Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 26 › Conversation 026-028

Nixon phone call with Agnew on Capital punishment and Supreme Court

Friday, June 30, 1972 · 11:07 AM–11:15 AM ET · White House Telephone · 8 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Agnew, Spiro T. (Vice President)Conversation026-028 on Tape 26 (tape position 02:01:00–02:08:40)StartFriday, June 30, 1972 at 11:07 AMEndFriday, June 30, 1972 at 11:15 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 026-028 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 646367982 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew discuss the President's recent press conference, specifically focusing on his handling of questions regarding recent Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment. Agnew praises the President's performance, while they both express frustration over the media's lack of depth and understanding regarding the legal nuances of the Court's rulings. Additionally, the conversation touches upon administrative scheduling and the political implications of a lawsuit filed by the Press Club against the Administration.

Audio

Download MP3 · 6.9 MB

This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 02:01:00 – 02:08:40

part A, 2:01:08

026a.mp3
026b.mp3

NARA Description

On June 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew talked on the telephone from 11:07 am to 11:15 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 026-028 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 26-28

Date: June 30, 1972
Time: 11:07-11:15 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Spiro T. Agnew.

[See Conversation No. 744-7]

     Agnew's schedule
         -Appearance in Nassau County

     The President's previous news conference
          -Questions
          -The President's handling
          -Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment
               -The President’s view
               -The Justice’s opinions
          -Capital punishment
               -The President's views
               -State legislatures

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4m 44s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

     The President's previous press conference
          -News breaks

     Press Club's attack on Administration
          -Lawsuit by members

     The President's schedule

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 43s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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

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

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

Vice President, sir.
Good morning, Mr. President.
Morning.
How are you?
You're in New York?
Yes, sir.
I wanted to call you last night.
I was at Nassau County, and incidentally, we had a tremendously good fundraiser up there, about 5,000 people.
Yeah.
And they're very supportive of everything you're doing.
I think you ran into last night probably...
One of the busiest days for a press conference.
They couldn't have selected it themselves.
Wasn't that something?
Wasn't that something?
Capital punishment, which I think was a bad decision, but that's a personal feeling.
Well, I think you handle it extremely well.
Of course, I don't think one-tenth of those people have read the decisions, and they really don't understand... No.
Well, there are nine different decisions, and the decisions did leave open, you know, if the law were properly written.
It didn't rule out capital punishment.
Only two of them, three, based their...
opinion on the idea that capital punishment was wrong, period, right?
Yeah, that's the way I saw it.
I hope that's true because, my gosh, I'm telling you, I think a kidnapper or a hijacker should be strung up, don't you?
I certainly do.

— 1 min 8 s with no transcribed speech —

Can you give me the vice president, please?
Yes, sir.
Vice president, sir.
Good morning, Mr. President.
Morning.
How are you?
You're in New York?
Yes, sir.
I wanted to call you last night.
I was at Nassau County, and incidentally, we had a tremendously good fundraiser up there, about 5,000 people.
Yeah.
And they're very supportive of everything you're doing.
I think you ran into, last night, probably...
One of the busiest days for a press conference.
They couldn't have selected it themselves.
Wasn't that something?
Wasn't that something?
Capital punishment, which I think was a bad decision initially, but that's a personal feeling.
Well, I think you handled it extremely well.
Of course, I don't think one-tenth of those people have read the decisions, and they really don't understand... No.
Well, there are nine different decisions, and the decisions did leave open, you know, if the law were properly written.
It didn't rule out capital punishment.
Only two of them, three, based their...
opinion on the idea that capital punishment was wrong, period, right?
Yeah, that's the way I saw it.
I hope that's true, because, my gosh, I'm telling you, I think a kidnapper or a hijacker should be strung up, don't you?
I certainly do, and I believe that the legislature ought to go back and look at that situation.
Right.

Also recorded on June 30, 1972

  • 026-027 11:04 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:04 am and 11:07 am.
  • 744-004 11:04 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:04 am to 11:05 am.
  • 744-005 11:05 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:05 am and 11:07 am.
  • 744-006 11:05 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:05 am and 11:07 am.
  • 744-026 11:05 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:05 am and 11:07 am.
  • 744-007 11:07 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:07 am to 11:15 am.
  • 744-008 11:15 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:15 am.
  • 744-009 11:15 AM — Stephen B. Bull and Vernon C. Coffey, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:15 am to 11:26 am.

All 43 conversations from June 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 026-028, June 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 646367982). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/026-028 (accessed November 14, 2026).