Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 20 › Conversation 020-045

Nixon phone call with Eisenhower on Busing and School Segregation

Thursday, February 3, 1972 · 12:49 PM–12:51 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsEisenhower, Julie Nixon; Nixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation020-045 on Tape 20 (tape position 01:34:08–01:36:45)StartThursday, February 3, 1972 at 12:49 PMEndThursday, February 3, 1972 at 12:51 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 020-045 ↗

AI Summary

Julie Nixon Eisenhower consulted the President regarding how to articulate the administration's stance on busing during her public appearances. President Nixon affirmed her critique of the policy's disadvantages and provided talking points emphasizing that, while legal segregation must be abolished to ensure educational equality, forced busing beyond neighborhood limits creates social chaos and results in inferior education. The conversation concluded with a brief coordination of the President's upcoming travel schedule to Florida.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Daddy?
Yeah, hi, Julie, how are you?
Terrible rush?
No, I'm not in a rush, no.
I wanted to ask you a question.
You know, when I went to Pittsburgh and everywhere I've gone, they ask me about busing.
Busing?
Yeah, and they always pick up things, and I just want to make sure I'm saying the right thing.
Yeah.
I said that the disadvantages outweigh any advantages.
You're exactly right.
I feel that it creates social chaos, and they use that a lot, and I just want to make sure that...
Right.
I would say this, that basically I'd add this one thing.
That's fine what you've said.
The second thing is to say that...
that our goal really is to see that every child in America gets a fine education.
Now, the Brown versus the Board of Education, the famous 1954 Supreme Court case, said that legally segregated education was inferior education.
And we believe that.
That's why we have removed the last vestiges of that.
In other words, we've entered the dual school system in the South.
On the other hand, I think it could also say that where younger children particularly are concerned...
Where there is excessive busing, that also is inferior education.
And therefore, our goal should be, how do we get superior education?
And so we begin with two problems.
One, there must be no legal segregation.
Two, there must be the freedom of every child to go anywhere he wants to school.
But third, there should not be no artificial force
busing beyond normal limits, beyond the neighborhood schools, because that makes education inferior.
See?
Right.
Sort of along those lines.
Yeah, that's a big help.
Okay.
It really is.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On February 3, 1972, Julie Nixon Eisenhower and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 12:49 pm to 12:51 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 020-045 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 20-45

Date: February 3, 1972
Time: 12:49 pm - 12:51 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked with the President.

[This is the original beginning of conversation No. 020-045, which has been merged with
conversation 020-044.]

[See Conversation No. 665-6C]

     Busing
          -Julie Eisenhower’s recent trip to Pittsburgh
                -Questions
                -Advantages compared to disadvantages
                -Education
                      -Quality
                -Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education
                      -Segregation
                           -Dual school system in South
                -Superior education
                -Legal segregation
                      -Elimination
                -Forced busing
                      -Education
                           -Inferiority

**********************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/13/2019.
9s segment cleared for release. 27s remain closed as 020-045-w001.]
[Personal Returnable]
[020-045-w001]
[Duration: 9s]

      President's schedule
             -Florida visit on February 3-6 1972

**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[020-045-w001]
[Duration: 27s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

**********************************************************************

       President's schedule
              -Florida visit on February 3-6, 1972
              -[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II and Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                      -Potential visit February 4, 1972

**********************************************************************

Also recorded on February 3, 1972

  • 020-044 9:55 AM · 12 sec — the White House operator and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:55 am and 12:49 pm.
  • 665-002 10:53 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:53 am.
  • 665-003 10:53 AM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ellsworth F. Bunker, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:53 am to 11:33 am.
  • 665-004 11:33 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:33 am and 11:53 am.
  • 665-005 11:33 AM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:33 am and 11:53 am.
  • 665-006 11:53 AM · 1 hr 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:53 am to 1:30 pm.
  • 665-007 1:30 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:30 pm and 2:25 pm.
  • 665-008 2:25 PM · 1 hr 45 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Demitir Zarechnak met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:25 pm to 4:10 pm.

All 21 conversations from February 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 020-045, February 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/020-045 (accessed September 30, 2026).