Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-009

Nixon phone call with MacGregor on Vietnam War and Congressional relations

Monday, June 28, 1971 · 6:47 PM–6:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); MacGregor, Clark; Nixon, Richard M. (President); MacGregor, ClarkConversation006-009 on Tape 6 (tape position 00:05:04–00:07:56)StartMonday, June 28, 1971 at 6:47 PMEndMonday, June 28, 1971 at 6:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 006-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Clark MacGregor discuss the political impact of a recent presidential letter sent to members of Congress regarding Vietnam policy, which helped counteract pressure from groups like Common Cause. They further coordinate the guest list and program for an upcoming White House dinner, specifically planning for the President to personally recognize key congressional allies during the event. Nixon ultimately resolves to thank those legislators who supported his administration's stance and identifies specific guests to call upon during the gathering.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Which ones?
Mr. Clark, McGregor, sir?
Yeah.
Hello.
Good evening, Mr. President.
Well, I just thought that was a fine day today.
Well, thank you, sir.
After having breakfast with the Speaker, my God, he had me hanging crepe.
He said, we're going to lose.
He's gloomy, Mr. President.
He's on a mod.
He's unnecessarily gloomy.
I tell you, your letter was most effective, and I'm sorry that...
To rush that into you, let me say this.
I'm going to wait until the conference is over, but then I'm going to write every member of the House and Senate that supported this and thank them for it.
That's great.
You know what I mean?
In the end, I think they're going to look good, but gee, these guys, I know what they're up against.
Heck, they want to vote for something.
They want to be on the side of getting out.
They're catching hell from home.
And Common Cause really cranked up on this one, too, Mr. President.
They worked over the weekend.
They had a
kind of a whip organization.
They tried to get people here.
And so we were up against things.
But your letter was very effective.
Members got your letter on some of them Friday afternoon, some of them Saturday morning.
A number of them mentioned to me that the personal letter from the president signed to RN was very, very persuasive.
And they're duplicating it and sending it to their constituents.
So that was most helpful.
And your congressional relations team, Clark McGregor, accepted.
Did a fine job, too, Mr. President.
I know they did.
Look, tonight, did you have some suggestions?
I haven't seen them here as to who ought to be called on, I thought.
Mr. President, I think Jerry Ford would be just fine.
Yeah, but who else?
Well, you know, some of the original members.
Glenn Davis?
Glenn Davis.
John Jackson.
John Jackson and Glenn would be most appreciative.
Was Thurston an original member?
It seems to me he was, Mr. President.
Thurston would love to be called on by you.
All right.
And you can tell him you're going to invoke the one-minute rule.
Alex told me that...
Oh, well, they'll know I'm kidding, but you know.
Sure.
But, well, will you tell Tristan and Don Jackson and...
I will, sir.
...and Glenn Davis...
And I don't know what other originals are here.
Keating.
Keating.
I'll call on him.
Oh, sure.
Ken is here.
You tell him about that.
Yes, and I should tell you, sir, that if you do feel moved to call upon Bob Michael, he's prepared to sing.
I don't know whether you're so disposed.
How will he sing?
He has to have a piano, doesn't he?
He's worked that out.
He's apparently been down and talked to your musical director.
Yeah.
Well, I think those will do it.
And just tip those off, and then I'll...
I'll just hit a few.
I didn't know it says Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Boggs.
I think it's a brother.
I think it's a brother of Cale.
It's either a brother or a cousin.
Is he a member?
No, he's Cale's guest.
Cale's a member, though.
Cale's a member, and Calvin Boggs is a relative who is the guest of Cale.
Yeah, okay.
All right, fine.
We'll see you, David.
Well, everybody's looking forward to it very much, Mr. President.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On June 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Clark MacGregor talked on the telephone from 6:47 pm to 6:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 6-9

Date: June 28, 1971
Time: 6:47 pm - 6:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Clark MacGregor.

[See Conversation No. 531-23]

     Carl B. Albert
          -Meeting with President

     President's forthcoming letters to Representatives and Senators
           -Administration's Vietnam policies
           -Common Cause
           -President's letter

     Forthcoming White House dinner
          -Gerald R. Ford
          -Glenn R. Davis
          -Donald L. Jackson
          -Thruston Morton
          -Alex [surname unknown] [Butterfield ?]
          -Kenneth Keating
          -Robert H. Michel
          -J. Caleb Boggs
                -Calvin Boggs

Also recorded on June 28, 1971

  • 006-008 6:45 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:45 pm and 6:47 pm.
  • 531-020 6:45 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:45 pm and 6:47 pm.
  • 531-021 6:46 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 6:46 pm.
  • 531-022 6:47 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at 6:47 pm.
  • 531-023 6:47 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Clark MacGregor met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:47 pm to 6:50 pm.
  • 531-024 6:50 PM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Alexander P. Butterfield, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, and Rex W. Scouten met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:50 pm to 7:25 pm.
  • 006-010 7:08 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:08 pm and 7:12 pm.
  • 006-011 7:12 PM · 38 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rex W. Scouten talked on the telephone from 7:12 pm to 7:13 pm.

All 69 conversations from June 28, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 006-009, June 28, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-009 (accessed October 5, 2026).