Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 12 › Conversation 012-085
Nixon, Butterfield & Holton on Supreme Court nominations
Friday, October 22, 1971 · 3:14 PM–3:30 PM ET · White House Telephone ·6 min
AI Summary
President Nixon called Virginia Governor Linwood Holton to discuss the impending announcement of his Supreme Court nominations of William H. Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Nixon urged Holton to publicly endorse the selections during his press conference, emphasizing the high quality of the candidates and the bipartisan nature of the appointments. The conversation also touched on international affairs, including tensions in Pakistan and the Middle East, before concluding with plans for Holton to meet with White House staff regarding Virginia's school policies.
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Are you there?
Are you there?
Yes.
Okay, now I'll bring the present to this phone.
All right.
Okay.
Oh, you're a doll.
You know...
You'll be here in about one minute.
Thank you.
Thank you.
How are you?
Governor, how are you?
Alex Butterfield.
Hey, Alex, how are you doing?
Pretty good, thanks.
Good.
Here's the present now.
Thank you.
Hello?
Hi, Mr. President.
Well, I just wanted to call you before your press conference to tell you that I think you're pretty fortunate and that we are too to have two Virginians.
I understand Rehnquist lives in Virginia, too.
Yeah, that makes three because the Chief Justice is out there.
Oh, yeah.
My Virginia Supreme Court now.
Well, it is.
And I will appreciate you, of course, being a lawyer and, of course, with the unfortunate situation in Poff, if you would make a very strong statement and if you would indicate to the press that I've called you
And I just signed the nominations this moment, as a matter of fact.
Well, that's just tremendous.
You really hit the ten strike.
This guy is... You feel pretty good, do you?
Oh, I feel outstanding, Mr. President.
You don't know... Do you know Rehnquist?
I do not know Rehnquist.
He's just, frankly, he'll probably turn out to be the best man in the court.
This may sound very...
But he is a real legal genius and a tough, strong mind and...
So we've got two finds.
And of course, Powell is one of the great gentlemen.
He was your supporter, too, wasn't he?
Well, he couldn't do that.
He supported you.
He supported Eisenhower.
But you didn't need it.
No, that's right.
You supported me.
That's right.
But he did not in any way do anything against me.
Well, he's a great fellow, and somebody asked me last night, well, how about his age?
I said, look, 10 years of Paul is worth 30 years of somebody else.
Well, that's right, Mr. President.
This fellow is a very fine, warm friend of mine.
He and his wife have played church with Dinks and me.
And I want you to know what he told me when I talked to him this morning, and that was,
He says, well, you tell the president when you talk to him that he's a damn fine lawyer because...
I was determined in my conversations with Mitchell that it's not appropriate.
The president talked me into doing it.
I really worked on it.
He didn't want it.
You and I had talked about it.
I know, I know, I know.
This is as clear a case of an office seeking out a man as I've ever seen.
You can point out, incidentally, that in our conversation that I recall the fact that you had first mentioned his name to me and that I...
and that also get in the fact of the bipartisan thing, that he's a Democrat, that this shows the president was seeking the best man regardless of party.
Would you do that?
I will do all of that.
Great.
And let me tell you that I had a very interesting telephone call this morning.
The president of the state NAACP called me to congratulate me for getting Lewis Powell on that court.
I didn't have a damn thing to do with it, but it does indicate the breadth of the support that this would get, I believe.
He's just taught.
Well, good.
I congratulate you.
I had to laugh when I saw the press speculating that you would go to mediocrity.
I knew that that would happen.
We had to get them out.
We had to get them off on their blind trail so we'd get in the men we want.
You've done a great job.
The whole thing, the economic program and everything you've been doing, I'm so thrilled with it.
You may remember I told you in Williamsburg, I felt we were on the
the eminence of some very, very fine successes, and I think you're doing a terrific job.
Well, I appreciate it very much.
I'm just meeting now with Kishi, the former prime minister of Japan.
