Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-018

Nixon phone call with Graham on Bebe Rebozo and John Connally

Thursday, October 7, 1971 · 9:40 PM–9:44 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Graham, William F. ("Billy")Conversation011-018 on Tape 11 (tape position 00:28:01–00:31:32)StartThursday, October 7, 1971 at 9:40 PMEndThursday, October 7, 1971 at 9:44 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon and Billy Graham discuss the President's recent public performance and the political fallout surrounding a press story targeting Charles "Bebe" Rebozo. The conversation touches upon the President's upcoming trip to West Virginia and the inclusion of Treasury Secretary John Connally in future travel plans. Graham also seeks assurance regarding the content of remarks he intends to make about his relationship with the President, which Nixon encourages him to deliver without prior vetting.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Hello, Mr. President.
Billy, how are you?
I thought you did a great job tonight.
Where are you?
I'm in North Carolina.
Oh, fine.
Good.
And I thought that I think that piece will pay richer political dividends than probably any of you have made since you've been in the White House.
I tried to sit here and analyze it as just an average ordinary citizen who has to go shopping.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, we had
get them going.
They don't want to come out for it, but they've got to because the people are for it.
Those letters I referred to were all from people that had wage increases.
That's terrible.
No, well, they're going after the poor fellow, you know, he's a
Of course, I have nothing.
I'm not even in any of these deals.
George is.
George's managing the business a lot, but I'm not.
But they just go after the most terribly pipsqueak thing.
It's awful.
Just a few dollars here and there.
It's fantastic that they would make stories like that, but of course, you know, they're after it.
Oh, sure they are, yeah.
I just wanted to tell you that.
Well, I appreciate that.
You're going to West Virginia tomorrow, aren't you?
Yeah, I'm going out to crown some queen or something.
Yeah, this will be the 50th state we've visited since I've been in.
It's the first time in the history of the country that any president has visited all the states, let alone 50.
In the old days, they couldn't do it.
Now, with airplanes, we do.
Well, he'll do great.
He'll do great.
He'll knock them dead.
I'm bringing him with me down to your place, you know.
Sure he is.
And I told Holloman to be sure they arranged a separate car for him so that, you know, let the people...
I wanted to ask you one little thing.
I'm going to make a remark that lasts about seven minutes, very little.
Yeah, sure.
But I have in there three or four paragraphs about you, and I hope that I haven't said some things that you waited on and embarrassed you.
I might send it to Bob.
No, no, no, no.
You do what you want.
Don't you sense to anybody.
I know, but I want to be sure I don't, you know,
Sure.
Oh, that's great.
That's fine.
Great, great.
Well, I think it's good that John Connolly can come, and I'm sure he can, that he and Nellie, they're great supporters of yours.
Also, everybody knows he's sort of the second man in the country at the moment.
Do you like that?
Right.
Right.
Great.
Great.
Great.
Well, I'll see you, Billy, and I do appreciate your call.
All right, sir.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On October 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William F. ("Billy") Graham talked on the telephone from 9:40 pm to 9:44 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-018

 Date: October 7, 1971
 Time: 9:40 pm - 9:44 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with William F. (“Billy”) Graham.

        Speech
             -Graham's location
                  -North Carolina

        Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo
             -A press story
             -The President’s non-involvement
             -George A. Smathers

        The President's schedule
             -West Virginia

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

        John B. Connally
             -Schedule
                  -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

        Graham's proposed remarks
             -Relationship with the President

        Connally
            -Idanell B. (“Nellie”) Connally
            -Rebozo

Also recorded on October 8, 1971

  • 011-010 8:58 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:58 pm.
  • 011-014 9:03 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:03 pm to 9:09 pm.
  • 011-015 9:09 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 9:09 pm to 9:11 pm.
  • 011-016 9:17 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:17 pm to 9:20 pm.
  • 011-017 9:20 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:20 pm and 9:40 pm.
  • 011-019 9:44 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:44 pm and 9:52 pm.
  • 011-020 9:52 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:52 pm to 9:53 pm.
  • 011-021 9:53 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:53 pm and 11:35 pm.

All 28 conversations from October 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-018, October 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-018 (accessed October 12, 2026).