Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-119

Nixon, O'Neill & Ford on Congressional adjournment and Legislative affairs

Wednesday, October 18, 1972 · 2:37 PM–2:39 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); O'Neill, Thomas P. ("Tip"), Jr.; Ford, Gerald R.Conversation031-119 on Tape 31StartWednesday, October 18, 1972 at 2:37 PMEndWednesday, October 18, 1972 at 2:39 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-119 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Tip O'Neill, and Gerald Ford discuss the imminent adjournment of Congress and the formal notification process required. The President invites O'Neill, Ford, and Speaker Carl Albert to the White House for an informal meeting and coffee later that afternoon. Nixon tasks his aide, William Timmons, with coordinating the logistics of this meeting based on the progress of the Senate's final activities.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr., and Gerald R. Ford talked on the telephone from 2:37 pm to 2:39 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-119 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-119

Date: October 18, 1972
Time: 2:37 pm - 2:39 pm

Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 803-17]

        Congressional adjournment
           -Gerald R. Ford
           -Annual report
           -Notification
           -The President's forthcoming call on Senate adjournment
                -Forthcoming meeting

Ford joined the conversation at an unknown time between 2:37 pm and 2:39 pm.

        Congressional adjournment
           -Forthcoming meeting
                -William E. Timmons
                -Carl B. Albert

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Congressman O'Neill, sir.
You are.
Hello.
Mr. President.
Yes, Dip, are you?
Fine.
How are you?
Fine.
Well, Jerry is here with me and he's calling on the annual report that we have a committee appointed.
to inform the Senate and to inform the President that Congress is ready to adjourn.
Have you any further communications to make to the Congress?
No, I have no further communications except to wish you all the very best in the recess period.
And also I was going to suggest, if it would fit into your schedule, I'm expecting a call from the Senate at 3.30 that...
Perhaps you might, if you had time, you could come down and have a cup of coffee about 4 o'clock down here, if that would meet with your schedules.
Well, if it meets with my schedule, I'll be delighted.
I'll have you talk to Jerry.
Well, Mr. President, it...
If we're through, and I hope we are through by that time, I'd love to do it.
What I will do is to have Bill call you, your offices, as soon as we find out what the Senate is up to, you know, whether they'll be ready.
And would the two of you inform the Speaker and ask him if he could come, too?
Obviously, we'd want him there, too.
But we would like to talk a little before you go out for...
Shall we call it a vacation?
Let's hope.
Not for the next three weeks, Mr. President.
That's right.
Well, you're very nice to invite us down, and I think we'll get through here, don't you?
Well, anyway, if it's later than four, it could be five, six, any time.
So I'll be here anyway.
Good to talk to you, and we'll look forward to seeing you later this afternoon.
Thanks very much.

Also recorded on October 18, 1972

  • 803-015 2:33 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:33 pm to 2:34 pm.
  • 803-016 2:34 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:34 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 803-017 2:37 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:37 pm to 2:39 pm.
  • 031-121 2:39 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 803-018 2:40 PM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Nikolai S. Patolichev, Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, William P. Rogers, Peter G. Peterson, Peter M. Flanigan, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:40 pm to 3:16 pm.
  • 803-019 3:16 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:16 pm and 3:20 pm.
  • 803-020 3:16 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:16 pm and 3:20 pm.
  • 803-021 3:20 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:20 pm to 3:21 pm.

All 76 conversations from October 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-119, October 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-119 (accessed November 1, 2026).