Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-131

Nixon phone call with Mitchell on Supreme Court appointments

Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 12:54 PM–12:56 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.Conversation011-131 on Tape 11 (tape position 03:32:39–03:34:19)StartTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 12:54 PMEndTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 12:56 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-131 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell discuss the political viability of potential Supreme Court nominees amidst opposition from the Los Angeles Bar Association. They specifically weigh the negative feedback regarding Mildred L. Lillie against the ongoing search for other candidates. The conversation concludes with a status update on the exploratory discussions being held with Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Mr. President, I have Howard with me now.
Oh, I see.
Fine.
I wanted to tell you one thing.
Are you ready to talk?
Yes, sir.
Fine.
I just had a letter, and it's just worth considering, from Tom Buehler.
You know who he is?
Yep.
And he's sort of a big wheel in the Los Angeles bar, and he said that he thought I should know that she would get a bad rap from them.
I don't know.
I didn't understand that, but she said that.
That could very well be because of the composition of the bar.
Yeah, but the Los Angeles bar, and he was opposed to it, and Earl Adams, of course, is.
So I just want to throw those things in, that there's apparently quite a backfire building on the other side.
I believe they were in the bar because they were positioned on this criminal law, which is anything else.
Well, the other in Adams would be a hardliner.
He just doesn't like Mildred Willie, I guess.
Probably so, in the concept of the woman business.
Right, right.
Well, we'll see what the buyer may take us off the hook on the damn thing.
You can rest assured, because all of those inputs will be going into it.
Mm-hmm.
If that's the united front out there is distinguished from a limited number.
You haven't heard from Powell yet?
Not yet, but expect to shortly.
How does this one look?
Have you opened it up with him yet?
Yeah.
We're at the exploratory stage.
Right, right.
Okay.
I'll get back to you as soon as it gets ready.
Bye.

NARA Description

On October 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 12:54 pm to 12:56 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-131 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-131

 Date: October 19, 1971
 Time: 12:54 pm - 12:56 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with John N. Mitchell.

 [See Conversation No. 596-16]

        Mitchell's schedule
             -Howard H. Baker, Jr.

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

        Supreme Court appointment
             -Letter from Tom Buelle [sp?]
                   -Los Angeles bar
                        -Mildred L. Lillie
                              -Earl C. Adams
                              -American Bar Association [ABA]
             -Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Also recorded on October 19, 1971

  • 011-128 12:42 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard H. Poff talked on the telephone from 12:42 pm to 12:43 pm.
  • 011-129 12:45 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 12:45 pm to 12:46 pm.
  • 011-130 12:46 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:46 pm and 12:54 pm.
  • 596-014 12:53 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:53 pm.
  • 596-015 12:53 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:53 pm and 12:54 pm.
  • 011-132 12:54 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:54 pm and 1:26 pm.
  • 596-016 12:54 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:54 pm to 12:56 pm.
  • 596-017 12:56 PM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Charles W. Colson, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:56 pm to 1:26 pm.

All 93 conversations from October 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-131, October 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-131 (accessed September 28, 2026).