We're trying to get that back on the track, but it's coming along.
Remember, we had to pay a price to get the textual agreement.
That's a tough...
That helps in your state, too, doesn't it, the textile agreement?
We have a couple of textiles that are in problem.
You've also got your Pakistan thing.
Well, that's terrible.
I just had a long meeting with Friedlinghausen this morning, but there's nothing we can do there.
They just hate each other.
We're doing the best we can.
The Middle East is shaping up, though, isn't it?
Fairly well, yeah.
Well, it's on ice, let's put it that way.
But the fact that the Soviet and us are getting together, that keeps it on ice for a few more months.
The way you've got Peking and Moscow balanced off is terrific.
And you see the Soviet and us getting together also restrains the Indians against the Paks.
and the Chinese was restraining the ya-ya.
So it's all a balancing act.
We just hope it doesn't come down.
Right.
Listen, one thing, I had lined up with Dwight and John and Bob Holliman at one time a little...
the opportunity to come up and discuss some of the school situation with you.
I didn't want to push that while the Supreme Court was under consideration.
So I'd like to get that on the track.
I can be helpful to you.
Fine.
Why don't you give a call?
You work it out, and I'll be glad to see you anytime.
You're close, and you can work into the schedule.
Why don't you just talk to Ehrlichman or Haldeman, either one.
Okay.
Fine.
Many thanks.
Or Dwight.
Anyone.
No, Dwight's in China.
No, Dwight's gone now.
Ehrlichman or Haldeman, either one.
They can make the schedules.
I'll do it.
And again, just the finest kind of congratulations on that outstanding pair of points.
Well, he's a great Virginian.
Okay.
Virginian, and keep on.
Make that Supreme Court a Virginia Supreme Court.
That'll help you.
I've been saying that all the time.
All right.
Okay.
Bye.
Bye.
NARA Description
On October 22, 1971, Alexander P. Butterfield, White House operator, Linwood Holton, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:14 pm and 3:30 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-085 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 12-85
Date: October 22, 1971
Time: Unknown between 3:14 and 3:30 pm
Location: White House Telephone
Alexander P. Butterfield talked with the White House operator.
The President's schedule
Butterfield talked with Linwood Holton.
Salutations
The President's schedule
The President talked with Holton between 3:30 pm and 3:35 pm.
Holton's forthcoming press conference
-Supreme Court nominees
-William H. Rehnquist
-Warren E. Burger
-Richard H. Poff
-Holton’s support
-Rehnquist
-Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
-Jinks Holton
-Previous conversation with Holton
-John N. Mitchell
-State National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
[NAACP]
-Support
-Holton's assessment of the President's performance
The President’s schedule
-Japan
-Nobusuke Kishi
-Textile agreement
57
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/06)
-Virginia factories
Foreign Affairs
-Pakistan
-President’s previous meeting with Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen
-India
-Middle East
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]-US role
-People’s Republic of China [PRC
-Pakistan
Virginia’s school situation
-Holton's schedule
-The President's schedule
-Dwight L. Chapin, John D. Ehrlichman, H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Chapin
-PRCAlso recorded on October 22, 1971
- 599-015 1:00 PM · 2 min — Rose Mary Woods, Anne Whitman, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:00 pm to 1:03 pm.
- 599-016 1:03 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:03 pm and 2:05 pm.
- 599-017 2:05 PM · 57 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, George H. W. Bush, William P. Rogers, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:05 pm to 3:00 pm.
- 012-082 3:14 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:14 pm.
- 012-083 3:14 PM · 35 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:14 pm and 3:30 pm.
- 012-084 3:14 PM · 4 min — Alexander P. Butterfield, White House operator, and Manolo Sanchez talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:14 pm and 3:30 pm.
- 012-086 3:35 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 3:35 pm to 5:20 pm.
- 012-087 5:20 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Bryce N. Harlow, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone from 5:20 pm to 5:27 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 012-085, October 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-085 (accessed September 18, 2026).