Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-051

Nixon phone call with Garment on Civil Rights and Black Caucus

Wednesday, June 30, 1971 · 2:32 PM–2:36 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Garment, Leonard; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Garment, LeonardConversation006-051 on Tape 6 (tape position 01:00:32–01:03:57)StartWednesday, June 30, 1971 at 2:32 PMEndWednesday, June 30, 1971 at 2:36 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 006-051 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon updates Leonard Garment on a recent outreach call to Congressman Charles B. Rangel regarding the administration's civil rights efforts and the Black Caucus. The two discuss the political utility of maintaining open lines of communication with minority leaders, including Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., despite ideological differences. Nixon suggests strategically planting the positive story of his rapport with Rangel to help shape favorable media coverage on the administration's civil rights progress.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Hello.
Yes, sir.
I thought you'd be interested by a little call.
I called Rangel today right after making that announcement.
You know, you remember the Black Caucus meeting?
Yes.
And I said, I called him and, boy, he's quite overwhelmed.
He said, of course, he said that was, well, that was wonderful.
And he said he was so pleased.
And I said, well, he said, you
I just want you to know, we didn't agree with everything, but I want you to know that I was very impressed with what you said and that we listened and that we were trying already, but we tried harder as a result of your being there and we've got it done.
That's terrific.
Then he went on to say a very interesting thing.
He said, you know, he said, I just wish my grandfather could have lived to see.
His grandson getting a call from the President of the United States, he wouldn't have believed it.
And I said, well, I said, Congressman, my grandfather wouldn't have believed it if he'd seen me making the call.
He kind of laughed.
Then he went on to say, too, that they said, I hope Buck Krogan, your other people, because he's been talking, I guess Krogan talked to him.
You know, just keep talking.
As you know, we're not Democrats or Republicans when it comes to some of these things.
We just want to.
But I thought you might.
I don't know Rangel, of course.
Rangel, you remember him at the meeting.
He's very bright.
He's one of the ablest of the group.
He's an awfully good-looking guy.
I remember he was very handsome and very intelligent.
And, of course, naturally, if I'd been born in Harlem, I'd be a Democrat.
But anyway, I thought when we can do something for them, let them know and never get mad when they're against us.
Yeah, of course, they've taken a bit of a...
bruising from the democratic leadership who wouldn't meet with them and he said that he was going to report to the caucus and i said that's fine i just want them to know that on we didn't agree with everything but we did on some and when we did we we followed up well i think i think so i thought that's terrific so they used to i was incidentally very impressed with uh hootney young's successor now he's naturally a new boy in town he'll be aggressive and he will knock his future but
He's a very intelligent man.
Oh, he's going to be a very good fellow for us to work with.
Let me tell you this about Vernon.
You know, an interesting thing, I don't know whether you noted it, but did you notice if you just sat there and marked his color away how much he looked like my younger brother, Eddie?
That's interesting.
I really hadn't thought of that.
I mean, there's very fine features and delicacy.
And it's sort of his eyes, you know, the way he kind of, his smile, I was just really impressed.
Well, that's interesting.
Sort of the same attitude, you know, sort of that.
Really very.
And he dug out that picture.
He's a very, very, very sharp guy.
But we've worked with him in the past.
Have you?
Including Harry Dent.
On the Negro College Fund.
No, no, this was on voting rights.
And he and Harry did some business together.
Right.
And he's very practical.
And I think he knows what we want to do here.
The thing that he has to, as I told him, in order to keep his constituency, he's got to complain about some things.
But on the other hand, just give us our due where we're right.
I think the pieces are starting to come together.
The Wall Street Journal, I think, may do a major piece on all of the civil rights programs and how this really works.
It is beginning to take shape very quietly and very effectively.
Well, you might think this little wrangle story is not a bad one to sort of feed in.
Not blatantly, but it's rather nice.
No, that would be a nice one to place around.
Okay.
Bye.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On June 30, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Leonard Garment talked on the telephone from 2:32 pm to 2:36 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-051 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 6-51

Date: June 30, 1971
Time: 2:32 pm - 2:36 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Leonard Garment.

[See Conversation No. 532-23A]

     President's call to Congressman Charles B. Rangel
           -Turkish government and opium poppy growing
           -Black Caucus
           -Rangel's grandfather
           -Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.

     Rangel

     Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
          -Whitney M. Young, Jr.'s successor
          -Physical resemblance to President's brother Edward
          -Harry S. Dent
          -Voting rights
          -Relations with administration

     Wall Street Journal
          -Forthcoming story on civil rights

     Rangel story

Also recorded on June 30, 1971

  • 006-049 2:31 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:31 pm.
  • 006-050 2:31 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:31 pm.
  • 532-021 2:31 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 2:31 pm.
  • 532-022 2:31 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 2:31 pm.
  • 532-023 2:31 PM · 33 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Leonard Garment, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, John S. Davies, Cynthia Frink, Alexander P. Butterfield, Henry A. Kissinger, and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:31 pm to 3:07 pm.
  • 006-052 2:36 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:36 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 006-053 2:40 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John S. Davies talked on the telephone from 2:40 pm to 2:42 pm.
  • 006-054 2:43 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Cynthia Frink talked on the telephone from 2:43 pm to 2:44 pm.

All 66 conversations from June 30, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 006-051, June 30, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-051 (accessed October 5, 2026).