Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 42 › Conversation 042-027

Nixon phone call with Woods on POWs and Speechwriting

Tuesday, April 6, 1971 · 5:43 PM–5:44 PM ET · White House Telephone ·1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Woods, Rose MaryConversation042-027 onTape 42 (tape position 00:27:01–00:28:15)StartTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 5:43 PMEndTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 5:44 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 042-027 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directs his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, to immediately process a draft speech delivered by Manolo Sanchez for his review. The two discuss the administration's messaging strategy, specifically emphasizing the need to highlight the plight of prisoners of war (POWs) to influence public opinion regarding troop withdrawals. Woods confirms that the text already includes strong language regarding the POW issue, and she proceeds to prepare the document for the President's evening work.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 thank you hello rose i wondered if i sent this over right away by manolo if you could then run the run off a copy for me now i'm sure i'm true with the odds and cutting and and incidentally i i'm just going to send it over and and you just run it just as it is i mean i'll tell you later what they just keep keep your same game going with regard to the press thing thing that we're doing see what i mean
Tomorrow I'll tell you what we'll put out to the press.
All right.
Oh, and you want a copy in your way now?
Yeah, that's what I need now.
Fine.
So that I can work on it tonight after I finish this dinner.
Good.
That's what I wanted to do.
So it's ready now to type in my way.
And it doesn't have to be too, just sort of run.
Oh, there's no problem.
I hope when you're talking you really stress the prisoners of war.
The what?
That if we just pull out of there, we leave our prisoners of war.
Yeah.
Oh, yes.
Because I think people feel so deeply about them.
Well, it's in there.
It's in there, you know.
We've got it pretty strongly.
You see, that's where we have them there.
POWs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Poor guys.
All right, fine.
Okay, sure.
We'll get started on it right away.
All right.

NARA Description

On April 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 5:43 pm to 5:44 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 042-027 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 42-27

Date: April 6, 1971
Time: 5:43 pm - 5:44 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Rose Mary Woods.

     Draft of speech
           -Manolo Sanchez
           -Press release

           -Prisoners of war [POWs]

Also recorded on April 6, 1971

  • 476-001 12:27 PM · 9 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:27 pm and 8:59 pm.
  • 245-018 1:00 PM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:00 pm and 1:45 pm.
  • 042-021 1:50 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 1:50 pm to 1:51 pm.
  • 042-022 1:51 PM · 5 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:51 pm and 5:20 pm.
  • 042-023 1:51 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:51 pm and 5:20 pm.
  • 042-024 5:20 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Elliot L. Richardson talked on the telephone from 5:20 pm to 5:23 pm.
  • 042-025 5:23 PM · 17 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:23 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 042-026 5:23 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:23 pm and 5:43 pm.

All 59 conversations from April 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 042-027, April 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-027 (accessed September 18, 2026).