{"conversationCode":"012-026","tapeNumber":12,"conversationNumber":26,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-012-026","startDateTime":"1971-10-20T23:41:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-10-20T23:43:00.000Z","startDate":"20-Oct-1971","startTime":"7:41 PM","endDate":"20-Oct-1971","endTime":"7:43 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator;","description":"On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 7:41 pm to 7:43 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-026 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 012-026\n\nDate: October 20, 1971\nTime: 7:41 pm- 7:43 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe White House operator talked with the President.\n\n     Telephone call from John N. Mitchell\n\nJohn N. Mitchell talked with the President.\n\n     Supreme Court appointments\n          -Howard H. Baker, Jr.\n              -Meeting with Mitchell\n              -William H. Rehnquist\n              -Possibility of accepting appointment\n              -Finances","filename":["012-026.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:44:27","tapeEnd":"00:46:07","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","White House operator"],"prevCode":"012-025","nextCode":"012-027","transcript":[{"start":0.28,"end":9.81,"text":"The thing is, he decides."},{"start":9.9,"end":18.21,"text":"He either says yes or no."},{"start":18.23,"end":29.5,"text":"And if he wants it, fine."},{"start":29.52,"end":30.24,"text":"If he doesn't, we'll go to Reckless."},{"start":30.61,"end":50.13,"text":"That's a very good turn, we're on a field."},{"start":50.15,"end":51.73,"text":"Because if we get it to the point of it being me, then, you know, he'll broker."},{"start":51.75,"end":52.53,"text":"Well, he wanted to talk about politics."},{"start":52.55,"end":54.58,"text":"I told him, I didn't think that was necessary, but it was politics, you weren't discussing it anyway."},{"start":54.6,"end":55.08,"text":"I talked about politics."},{"start":55.1,"end":56.02,"text":"You can see the difficulty when I talk to him."},{"start":56.04,"end":57.86,"text":"He'll say, well, it's going to be easy, it's going to be easy, but where do I go from here?"},{"start":57.88,"end":58.64,"text":"Well, back in terms of his own future."},{"start":59.43,"end":81.23,"text":"Yes, I have over the years."},{"start":81.25,"end":81.97,"text":"Well, I'll put it right on the line."},{"start":81.99,"end":84.38,"text":"There's one thing I want to make sure that all this financial mumbo-jumbo that's been going on, make sure that's clear."},{"start":84.83,"end":97.03,"text":"I have no idea other than the fact that this is what's going on last night."},{"start":97.05,"end":97.15,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":97.17,"end":97.57,"text":"So we must find out."},{"start":97.59,"end":98.47,"text":"I want to find out and make sure it's clear."},{"start":98.49,"end":98.59,"text":"Good."},{"start":98.61,"end":98.94,"text":"All right, fine."},{"start":98.95,"end":99.68,"text":"What would you like to hear tonight?"},{"start":99.7,"end":99.8,"text":"Sure."},{"start":99.82,"end":100.12,"text":"I will do that."},{"start":100.14,"end":100.44,"text":"I will do that."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell discuss the ongoing process of selecting Supreme Court nominees, focusing specifically on the potential candidacy of Howard H. Baker, Jr. The two men deliberate over Baker's willingness to accept an appointment and the necessity of resolving his outstanding financial disclosures. They conclude by noting that if Baker declines the offer, they will pivot to William H. Rehnquist as a primary alternative.","topics":["Supreme Court","John N. Mitchell","Howard H. Baker Jr.","William H. Rehnquist","Judicial Appointments","Financial Disclosure"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T23:32:40.332Z"},"topicSlugs":["supreme-court","john-n-mitchell","howard-h-baker-jr","william-h-rehnquist","judicial-appointments","financial-disclosure"],"audioDurationSec":100,"audioFiles":[{"file":"012-026.mp3","bytes":2411205,"durationSec":100.4,"bitrate":192127,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:22.040Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:42:36.044Z","transcriptGapSeconds":41,"transcriptGapShare":0.41,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/012-026.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-026","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/12/conversation-012-026","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}