Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 14 › Conversation 014-138
Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Bilge water filtering
Tuesday, November 16, 1971 · 3:00 PM–3:09 PM ET · White House Telephone · 9 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and his brother, F. Donald Nixon, discussed family matters, the national economy, and a promising new industrial bilge water filtering system developed by an inventor from Oklahoma. F. Donald Nixon advocated for the technology, noting its success in Fort Belvoir tests and its potential for both environmental cleanup and jet fuel processing. The President agreed to facilitate the project by directing aide John Whitaker to consult with Navy contact Meyer Minchen to help move the proposal through government red tape.
- Bilge water filtering
- Technology development
- Navy procurement
- Family affairs
- Economic policy
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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Hello.
Your brother, Mr. President.
Thank you.
The President.
on this filtering system for separation of water and oil, taking oil out of the water, you know, for the bilge water and also for just a breakthrough that is, this man, I happen to be the guy, one of them that found this fellow.
A couple of friends, one fellow's a big supporter of Ray Murphy, a wealthy fellow, always supported him heavily.
And we found this guy who has no education, but he's an Oklahoma boy.
That is genius.
And Fort Belvoir have been testing his unit out of 126 companies.
His filtering system is the only one that came up to anything near what they wanted in a way of, you know, to do the job.
You can separate that damn water out of the oil and it's pure enough that you can drink it.
It's unbelievable.
The Navy people have told him that he's accomplished what they hoped to accomplish by 1985.
And he's the only one of the 126 companies that had the program.
The guy that heads up Fort Belvoir told me directly, told Ed Dez, that without this man's system, that they wouldn't have a program for this cleanup of the oceans, you know, with those cars going to take care of.
Here's what the man needs.
He needs some encouragement.
There's a fellow, a very good friend of Eddie's, that needs to push the services here to get these damn things through all the red tape, if you know what I mean.
This man is a former captain of the Navy, Meyer Minchin.
You want to talk to Ed about him.
This fellow, he's for 10 months now, he's a wealthy man from Texas.
He's had oil out there, and he is working for Chief of Naval Operations on a special project, trying to help him accomplish, you know, to push things through, for no pay at all.
And he says he doesn't want any part of this, but he wants to see this program go.
And here's a fellow that I think it would be, Ed should get involved in it, because he knows him, he's known him for years in the Navy, and he would like to get involved in...
being able to, in other words, expedite some of these programs that you are trying to get through and aren't getting through.
And by God, he's the damnedest expediter I've ever heard of.
I mean, I was with him just two different meetings that I just sat there just to listen, you know, and I'm very much impressed with him.
I think that it'd be worth your time to meet him sometime and just hear what he has to say.
A fellow that knows about it is John Whitaker on our, maybe he could talk, he's a geologist.
Ed talked to John Whitaker and told him about him.
And John Whitaker, Ed said, now if John Whitaker does something about it, fine.
If he doesn't, he can't do anything more than that.
Now that's what Ed did.
I'm telling you about it directly because, Dick, I'll tell you, if this thing can be pushed and gotten through within this next year, it'll be one of the
A real plus for the political campaign.
Because if you could see what this filter will accomplish, he can upgrade jet fuels from JP-4 up to JP-7 for a few pennies.
As an example, JP-7 costs about $0.36 a gallon.
JP-4 is only about $0.10 or $0.11 a gallon.
And he can bring those together.
When did he talk to Whitaker about it?
Just last week.
Time to talk to Whitaker again.
I have to rely on him, you see, because he's the expert.
He knows how.
Could I do this?
Could I call Whitaker and ask that he might call Minchin and let Minchin tell him what he thinks of this?
Minchin is somewhat of a geologist, and he's in the Navy.
He knows how important this is to the services.
Sure, you could just... Every Navy ship, you know, is going to have to, and all these tankers have to be cleaned up.
Sure, that's fine.
Is that all right?
Absolutely, sure.
No problem at all.
NARA Description
On November 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and F. Donald Nixon talked on the telephone from 3:00 pm to 3:09 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 014-138 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 14-138
Date: November 16, 1971
Time: 3:00 pm - 3:09 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with the White House operator.
F. Donald Nixon
The President talked with F. Donald Nixon.
[See Conversation No. 295-7]
*****************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 03/20/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[014-138-w001]
[Duration: 2m 15s]
Greetings
National economy
-Stock market
-F. Donald Nixon’s broker
-President’s inflation program
-Market movement
The President's schedule
-Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Hospital
-Oklahoma football game
Edward C. Nixon
-Prospects
-Oregon and Washington
-F. Donald Nixon
-Wife, Gaye L. (Woods) Nixon
-Moving out of area
-Prospects
-Nixon Foundation
-Washington State
-Labor market
-Air frames
F. Donald Nixon's schedule
-Thanksgiving
-Atlanta, Georgia
-Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Hospital
-Wife, Clara Jane (Lemke) Nixon
The President's family
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
-[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II and Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Edward C. Nixon
-Conversation with the President
*****************************************************************
Filtering system for bilge water
-F. Donald Nixon's efforts
-Ray Murphy
-Unknown man from Oklahoma
-Ft. Belvoir tests
-Comments by Navy
-Man from Oklahoma
-Meyer Minchen [sp?]
-Edward C. Nixon
-Efforts
-Possible meeting with the President
*****************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 03/20/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[014-138-w002]
[Duration: 15s]
Filtering system for bilge water
-Man from Oklahoma
-Meyer Minchen [sp?]
-Edward C. Nixon
*****************************************************************
Filtering system for bilge water
-John C. Whitaker
-Conversation with Edward C. Nixon
-Use in jet fuels
-Cost
-Whitaker
-Forthcoming conversations
-Edward C. Nixon
-F. Donald Nixon
-Minchen [sp?]
*****************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 03/21/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[014-138-w003]
[Duration: 2m 36s]
The President's schedule
-Family visit
The President's fund-raising dinners, November 9, 1971
-F. Donald Nixon's efforts
-Thomas Anfinson and Loraine M. (Nixon) Anfinson
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-President’s opinion
The President's schedule
-Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Hospital
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Efforts
F. Donald Nixon's visit to Australia
-Opinion of Australians
-President’s opinion
-Australians compared to Americans
F. Donald Nixon's residence
-Thomas Anfinson and Loraine M. (Nixon) Anfinson
-Newport, California
Edward C. Nixon
Clara Jane (Lemke) Nixon letter to the President
-Furniture
-Alexandria
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s possible interest
*****************************************************************Also recorded on November 16, 1971
- 295-007 3:00 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and F. Donald Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:00 pm to 3:09 pm.
- 014-139 3:09 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
- 295-008 3:09 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
- 295-009 3:09 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
- 295-010 3:09 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
- 295-011 3:09 PM · 10 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 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
- 014-140 3:16 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 3:16 pm to 3:27 pm.
- 295-012 3:16 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:16 pm to 3:27 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 014-138, November 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/014-138 (accessed October 24, 2026).