Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 21 › Conversation 021-123

Nixon phone call with Connally on Narcotics policy and Drug legalization

Monday, March 20, 1972 · 7:59 PM–8:00 PM ET · White House Telephone

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation021-123 on Tape 21 (tape position 04:20:34–04:21:13)StartMonday, March 20, 1972 at 7:59 PMEndMonday, March 20, 1972 at 8:00 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 021-123 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with John B. Connally to confirm his ally's support for a hardline stance against drug permissiveness. Nixon expressed strong opposition to policies involving the legalization or distribution of heroin and marijuana. Connally affirmed his agreement with the President’s position, reinforcing Nixon's intent to promote these views in an upcoming public address.

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 04:20:34 into the tape and ends around 04:21:13.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

2:24:04John, I didn't mean to bother you, but I wanted to be sure you agreed with what I said about this business on narcotics today, this permissiveness.
2:24:12Do you agree with me?
2:24:14My God, we just can't go that way, you know, to give them heroin, give them marijuana.
2:24:19And I'm going to take a very hard line on it tomorrow, but I want to be sure you thought it was the right thing.
2:24:25Good.
2:24:28Okay, good.
2:24:29Good.

NARA Description

On March 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 7:59 pm to 8:00 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 021-123 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 21-123

Date: March 20, 1972

Time: 7:59 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John B. Connally.

     Narcotics
          -The President’s previous remarks
               -Permissiveness
                     -Heroin
                     -Marijuana
                     -The President’s forthcoming remarks

Also recorded on March 21, 1972

  • 021-122 7:36 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 7:36 pm to 7:37 pm.
  • 021-134 8:00 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 8:00 pm on March 20, 1972 and 1:03 pm on March 21, 1972.
  • 690-001 9:20 AM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 10:07 am.
  • 690-002 9:20 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 10:07 am.
  • 690-003 9:20 AM · 6 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 10:07 am.
  • 690-004 9:20 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 10:07 am.
  • 690-005 9:20 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 10:07 am.
  • 690-006 9:20 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 10:07 am.

All 31 conversations from March 21, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 021-123, March 21, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/021-123 (accessed October 12, 2026).