Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 28 › Conversation 028-038

Nixon, McCarroll & Keys on General Motors and Automotive industry

Tuesday, August 1, 1972 · 5:23 PM–5:26 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); McCarroll, John; Keys, Jim; Roger, ElmerConversation028-038 on Tape 28StartTuesday, August 1, 1972 at 5:23 PMEndTuesday, August 1, 1972 at 5:26 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 028-038 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief, informal telephone conversation with John McCarroll and several other employees during a meeting at a General Motors Fisher Body plant in Pittsburgh. The President used the call to offer greetings, express support for the workers, and discuss the importance of maintaining strong auto sales to ensure job security. The conversation served primarily as a morale-boosting gesture during the transition to the 1973 model production line.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello.
I have Mr. John McCarroll.
John.
Hi.
Hello.
Mr. President.
I'll tell you other places.
Just pull them in in here right now.
We're at the work center in General Motors.
Where is that in Pittsburgh?
Just say hi to him.
Are they in Pittsburgh?
Yes, sir.
Sure, sure.
Sure.
Hi, President.
Hi.
How are you?
I hope you're having a good time there, I hope.
Yes, sir.
Good backer here in John McCarroll.
Right.
Incidentally, have you got pretty good production now?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Plenty of jobs.
We try to keep those cars selling.
Oh, yeah.
We're going into 73 models now.
Great, great.
Here's Mr. Key, Jim Key.
Right, right.
Hello, Mr. President.
Mr. Keyes, you're good to talk to you.
And I just hope we keep selling those cars so we have lots of jobs.
Yeah.
All right.
Hey, this is Mr. Elmer Rogel.
Yes, sir.
How are you doing, sir?
Mr. Rogel, good to talk to you.
I hope you're saying to all the fellows that I hope that business stays good so we get plenty of jobs out there.
Yes, I hope.
Yeah.
Tell me, are your wives there, too, or is this just the men?
No, we're at work, sir.
Oh, you're at work.
I caught you in the job.
Oh, that's... No, no, no.
I see.
Well, you give all the fellows my best and wish them well.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Right.
Here's to John McCall.
Right.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Well, it was good to talk to all these fellows.
Well, that's terrific, Bill.
And you're just sitting there having just a meeting on various matters, huh?
Yes, sir.
We're right inside this big General Motors Fisher body plant right here.
Whenever your call comes down, I always pair up and have a little trouble out on O-line getting it to run because remodel changes.
I see.
Getting going.
Right.
Okay, Mr. President.
Well, you'll give everybody my best and my best to your wives, too.
Don't stand out here looking in because they heard you were calling.
Okay.
All right.
Great.
Goodbye.
Give my best to your wife.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On August 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, John McCarroll, Jim Keys, and Elmer Roger talked on the telephone from 5:23 pm to 5:26 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 028-038 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 28-38

Date: August 1, 1972
Time: 5:23 pm - 5:26 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John McCarroll.

[See Conversation No. 758-23]

*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 35s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

     The President's hello to other local members
          -Meeting at General Motors [GM]

The President talked with an unknown person.

     Greetings

     Jobs
            -Car sales

The President talked with Jim Keys [sp?].

     Greetings

     Car sales
          -Jobs

The President talked with Elmer Rogel [sp?].

     Greetings

     Auto business
         -Jobs

     Members' location
        -Shop office

The President talked with McCarroll.

     Thanks

     Union meeting
         -GM-Fisher body plant
              -Model changes

     Greetings to wives

Also recorded on August 1, 1972

  • 758-018 5:17 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 5:20 pm.
  • 758-019 5:17 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 5:20 pm.
  • 028-037 5:20 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Edward J. Kiernan talked on the telephone from 5:20 pm to 5:21 pm.
  • 758-020 5:20 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Edward J. Kiernan met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:20 pm to 5:21 pm.
  • 758-021 5:21 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:21 pm and 5:22 pm.
  • 758-022 5:22 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:22 pm to 5:23 pm.
  • 758-023 5:23 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John McCarroll met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:23 pm to 5:26 pm.
  • 028-039 5:26 PM · 10 sec — The recording device engaged on an unknown date, sometime between 5:26 pm on August 1, 1972 and 9:33 am on August 2, 1972, but the conversation appears to be blank.

All 73 conversations from August 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 028-038, August 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/028-038 (accessed October 1, 2026).