Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 12 › Conversation 012-035

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on John B. Connally

Thursday, October 21, 1971 · 10:52 AM–11:04 AM ET · White House Telephone · 41 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation012-035 on Tape 12 (tape position 00:58:14–00:58:55)StartThursday, October 21, 1971 at 10:52 AMEndThursday, October 21, 1971 at 11:04 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 012-035 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon attempted to initiate a telephone conversation with Secretary of the Treasury John B. Connally. Upon learning that Connally was unavailable, the President coordinated with the White House operator to manage the timing of the call. Ultimately, Nixon decided to delay the conversation for approximately one hour due to his own impending schedule, explicitly instructing the operator not to rush the Secretary.

Audio

Download MP3 · 0.9 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Yep.

Mr. President, they're telling me Secretary Connolly is in the shower.

I want to know if he could call back in about 10 minutes.

Or do you want me to stay with it?

I'll tell you, I'll be gone, but tell him it's not urgent, and I'll call him in an hour or so.

Fine.

You don't want me to hold on it?

No, don't hold on it.

All right, sir.

Because I have to go over to do something at the... All right, sir.

I'm sorry.

He'll be out in 10 minutes?

Okay.

That's what they said, about 10 minutes.

Yeah.

Let's see if I... Do you want me to wait?

It might not be that long.

Yeah.

All right.

You can just leave the call in.

All right.

I'll stick around ten minutes, but I'll have to leave.

All right.

Don't rush him.

All right, sir.

NARA Description

On October 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:52 am and 11:04 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-035 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 012-035

Date: October 21, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:52 am and 11:04 am
Location: White House Telephone

The White House operator talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 281-26A]

     John B. Connally's schedule

     The President's schedule

Also recorded on October 21, 1971

281-014 10:30 AM · 18 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 10:30 am and 10:51 am.
012-033 10:51 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 10:51 am to 10:52 am.
281-023 10:51 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:51 am to 10:52 am.
012-034 10:52 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 10:52 am to 11:04 am.
281-024 10:52 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:52 am and 10:55 am.
281-025 10:52 AM · 18 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 10:52 am and 10:55 am.
281-026 10:55 AM · 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, John B. Connally, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:55 am to 11:40 am.
012-036 11:04 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 11:04 am to 11:14 am.

All 107 conversations from October 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 012-035, October 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-035 (accessed October 12, 2026).