Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-106
Nixon phone call with Hoover on FBI and Black Panthers
Monday, November 22, 1971 · 5:39 PM–5:45 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover discussed the successful FBI investigation leading to the arrest of five Black Panther members accused of killing two New York City police officers. Nixon emphasized the importance of the FBI receiving public credit for the breakthrough and instructed Hoover to coordinate with Press Secretary Ron Ziegler to maximize the news coverage. The two also touched upon ongoing leads in the 'phantom' killings in Washington, D.C., and briefly reviewed political fallout from Nixon's recent appearance at the AFL-CIO convention.
- FBI
- Black Panthers
- Law Enforcement
- Public Relations
- AFL-CIO
- Crime
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello?
Mr. President, Mr. Hoover is on the line.
Hello?
Yes, Mr. President.
I just learned, I've been a little behind on my paperwork here, but I just, John Ehrlichman just came in and
Your letter telling me that you caught those five killers, those two policemen in New York.
That's right, we did.
That's just great.
How are you going to...
I hope you make a hell of a lot out of the announcement at some time.
Well, we're trying to do that.
Yeah.
It was an awful involved, long case.
As a matter of fact...
We arrested most of them out in California.
I'll be darned.
Yeah, I know.
That's a fantastic story.
I just thumbed through it here.
It's really a great one.
Now, tell me, does that jackass Murphy know you've done it?
Have you told him?
I imagine by now he does.
The only thing I'm concerned about, I wouldn't want him to step in and, you know, how you play it and take the credit for it.
I'll take care of that all right.
Well, I have no use for him anyway.
Well, it seems to me that this is really a great thing.
It is.
And these are just five terrorists, is that right?
They're the five of the Black Panther Titans.
And you can go, well, I'm just delighted because it'll have a darn... You might be interested, Mr. President, you've got some awful good leads on the killing of these Negro girls by this so-called phantom district.
Yeah, oh, you have.
You've got some awful good leads on that.
Yeah, yeah, good.
I don't know how they'll turn out, but they...
Yesterday and today, there were two very good things that we might have in a real person.
This is a good one.
And I just say, as I say, just you be sure the boys over there know that I think it's just great.
But I just want to be sure the Bureau gets the credit.
You know what I mean?
That's done.
Okay.
Because I think a country will be just...
I'll never forget that had an enormous effect in New York.
Remember the funeral for the Italian, you know, and everything.
And of course this arrest we made in Great Britain of those five people who are trying to sell those securities?
Oh yes, yes, yes.
So that was another one that we struck pretty hard.
Good.
I want to tell you what a wonderful appearance I think you made down there at Miami.
Of course.
Well, you know, I didn't want to take on old George Mealy because he's been a good fellow on many issues, but you just can't let anybody say that the president knows what he can do, you know.
Well, you know, the reaction already, I've been noticing the tech of the day,
The reaction among the labor leaders has been that it's done them more harm than good by the way he acted.
I see, I see.
The way you were treated is backfiring on them.
I think for that reason, he's not going to gain any money out of it.
We have to stand up to him, Edgar.
The point is that everybody wants... We have to advocate and let them win the country.
We simply cannot have this wage price push.
And he only represents, as you know, there are only 18 million organized laborers and there are 62 million that are not in unions.
So you've got to think...
You get to hear him talk.
You'd think he had the whole country organized.
That's right.
That's right.
I appreciate that.
As I said, I just went down there and I was very, very pleasant, but very firm.
No, you were cool throughout.
I saw it on TV.
Oh, yeah.
On your favorite network, CBS?
No.
Incidentally, he gave part of that network away today, you know.
Who?
Graham gave part of that network away today.
Is that right?
The WTOP-FM she gave to Howard University.
That's nice.
That's where it belongs.
That's nice.
Oh, boy.
Well, I'm just delighted with this, and I just want the Bureau to get the credit, you know, because we're fighting these, when these people raise questions, I can point to things like that.
Exactly.
If you can, as soon as you, when you're ready to make the announcement, be sure to let, have one of your boys let John know so that I can have Ziegler comment on it here.
I'll do that.
You know, so we can then say this is a great thing.
I want to, we'll give it a shot from over here, too.
I'll let him know.
Fine.
I'll get on top of it right away.
And if you get one on that other one, on the one here in the district, also let us know because then you see Ziegler can go out, Edgar, and say the president was delighted to learn.
And I think it's good that they know that I'm... That you have been personally interested in it.
That's right.
And that I've been following it, and when you're not, you can say you've reported to me, and I'm pleased, and so forth.
Fair enough?
In other words, there have been five or six of these colored girls who have been raped and killed.
That's awful, isn't it?
And you've got a good lead there, huh?
A very good lead.
A fellow whose wife happened to be Denise.
Does it look like one or several?
Just one.
One person.
And he has a background of being the Santa Elizabeth over here.
Oh, boy.
Psychiatric.
Is he black?
Black.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It looks as if we've got a pretty good lead there.
Oh, boy.
We're trying to hold it very tight.
All right.
I won't say a word.
Okay.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On November 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and J. Edgar Hoover talked on the telephone from 5:39 pm to 5:45 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-106 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 15-106
Date: November 22, 1971
Time: 5:39 pm - 5:45 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with the White House operator.
J. Edgar Hoover
The President talked with Hoover.
[See also Conversation No. 622-15B]
Suspected killer of two policemen in New York City
-Hoover's letter
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Arrest in California
-Patrick V. Murphy
-Credit for Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Black Panthers
“Phantom” killings in Washington, DC
Funeral for unnamed Italian in New York
-Impact
-Arrest in Great Britain
-Securities
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN-T-MDR-
2014-039. Segment exempt per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(1) on 10/24/2019. Archivist:
MAS]
[National Security]
[015-106-w001]
[Duration: 11s]
INTELLIGENCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
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The President's speech at American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organizations [AFL-CIO] convention
-George Meany's treatment of the President
-Labor leaders' reaction
-Constituency
-Television
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-WTOP-FM
-Katharine L. Graham
-Howard University
Congratulations on California arrests
Coordination of news with Ronald L. Ziegler
-California arrests
-"Phantom" case
-SuspectAlso recorded on November 22, 1971
- 622-012 4:50 PM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:50 pm to 5:05 pm.
- 622-013 5:05 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:05 pm and 5:15 pm.
- 622-014 5:05 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:05 pm and 5:15 pm.
- 622-015 5:05 PM · 1 hr 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:05 pm and 6:32 pm.
- 015-105 5:15 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:39 pm.
- 015-107 6:13 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Clark MacGregor talked on the telephone from 6:13 pm to 6:15 pm.
- 622-016 6:30 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:32 pm.
- 015-108 6:33 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:33 pm and 8:18 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 015-106, November 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/015-106 (accessed October 1, 2026).