Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-091

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on White House social events

Friday, July 2, 1971 · 4:08 PM–4:12 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation006-091 on Tape 6 (tape position 01:48:38–01:52:33)StartFriday, July 2, 1971 at 4:08 PMEndFriday, July 2, 1971 at 4:12 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 006-091 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, with input from H. R. Haldeman, discuss the success of recent White House social events, including a luncheon for Consuelo Juan Velasco and the positive reception of the President's toast. They reflect on the importance of hosting long-serving Congressional members like Representative Thomas G. Abernethy and note the aesthetic appeal of daytime gatherings in the Red Room. The conversation concludes with a discussion regarding the First Lady's potential attendance at a televised event at the National Archives, with the suggestion that Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward Cox join her.

Audio

Download MP3 · 5.4 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello.
Mrs. Nixon, Mr. President.
Thank you.
Hello.
Hi, Dick.
Well, how did everybody feel?
Oh, well, they had such a good time at that party.
Right.
Did you take her upstairs?
No, I took her down to see the... Oh, you were... Yeah, I was there, yeah.
I didn't want to because some people feel they can't leave, you know, until everybody's gone.
But I don't think we need to do any more.
I took her out last night, you know.
Yeah, well, that was great.
Don't she ride out with you?
She went to the concert with me.
Oh, I didn't know she'd been there.
I knew she'd been there, but I didn't know she went with you.
Oh, yeah, we went by helicopter.
We had the works.
Oh, well, she loved that.
So we've really done a lot for her.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I thought it was a nice lunch.
She's a very lovely person.
I was so surprised that, you know, she's a very pretty woman.
Beautiful.
Nice and really very emotional.
She's very sweet.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
He was really, really raving about your visit.
You know, that comes from the heart and all that.
That's what they want, you know, don't they?
Yeah, right, right.
Your toast was great.
Well, it wasn't really hard to think of anything to say, but it may have got across the point.
No, it was just right.
Just what they like to hear.
They were all very happy.
You know...
Bill Rogers was remarking he didn't think he'd ever seen the room so pretty.
You know, with those big chairs, it is beautiful, isn't it?
If you notice, you don't look a bit crowded, and it's an elegant way to use those big chairs.
Yeah, well, somebody else mentioned to me that they, you know, they'd been there always at night, and it was so much fun to be there in the daytime.
Yeah.
One of those undersecretaries.
Well, we took care of a lot of people here today that don't usually get to things.
Did you notice Mrs. Abernathy, Tom Abernathy, who's been in the Congress 29 years, says, did you know this is the first time in 29 years I've ever had a bite to eat at the White House?
Yeah, I know.
He was so thrilled.
He was telling Lucy and he was telling me.
See, I had his wife.
I know.
Remember, she told you that about herself.
Yeah, yeah.
But what did he say to you?
Oh, the same thing.
And, you know, they even said to Lucy, you know, we can hardly wait to...
We can leave and call our children.
No, they really had a good time.
They might want to go over.
I mean, I don't know whether you want to now.
Tomorrow night, they're going to have just about 70 people in the archives as a live audience.
Rogers is going to be there and people like that.
Do you want to go or not?
You don't have to.
Oh, well, I think that they've already said I'm going.
Well, no, we've left it open for you.
But it'd be nice if you did go, but you don't have to.
You know what I mean?
The audience will be able to pan to you.
See if Tricia and Eddie would go, too.
Nice that they would go and sit with you in the audience.
It's a very, it's never been done before.
Never had television like that in there for a, you know, with the Constitution and the original Constitution.
Bill Wright's right back of us, the speaker.
It's really quite something.
Only a half hour from 10.30 to 11.
Okay, I'll mention it.
All right.
Okay.
Bye.
Bye.

NARA Description

On July 2, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 4:08 pm to 4:12 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-091 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 6-91

Date: July 2, 1971
Time: 4:08 pm - 4:12 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon; H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman can be heard in the
background.

[See Conversation No. 260-005]

     Consuelo Juan Velasco
         -Party
         -Attendance at concert with Mrs. Nixon
         -President's toast

     Red Room in the White House
          -William P. Rogers’ comments to the President

     President's schedule
           -Representative and Mrs. Thomas G. Abernethy
           -Comments regarding dining in White House
           -Lucy Winchester

**********************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/01/2023.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[006-091-w002]
[Duration: 52s]

     The President’s schedule
          -July 3, 1971 speech
          -Dinner
          -Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward R. F. Cox
                -Executive Office Building [EOB] gift unit
                -Schedule
                -Potential dinner with Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
          -Dictation
          -Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward R. F. Cox

***********************************************************************

     National Archives
          -President’s schedule
          -First Family's schedule
          -Rogers
          -Television show July 3

Also recorded on July 2, 1971

  • 006-090 4:02 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:02 pm and 4:08 pm.
  • 261-052 4:02 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John K. Andrews, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:02 pm and 4:08 pm.
  • 537-003 4:02 PM · 2 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:02 pm and 4:08 pm.
  • 260-005 4:08 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:08 pm to 4:12 pm.
  • 260-006 4:12 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:12 pm and 4:14 pm.
  • 260-007 4:12 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:12 pm and 4:14 pm.
  • 006-092 4:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:13 pm.
  • 006-093 4:14 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 4:14 pm to 4:22 pm.

All 78 conversations from July 2, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 006-091, July 2, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-091 (accessed October 5, 2026).