Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-147

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Billy Graham

Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 5:50 PM–6:04 PM ET · White House Telephone · 9 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation011-147 on Tape 11 (tape position 04:22:18–04:22:29)StartTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 5:50 PMEndTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 6:04 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-147 ↗

President Nixon instructed the White House operator to place a telephone call to Reverend Billy Graham. This brief administrative interaction served as the initiation for a direct communication line between the President and his longtime religious advisor. No substantive policy discussions occurred during this exchange as it was purely a request to connect with Graham.

Download MP3 · 0.3 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.

Dr. Billy Graham, please.
Thank you.

On October 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 5:50 pm to 6:04 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-147 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 011-147

 Date: October 19, 1971
 Time: 5:50 pm - 6:04 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with the White House operator.

 [See Conversation No. 292-25]

        Request for call to William F. (“Billy”) Graham
  • 011-144 5:43 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 5:43 pm to 5:48 pm.
  • 011-145 5:43 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:43 pm and 5:48 pm.
  • 292-019 5:43 PM · 20 sec — 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 5:43 pm and 5:49 pm.
  • 011-146 5:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 5:49 pm to 5:50 pm.
  • 292-022 5:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:49 pm to 5:50 pm.
  • 292-023 5:50 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:50 pm and 6:04 pm.
  • 292-024 5:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:50 pm and 6:04 pm.
  • 292-025 5:50 PM · 54 sec — 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 5:50 pm and 6:04 pm.

Conversation 011-147, 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/011-147 (accessed September 28, 2026).