{"conversationCode":"042-086","tapeNumber":42,"conversationNumber":86,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-042-086","startDateTime":"1971-05-04T17:12:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-04T17:13:00.000Z","startDate":"4-May-1971","startTime":"1:12 PM","endDate":"4-May-1971","endTime":"1:13 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Macomber, William B., Jr.;","description":"On May 4, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William B. Macomber, Jr. talked on the telephone from 1:12 pm to 1:13 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 042-086 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 42-86\n\nDate: May 4, 1971\nTime: 1:12 pm - 1:13 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with William B. Macomber, Jr.\n\n[See Conversation No. 251-51]\n\n[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from\nDecember 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v. James M.\nPowell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration produced this\ntranscript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]\n\n[End of transcript]","filename":["042-086.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:22:16","tapeEnd":"02:23:09","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Macomber, William B., Jr."],"prevCode":"042-085","nextCode":"042-087","transcript":[{"start":0.2,"end":1.68,"text":"Hello."},{"start":1.86,"end":3.65,"text":"Mr. McComber, Mr. President."},{"start":3.67,"end":4.01,"text":"Hello."},{"start":4.03,"end":5.09,"text":"Mr. President."},{"start":5.11,"end":12.86,"text":"Bill, I just wanted you to know that I thought that was a fine job you did yesterday in grabbing that flag when these people tried to take it down."},{"start":12.96,"end":13.98,"text":"Thank God, Mr. President."},{"start":14,"end":14.93,"text":"How nice of you to call."},{"start":15.13,"end":23.44,"text":"Well, I know that all the heat people take around town, but you know that these gestures mean something, and"},{"start":23.61,"end":26.01,"text":"In fact, you walked out there and grabbed it."},{"start":26.03,"end":27.05,"text":"I think that was just great."},{"start":27.07,"end":28.91,"text":"Well, Mr. President, I..."},{"start":28.93,"end":30.11,"text":"I hope you didn't get scarred up."},{"start":30.29,"end":31.25,"text":"Oh, no, no."},{"start":31.39,"end":32.43,"text":"They're not very brave."},{"start":32.47,"end":32.95,"text":"They faded."},{"start":33.33,"end":33.76,"text":"They faded."},{"start":34.22,"end":37.7,"text":"I think really that you're right, that they're not interested in the fight."},{"start":37.74,"end":40.18,"text":"They just want to do damage and let people run away."},{"start":40.2,"end":40.8,"text":"That's right."},{"start":40.82,"end":46.75,"text":"Mr. President, there were a couple of older guards that were charging out there with me, and they went right into it themselves."},{"start":46.93,"end":49.73,"text":"Well, you tell them I called and thank them, too, will you?"},{"start":49.75,"end":50.61,"text":"I sure will, Mr. President."},{"start":50.73,"end":51.21,"text":"Fine, Bill."},{"start":51.33,"end":52.63,"text":"Thank you for calling, sir."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon called William B. Macomber, Jr. to personally commend him for his actions the previous day in physically preventing protesters from removing an American flag. During the brief exchange, Nixon expressed his appreciation for Macomber's resolve against the demonstrators and characterized the protesters as cowardly. The President also requested that Macomber extend his gratitude to the other guards who assisted in the confrontation.","topics":["Protests","Patriotism","William B. Macomber Jr.","White House security","Civil unrest"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T06:22:05.538Z"},"topicSlugs":["protests","patriotism","william-b-macomber-jr","white-house-security","civil-unrest"],"audioDurationSec":53,"audioFiles":[{"file":"042-086.mp3","bytes":643084,"durationSec":52.78,"bitrate":97474,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:30.085Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/042-086.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-086","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/42/conversation-042-086","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}