Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-136

Nixon phone call with Tkach on Eleanor McGovern and Medical facilities

Thursday, October 19, 1972 · 9:06 AM–9:08 AM ET · White House Telephone · 44 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Tkach, Walter R.Conversation031-136 on Tape 31StartThursday, October 19, 1972 at 9:06 AMEndThursday, October 19, 1972 at 9:08 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-136 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directs his physician, General Walter R. Tkach, to discreetly offer White House medical facilities to Eleanor McGovern following reports of her hospitalization. Nixon emphasizes that the outreach should be conducted as a private, off-the-record gesture through her personal physician. Tkach acknowledges the instruction and commits to handling the matter with the requested level of discretion.

  • Eleanor McGovern
  • Medical facilities
  • Discretion
  • White House physician
  • Presidential gesture

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Walter, on a purely completely off-the-record basis, do it discreetly.
You check to see if you can, as a doctor, through your medical.
I see Mrs. McGovern is with the hospital again or something like that.
And what you do is to check and then talk to her doctor and to say that this is just a private call that the president has.
to see if they could offer any facilities that we have if they would like to use them.
Right, sir.
Do that.
Okay.
Right, sir.

NARA Description

On October 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Walter R. Tkach talked on the telephone from 9:06 am to 9:08 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-136 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-136

Date: October 19, 1972
Time: 9:06 am - 9:08 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Gen. Walter R. Tkach.

[See Conversation No. 368-25]

         Eleanor (Stegeberg) McGovern
             -Health
                  -The President's offer of use of medical facilities

Also recorded on October 19, 1972

  • 368-023 8:42 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:42 am to 8:55 am.
  • 368-024 8:55 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:55 am and 9:06 am.
  • 368-025 9:06 AM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Walter R. Tkach met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:06 am to 9:08 am.
  • 031-137 9:08 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:08 am and 9:36 am.
  • 368-026 9:08 AM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:08 am and 9:36 am.
  • 368-027 9:08 AM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:08 am and 9:36 am.
  • 368-028 9:08 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:08 am and 9:36 am.
  • 031-138 9:36 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Idanell ("Nellie") (Brill) Connally talked on the telephone from 9:36 am to 9:40 am.

All 78 conversations from October 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-136, October 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-136 (accessed October 10, 2026).