Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-163

Nixon, Whitaker & Colson on Environmental policy and National Cleanup Week

Monday, November 29, 1971 · 5:05 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Whitaker, John C.; Colson, Charles W.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Whitaker, John C.; Colson, Charles W.Conversation015-163 on Tape 15 (tape position 04:28:56–04:31:14)StartMonday, November 29, 1971 at 5:05 PMEndMonday, November 29, 1971 at 5:05 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 015-163 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consults with John C. Whitaker regarding a proposal from Treasury Secretary John B. Connally to establish a national cleanup week. The initiative aims to improve urban conditions by mobilizing citizens and companies to renovate and clean their own homes and workplaces rather than focusing solely on public parks. Nixon directs Whitaker to present the idea to Russell E. Train’s group to evaluate its feasibility and potential for national implementation.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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smell blood yeah mr whittaker sir yeah uh john yes john connolly uh feels very strongly we talked to it about the other day that on the environmental thing that we ought to have a national cleanup week uh you know you look at these horrible uh housing places you know and of course it would be considered to be anti-negro to do it i guess remember they closed one down in the new in st louis it's only eight years old and
I just drove by one in Florida the other day that's unbelievable.
But you know, you get people to volunteer, you do all sorts of things, you know, clean up your place, paint your place, etc., etc.
Get companies to give free paint and nails and whatever else they do and so forth and so on.
The point they raise with you is this, that I'd like for you to throw this into the train group.
For that TV meeting?
Oh, I see.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
All right.
No, you throw it into the train group for, uh, for, uh, to run it by to see what they think of the idea.
All right.
Now, we don't have a congressional thing, but we might have a buildup on this thing and, uh...
And I'm not sure that's a good idea, but tell Trane and his group...
This is kind of what was done during the Earth Days in the two years.
Except the Earth Day was...
It's kind of echo-freaky.
Yeah, but that was sort of a screw-off thing, you know.
But I mean, rather than going out and cleaning up the parks, I mean, goddammit, cleaning up their own houses.
I understand.
A city thing, you know.
That's right.
That was done by the environmental guy right here in Washington fairly successfully.
They got so darn much garbage out of the...
out of the towns that they couldn't find a place to put it in the dump.
But you're talking about organizing something like that nationally.
I'm at a national cleanup day, and where every community in the country says, we're going to clean up our, and then every citizen says, I'm going to clean up my house, every company, we're going to clean up our office.
We're going to paint, we're going to clean up, we're going to make it shine.
It's just an idea as to something that is to get people to really work on that 80% of the environment in which they live rather than just the 20% which they visit.
Right.
It's just a thought.
Okay.
But throw it in the trains group tournament.
I'd like for them to, you know, gas around about it and see what they want to do.
Okay.
I'll do it, sir.
Thanks.

NARA Description

On November 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, John C. Whitaker, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at 5:05 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-163 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 15-163

Date: November 29, 1971
Time: 5:02 pm - 5:05 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     John C. Whitaker

The President talked with John C. Whitaker; the President conferred with Charles W. Colson
before the conversation begins.

[See also Conversation No. 306-10J]

     Environment
          -Suggestion for a national cleanup week
               -Low income housing
                    -John B. Connally
                    -Blacks
                    -St. Louis and Florida
                    -Volunteers
                           -Companies
                    -Russell E. Train group
                    -Congress
                    -Earth Day
                    -Washington, DC example
                    -Scope

Also recorded on November 29, 1971

  • 015-160 4:52 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Robert H. Finch talked on the telephone from 4:52 pm to 4:54 pm.
  • 015-161 4:54 PM · 3 sec — unknown person(s) and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:54 pm and 5:02 pm.
  • 015-162 4:54 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:54 pm and 5:02 pm.
  • 015-164 5:05 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:05 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 015-165 5:35 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 5:35 pm to 5:39 pm.
  • 015-166 5:39 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 306-011 5:39 PM · 8 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 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 306-012 5:39 PM · 7 sec — 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 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.

All 72 conversations from November 29, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 015-163, November 29, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-163 (accessed October 9, 2026).