Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-155
Nixon phone call with Mitchell on Supreme Court nomination
Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 8:19 PM–8:24 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and John Mitchell discuss efforts to secure Lewis F. Powell, Jr. as a Supreme Court nominee, with the President instructing Mitchell to press Powell aggressively to accept. They also coordinate their strategy regarding the American Bar Association and potential opposition to other candidates like Mildred L. Lillie. Additionally, Mitchell reports difficulty in contacting Howard H. Baker, Jr. and outlines efforts to manage the political fallout and appointment timeline.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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I talked to Powell and, well, as you know, he is a great fellow and he said that he would, well, I don't know, he said he would talk to his partners in the morning and so forth and
and would call you before noon.
Now, I think it's sort of an approach.
Well, there's a chance.
There's a chance.
I said, well, I just want him to know that we feel very strongly he should do it for the good of the court and so forth in the country, and he ought to weigh that.
all that sort of thing.
But he said, well, I just think you can get somebody better, you know, who can serve longer, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's the way it is, okay?
So lean on him hard, whatever he says tomorrow.
All right, I will.
Now, this is a little different point of view because I talked to him three times today.
He had talked to his wife and his oldest daughter, who's a big friend of hers, and so forth.
And maybe the situation isn't as bad as we might think it is.
He may be in a little state of shock like a lot of these people are when you talk to them and go on the Supreme Court.
Oh, yes, yes.
And he said, well, they thought it would take...
He said that maybe he could go eight or ten years.
Well, so that I didn't.
Oh, Lord.
If we get that, boy, we'll settle for half of it.
Yeah, but he wasn't that optimistic.
No, I know.
He has both ends of the spectrum.
Right.
But I leaned very hard on him.
I just said that you ought to do it, this and that.
And his reaction was he would.
Well, he said that.
He talked to his partners, and he said whatever he did, he wanted to know that he appreciated my calling him.
So that worries me when he says that.
Well, I heard that twice, three times today.
Yeah.
But the point is that he's still talking to people about it.
He is.
The door is still open.
It's still open.
I don't know how far, but he's still open.
You must not have leaned on him pretty hard, because...
I started off with him on the basis, and I got the rapport back that he would do whatever you wanted him to.
Why did you know him very hard?
I said, we had decided that we felt he should take this into consideration, that he should weigh this as he made his decision.
And he's still talking to his partners and this one and that one.
Yeah.
Well, he's probably conscientious.
In the morning, when he gets to you, you just say, well, after you've talked to your partners, we want you to do it.
How about it?
Okay?
Yes, sir, I will do that now.
There are two other factors involved.
Things are not going well with the bar, as you might expect, but I've been talking to Walsh, and he is going to keep that session open until we program the way that we want it to go.
Right.
The second thing is...
They're going to turn Lilly down, aren't they?
Well, I would believe so.
Right.
How about Howard?
I can't find him.
You know, he promised to call me back by 5 o'clock, and I can't even find him.
Now, whether he's conferring with George Romney and the Lord or what he's doing, I don't know.
But I'll stay after him, so we'll have an answer on it all and try and put the pieces together before late tomorrow afternoon when the fire gets through up there.
Good.
And the...
The fact that I can't get Howard and can't find out what he's doing gives me the thought that maybe he is a lot more interested in the circumstances that might have indicated.
But I'll stay after him.
You lean on him and lean very hard on the other fellow.
Yes, sir.
And through the day, hopefully we can put it out and get a scenario that we can make the bar play out.
Right.
Walsh, as you know, is a thousand percent for you.
He's got problems.
Right, I know.
And I told him tonight that he and his tribe was probably going to come up the losers on this, and he's at the point where he's not worried about that at all, and we'll help us work it out.
Okay.
We need you.
Right.
NARA Description
On October 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 8:19 pm to 8:24 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-155 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 011-155
Date: October 19, 1971
Time: 8:19 pm - 8:24 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with John N. Mitchell.
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 12/12/2017.
Segment will remain closed.]
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[Duration: 6s]
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
Supreme Court appointment
-Conversation with Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
-Possibility of his accepting Supreme Court nomination
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[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under PRMPA regulations 12/12/2017. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Privacy]
[011-155-w002]
[Duration: 3s]
Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
-Health
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-Possible tenure on the Supreme Court
-The President's and Mitchell's approaches to Powell
-American Bar Association [ABA]
-Lawrence E. Walsh
-Mildred L. Lillie
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-George W. Romney
-Walsh
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 12/12/2017.
Segment will remain closed.]
[Personal Returnable]
[011-155-w003]
[Duration: 6s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
******************************************************************************Also recorded on October 20, 1971
- 011-154 8:02 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:02 pm and 8:19 pm.
- 011-156 9:05 AM · 44 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Frederic V. Malek, Alexander P. Butterfield, and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 9:05 am to 9:19 am.
- 597-001 9:05 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:05 am and 9:17 am.
- 597-002 9:17 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Frederic V. Malek, and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:17 am to 9:25 am.
- 011-157 9:19 AM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 9:19 am to 9:25 am.
- 011-158 9:25 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 10:23 am.
- 597-003 9:28 AM · 2 hr 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Bryce N. Harlow, Ronald L. Ziegler, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:28 am to 12:20 pm.
- 011-159 10:23 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Bryce N. Harlow talked on the telephone from 10:23 am to 10:35 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 011-155, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-155 (accessed October 12, 2026).