Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 21 › Conversation 021-069

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Ronald L. Ziegler

Tuesday, March 14, 1972 · 4:37 PM ET · White House Telephone

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation021-069 on Tape 21 (tape position 03:02:02–03:02:09)StartTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 4:37 PMEndTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 4:37 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 021-069 ↗

President Nixon contacted the White House operator to facilitate a telephone connection with his Press Secretary, Ronald L. Ziegler. The brief exchange served as a logistical request to initiate a direct line of communication between the President and his top spokesperson. No further policy discussions or substantive developments occurred during this brief administrative interaction.

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 71.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 03:02:02 into the tape and ends around 03:02:09.

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

On March 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:37 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 021-069 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 21-69

Date: March 14, 1972
Time: 4:37 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Request for a call to Ronald L. Ziegler
  • 021-070 4:37 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:37 pm.
  • 021-071 4:37 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:37 pm and 7:00 pm.
  • 021-072 4:37 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:37 pm and 7:00 pm.
  • 021-073 4:37 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:37 pm and 7:00 pm.
  • 322-057 4:37 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 4:37 pm.
  • 322-058 4:37 PM · 6 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 4:37 pm and 4:42 pm.
  • 322-059 4:42 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:42 pm and 5:52 pm.
  • 325-001 4:55 PM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 5:52 pm.

Conversation 021-069, March 14, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/021-069 (accessed October 3, 2026).