Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 21 › Conversation 021-101

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Richard G. Kleindienst

Friday, March 17, 1972 · 4:34 PM ET · White House Telephone

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation021-101 on Tape 21 (tape position 04:00:30–04:00:36)StartFriday, March 17, 1972 at 4:34 PMEndFriday, March 17, 1972 at 4:34 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 021-101 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon contacted the White House operator to facilitate a telephone connection with Deputy Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst. This administrative request served as a precursor to a direct consultation between the two men. No further substantive details regarding the purpose of the call were captured in this exchange.

Audio

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 04:00:30 into the tape and ends around 04:00:36.

Transcript (AI-generated)

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

NARA Description

On March 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:34 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 021-101 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 21-101

Date: March 17, 1972
Time: 4:34 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 323-33D]

     Request for a call to Richard G. Kleindienst

Also recorded on March 17, 1972

  • 021-102 4:34 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:34 pm.
  • 021-103 4:34 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 5:29 pm.
  • 323-034 4:37 PM · 37 sec — Manolo Sanchez and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:37 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 324-001 5:25 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 an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:29 pm.
  • 324-002 5:25 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:32 pm.
  • 021-104 5:29 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 5:29 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 021-105 5:30 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:30 pm and 5:36 pm.
  • 324-003 5:32 PM · 5 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 5:32 pm and 5:36 pm.

All 55 conversations from March 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 021-101, March 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/021-101 (accessed October 3, 2026).