President."},{"start":3.51,"end":4.05,"text":"This is Haldeman."},{"start":4.19,"end":7.47,"text":"Oh, Mr. Haldeman, I have Mr. Duke Ellington on the line."},{"start":7.55,"end":8.62,"text":"Oh, just a second."},{"start":8.84,"end":9.34,"text":"All right."},{"start":10.02,"end":12.68,"text":"I'm just telling Mr. Haldeman about it."},{"start":12.76,"end":13.36,"text":"Just a second."},{"start":13.42,"end":14.4,"text":"Hi, Mr. Nelson."},{"start":14.42,"end":16.99,"text":"Yeah, I got Ellington."},{"start":17.07,"end":17.57,"text":"Just operator?"},{"start":17.69,"end":18.31,"text":"Yes, Mr. Haldeman."},{"start":18.33,"end":18.89,"text":"Just a minute."},{"start":18.93,"end":20.87,"text":"All right, Mr. Haldeman."},{"start":20.89,"end":21.65,"text":"He's answering, yeah."},{"start":21.67,"end":22.54,"text":"Okay, he'll take the call."},{"start":22.55,"end":22.98,"text":"He'll take it."},{"start":23,"end":24.64,"text":"Thank you very much."},{"start":25.73,"end":26.71,"text":"Hello."},{"start":26.75,"end":28.6,"text":"Hello."},{"start":29.8,"end":32.28,"text":"I just wanted to wish you well on your trip to Russia."},{"start":32.9,"end":42.59,"text":"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."},{"start":42.66,"end":48.28,"text":"And our problem there is that they're going to take a trip."},{"start":48.32,"end":51.69,"text":"The question is getting the places that they want to go."},{"start":51.67,"end":53.83,"text":"But he's giving top priority to it."},{"start":53.85,"end":61.31,"text":"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."},{"start":61.37,"end":67.06,"text":"And I'm just delighted that you can take the trip and give them that old style back there."},{"start":67.56,"end":69.51,"text":"Oh, thank you very much, Mr. President."},{"start":70.2,"end":74.08,"text":"I wanted to wish you a joyous post-anniversary."},{"start":74.1,"end":75.3,"text":"Thank you very much."},{"start":75.32,"end":79.27,"text":"Well, it was quite an affair, and we all enjoyed it."},{"start":80.85,"end":87.69,"text":"We never have an affair that people don't remember those days when you were there."},{"start":87.75,"end":89.58,"text":"That Ellington night will never be topped."},{"start":91.54,"end":92.06,"text":"It was beautiful."},{"start":92.32,"end":92.94,"text":"That's right."},{"start":93,"end":95.8,"text":"Well, we wish you the best."},{"start":96,"end":96.64,"text":"Thank you very much."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["Duke Ellington","Soviet Union","Diplomacy","Youth Symphony","Leonard Garment","Cultural Exchange"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T22:04:10.369Z"},"topicSlugs":["duke-ellington","soviet-union","diplomacy","youth-symphony","leonard-garment","cultural-exchange"],"audioDurationSec":97,"audioFiles":[{"file":"005-154.mp3","bytes":1215361,"durationSec":96.65,"bitrate":100600,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:21.078Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/005-154.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-154","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/5/conversation-005-154","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}