Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 22 › Conversation 022-160

Nixon phone call with Graham on John B. Connally and Lyndon B. Johnson

Sunday, April 16, 1972 · 3:57 PM–4:09 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Graham, William F. ("Billy")Conversation022-160 on Tape 22 (tape position 06:22:18– )StartSunday, April 16, 1972 at 3:57 PMEndSunday, April 16, 1972 at 4:09 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 022-160 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417193285 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Reverend Billy Graham discussed the health of John Connally and shared personal reflections on the current treatment of former President Lyndon B. Johnson by the Democratic Party. Nixon expressed sympathy for Johnson, noting that he had been abandoned by his own party’s presidential candidates, while Graham shared insights from a recent conversation with the former president. The call also touched upon the success of recent U.S. military strikes in the Haiphong area of Vietnam.

Audio

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NARA Description

On April 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and William F. ("Billy") Graham talked on the telephone from 3:57 pm to 4:09 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 022-160 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 22-160

Date: April 16, 1972
Time: 3:57 pm - 4:09 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William F. (“Billy”) Graham.

     Greetings

     John B. Connally
          -Health
          -Previous talk with Graham

          -Texas
          -The President’s view

     The President’s health

     Lyndon B. Johnson
         -Message via Graham
         -Relationship with the President
         -Treatment by Democrats
               -Candidates’ relationship
                    -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
                    -Hubert H. Humphrey
                    -Edmund S. Muskie
         -Treatment by Republicans
         -Children
               -Luci Baines (Johnson) Turpin
               -Lynda Bird (Johnson) Robb

     Vietnam strikes

A brief disconnection or telephone malfunction occurred at an unknown time.

          -Success
          -Haiphong area

Recording was disconnected at an unknown time between 3:57 pm and 4:09 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 14% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Hello?
Yeah.
Hello?
Billy, have you been feeling all right?
Yeah, that's good, that's good.
Oh, I'm fine.
You know, John Connolly's not been feeling too well, and as you probably know, he's had a little bit worried about his high blood pressure.
He told me that he talked to you and you recommended some medicine, but he went back home to Texas this weekend.
Maybe that'll
make him feel better.
He gets too stirred up about stuff, you know.
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right.
Well, he's a very intense fellow, you know, underneath that very extrovert exterior, and he just gets, you know, he gets stirred up.
But he has never had high blood pressure before, and I think that's why it worries him.
But people can have it.
They get over it.
It's not going to be neither here nor there.
That's what I told him.
We were talking about it on Monday this week.
I said, you get over it.
And it's just one of those.
Well, I'll take a little time.
We'll get it over.
I got your message from Johnson.
I appreciated that very much.
Apparently, you had a good talk with him.
Oh, yeah.
No, the only thing is...
Very nice.
You know, as a matter of fact, Billy, his party has treated him shamefully, too.
Not one of those Democratic candidates has gone down to see him.
You know?
And that's just a vicious thing.
I mean, I think Jackson might have, I don't know, but I don't even know whether he did.
Well, now, after all, to treat him like a pariah is not right after the way he made Humphrey and he made Muskie, both of them.
And so I think, but I don't know.
Yeah.
See, he would expect a Republican on the other side, after whom he'd taken on pretty good to treat him badly, but his own party
He's just wrong.
His children.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Incidentally, I think you should be pleased to know that the strikes we had.
Hello.
Yeah.
Just the operator.
The strikes we had yesterday were enormously successful.
on the Haiphong area.
We took that.

Also recorded on April 16, 1972

  • 022-152 2:25 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 2:25 pm to 2:29 pm.
  • 022-153 2:35 PM · 44 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 2:35 pm to 2:36 pm.
  • 022-154 2:36 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:36 pm and 3:19 pm.
  • 022-155 3:19 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 3:19 pm to 3:27 pm.
  • 022-156 3:27 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:27 pm and 3:39 pm.
  • 022-157 3:29 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John V. Brennan talked on the telephone from 3:29 pm to 3:30 pm.
  • 022-158 3:33 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:33 pm.
  • 022-159 3:35 PM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 3:35 pm to 3:54 pm.

All 43 conversations from April 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 022-160, April 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417193285). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/022-160 (accessed November 2, 2026).