Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 12 › Conversation 012-013

Nixon phone call with Mitchell on Supreme Court appointments

Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 4:44 PM–4:49 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.Conversation012-013 on Tape 12 (tape position 00:23:29–00:27:41)StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 4:44 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 4:49 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 012-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Mitchell discuss potential Supreme Court nominees, confirming Lewis F. Powell, Jr.'s acceptance and weighing the qualifications and political implications of appointing William H. Rehnquist and Howard H. Baker, Jr. The two men deliberate on the strategic timing of public announcements and the management of the American Bar Association committee's review process. Throughout the discussion, they evaluate the professional reputation and perceived political benefits of their candidates, while briefly joking about Rehnquist’s religious background.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mr. President.
Yeah.
I was on the phone with Lou Powell when you called, and he is available.
He said we were starting to talk about some things he wanted to check with me, but I'm sure they're of no serious consequence.
But he's going to go then?
Yes, sir.
I have not been able to get a hold of our little senator friend.
Let me ask you this.
I just got Dick in here, Dick Moore, a minute ago.
And I may reevaluate.
He comes down very hard on your man, Rehnquist.
He just thinks that, you know,
second in his class at Stanford as clerk to Robert Jackson, and from your account, apparently conservative.
Absolutely.
And would make a brilliant justice.
Would you agree?
Yes, sir.
What would the country say about him?
He sure is qualified, isn't he?
I would believe so.
I don't think there's any question about it.
It's an opinion expressed by Ed Walsh when we were talking about this.
From his point of view, he certainly would.
What is the political mileage out of it?
The political mileage basically is this, that here's where we come down with.
If we get Powell, then I think we buy the opportunity to consider Mulligan.
On the other hand,
And frankly, if we get Baker, Powell and Baker is a hell of a good combination.
Baker's young.
Yes, sir.
There you are.
So if we got Baker, we got it made.
We've got Powell now.
Powell has said yes.
Yes, sir.
He was trying to talk about some things he wanted to talk to me about, but I can imagine that there's nothing of consequence.
Now on Powell, I want to go forward and announce that before it starts leaking.
Well, there isn't anybody going to leak it that I know of.
Well, I don't want you to tell Walsh.
Oh, I will not, of course.
And, of course, what we want to do is to program this Walsh committee business so we can use them.
Well, how about announcing Powell this afternoon?
I wouldn't do that until we've... Yeah, we want to program that committee so we can blame the woman on them.
I see.
But, I mean, Powell is not getting the woman's seat.
Well, I get your point.
all right you'll hear from the walsh committee when this afternoon yes sir yeah ed walsh has got a call into me now yeah all right call me back when you get it but remember let's figure on the rehnquist thing the the political mileage basically is the same kind of mileage if we were go with smith the idea being that uh that uh we are appointing a highly qualified man that's really what it gets down to i believe that that will and also he doesn't quite have the
smack of the corporate lawyer as much as Smith.
No, he's more of a general practitioner.
But your judgment on it is worth thinking.
You raised it, and I've just been thinking about it.
People all think so highly of the guy.
He must have a hell of a lot on the ball.
Oh, he's got a tremendous legal mind, Mr. President.
There's no question about it.
And just as solid as can be.
He's made a tremendous impression upon the
judiciary around here and people on the hill and the ones in the bar he's dealt with.
Well, you really have some doubts on the Mulligan thing, haven't you, John?
I have some doubts as to how it's going to fly.
Incidentally, what is Rehnquist?
I suppose he's a damn Protestant.
I'm sure of that.
He's as washbush as washbush can be.
That's too damn bad.
Tell him to change his religion.
or get them baptized this afternoon.
Well, baptized and castrated.
No, they don't do that.
I mean, they circumcise.
No, that's the Jews.
Well, anyway, whatever he is, get him changed.
Let me pursue this further with Lou Powell, and I'll see if I can run down Baker, and then I'll talk to Walsh and get back to you.
All right.
All right, sir.
All right.

NARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 4:44 pm to 4:49 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 012-013

Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 4:44 pm- 4:49 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John N. Mitchell.

[See Conversation No. 282-26B]

     Supreme Court anointments
          -Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
          -Howard H. Baker, Jr.
          -Richard A. Moore
               -William H. Rehnquist
                     -Qualifications
                           -Stanford
                           -Robert H. Jackson
                     -Mitchell’s view
                     -Lawrence E. Walsh
          -Powell
               -William H. Mulligan
               -Baker
               -Public announcement
               -Walsh
                     -American Bar Association [ABA] Committee
          -Rehnquist
               -Smith
               -Mitchell’s view
                     -Mulligan
               -Baker
               -Powell
               -Walsh

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

Also recorded on October 20, 1971

  • 012-010 4:18 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:18 pm and 4:20 pm.
  • 282-023 4:18 PM · 8 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 4:18 pm and 4:20 pm.
  • 012-011 4:20 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore talked on the telephone from 4:20 pm to 4:21 pm.
  • 282-024 4:20 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:20 pm to 4:21 pm.
  • 012-012 4:21 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:21 pm and 4:44 pm.
  • 282-025 4:21 PM · 34 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 4:21 pm and 4:23 pm.
  • 282-026 4:23 PM · 49 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Richard A. Moore, White House operator, John N. Mitchell, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:23 pm to 5:16 pm.
  • 012-014 4:49 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:49 pm and 5:33 pm.

All 83 conversations from October 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 012-013, 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/012-013 (accessed September 28, 2026).