Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 8 › Conversation 008-014

Nixon phone call with Safire on Speechwriting and Knights of Columbus

Monday, August 16, 1971 · 9:03 PM–9:05 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Safire, William L.Conversation008-014 on Tape 8 (tape position 00:24:35–00:26:09)StartMonday, August 16, 1971 at 9:03 PMEndMonday, August 16, 1971 at 9:05 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 008-014 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with speechwriter William Safire regarding revisions to an upcoming address to the Knights of Columbus. The President tasked Safire with reviewing specific draft sections, particularly focusing on word choice and the inclusion of a 'cheer line.' Safire agreed to process these edits and incorporate suggestions from Raymond K. Price, Jr. before returning the document for the President's final review.

Audio

Download MP3 · 2.1 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 48% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Yeah.
Hello, President.
Bill, I have a, I'm going to send over to you this, uh, and you send in some, uh, notes that, and the rate pricing and all that I think would be appropriate.
I've cut some things out of the, the two cents, right?
And, uh, it's free if you'd rather, like, like Mark's pricing would be.
Well, I've got to check out.
When do you want it back?
Well, no, no, no.

NARA Description

On August 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 9:03 pm to 9:05 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 008-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 8-14

Date: August 16, 1971
Time: 9:03 pm - 9:05 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William L. Safire.

     The President's notebook
          -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
          -Changes in draft speech [Knights of Columbus, August 17, 1971]
               -Wording
                      - Cheer line
                      -Editing by President
               -Price
               -Editing by President
               -Return to President

Also recorded on August 17, 1971

  • 008-009 8:41 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 8:41 pm to 8:46 pm.
  • 008-010 8:50 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter M. Flanigan talked on the telephone from 8:50 pm to 8:54 pm.
  • 008-011 8:54 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:54 pm and 8:59 pm.
  • 008-012 8:54 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:54 pm and 8:59 pm.
  • 008-013 8:59 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 8:59 pm to 9:02 pm.
  • 008-015 9:05 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:05 pm and 9:07 pm.
  • 008-016 9:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 9:07 pm to 9:10 pm.
  • 008-017 9:28 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:28 pm.

All 48 conversations from August 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 008-014, August 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-014 (accessed October 12, 2026).