Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-045

Nixon phone call with Price on Radio addresses and Campaign messaging

Saturday, October 14, 1972 · 10:58 AM–11:01 AM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation031-045 on Tape 31StartSaturday, October 14, 1972 at 10:58 AMEndSaturday, October 14, 1972 at 11:01 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-045 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. discuss the final preparations for an upcoming radio address concerning crime and drug abuse. Nixon provides specific directives to redact identifying details from a personal letter used in the speech to protect the sender's privacy and manage potential press inquiries. Additionally, they reach a decision to postpone work on a proposed speech regarding education to prioritize other pending communications.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Mr. Price.
Sure.
Ray, I just approved the final draft, and that's fine.
And I'm glad we were able to add those 200 words.
Well, I like that Huxley thing in there.
The reason I had the impression the other was shorter
is that I told Haldeman to check.
I had the feeling.
I didn't realize it had gone 2,000 words.
But we want to keep it beneath 15.
Not that we can't buy more, but I'd just like to run over.
How long did it take?
Does anybody know?
It took about 16 minutes, but I don't have the whether it's just under or just over.
Basically, in the future ones, let's run them about this length.
1,700 will run.
In a 15-minute broadcast, we should go 13 and a half minutes.
Because one of the reasons is it isn't like a presidential thing.
They have to have the political sign-off.
This is paid for by the committee to re-elect the president.
You see, it takes a little bit of time.
So 16 and a half.
This is a change that I have made, and I just sent it back to Rose for final typing, is this.
On the letter from the boy in the Midwest, as you probably are aware, I called that boy.
I have stricken out the name David in both cases, the point being that I don't want him to be that identifiable.
And I don't want the letter to be put out.
You understand?
Mm-hmm.
What I mean is if anybody in the press asks about it, say, no, that's a confidential letter.
The point being, we don't know what this boy now, the brother, is up to.
So I just said my brother in both instances.
What I wanted you to know why I'd done that.
See?
Because we haven't consulted.
about using the letter, but we don't identify the letter.
Do you think there's any problem there, do you?
I don't know.
I think it's the sort of thing that's very personal.
And the point is, though, I want us all to know that they were not going to put out the letter or identify it.
The only identification we have is that it's from the Midwest.
I wonder if we need that in it, even.
Uh, it probably helps authenticate it a little bit.
All right, fine.
Okay.
Fine.
Fine.
You tell the Andrews everything is fine.
I was just in the process of doing a memo to you on the question of the education one.
Oh, you decided?
Well, I thought we were leaning against that now.
Well, my recommendation, we've been crashing to try to get one that could be done.
My recommendation at this point would be to hold off because I think we're going to have some, you know, it's going to take some time clearing it and so forth.
I don't need it now.
I don't need it right away.
Don't worry too much about it.
Just move on some of the others.
All right.
But if you can't get it done, we'll wait until next week.
Okay?
All right.
Fine.
We've got plenty of them.
Okay.
Good.
Bye.

NARA Description

On October 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 10:58 am to 11:01 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-045 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-45

Date: October 14, 1972
Time: 10:58 am - 11:01 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 798-10]

        The President's Radio Address on Crime and Drug Abuse,
        October 5, 1972
            -Content

                 -Aldous Huxley line
             -Length
                 -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                 -Radio broadcast
             -Letter from unnamed boy in the Midwest
                 -Quotation
                 -Identification of sender
                       -Possible press questions
             -John K. Andrews, Jr.

        The President’s forthcoming speeches
            -Education as subject
                -Timing of possible speech

Also recorded on October 14, 1972

  • 798-005 10:39 AM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:39 am and 10:42 am.
  • 798-006 10:39 AM · 55 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:39 am and 10:42 am.
  • 031-044 10:42 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:42 am and 10:58 am.
  • 798-007 10:42 AM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and William E. Timmons met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:42 am to 10:56 am.
  • 798-008 10:56 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:56 am and 10:58 am.
  • 798-009 10:56 AM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:56 am and 10:58 am.
  • 798-010 10:58 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:58 am to 11:01 am.
  • 798-011 11:01 AM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:01 am and 11:17 am.

All 36 conversations from October 14, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-045, October 14, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-045 (accessed October 1, 2026).