Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 43 › Conversation 043-071

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Lyndon B. Johnson and Press relations

Tuesday, February 13, 1973 · 5:40 PM–5:41 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation043-071 on Tape 43StartTuesday, February 13, 1973 at 5:40 PMEndTuesday, February 13, 1973 at 5:41 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 043-071 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discussed the positive press reception regarding the flag-lowering protocol observed following the death of Lyndon B. Johnson. They also reviewed the successful media impact of recent photo opportunities featuring George Shultz, John Scali, and Donald Rumsfeld. The two agreed that these staged appearances helped generate favorable news coverage and justified the rapid scheduling of these meetings.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yes, sir.
Good.
No problem at all.
And they got the red flag in the morning.
Right.
Well, on the White House it goes up at midnight.
On federal installations it goes up at sunup and all others first thing in the morning.
I think that would be well accepted by the press, don't you think?
Yes, it was.
It was very accepted.
No problem.
They're moving it straight.
And I think they think it's a nice gesture.
Kind of a good gesture.
All right, fine.
The press this morning are talking about the photo opportunities today.
They said those are great.
The stories are generated from them.
Sure.
I think worked well today.
Gave them a good full day, and you can see why we have so full, because these people had piled up.
Sure, that's right.
And the Senate hadn't moved on them, so that's one of the reasons I came back to is to see them before they all took off.
Right.
Anyway, that's a good...
Got a lot, didn't they?
An awful lot.
And they had a full plate yesterday.
We had Schultz, Galley, and Rumsfeld.
Was that it?
No.
Was there any other photo opportunity?
No, that was three.
Yeah.
Those were three good ones.
News out of it all.
That's good.
Okay, sir.

NARA Description

On February 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 5:40 pm to 5:41 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 043-071 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 43-71

Date: February 13, 1973
Time: 5:40 pm - 5:41 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler

[See Conversation No. 410-14E]

       Lyndon B. Johnson's death
            -Raising of flag during mourning period
                  -Press reaction

       Photo opportunities
            -Press reaction
            -George P. Shultz,
            -John A. Scali
            -Donald H. Rumsfeld

Also recorded on February 13, 1973

  • 854-035 1:11 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Manolo Sanchez, and Nicholas Rumsfeld met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:11 pm to 1:41 pm.
  • 043-067 1:41 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 1:49 pm.
  • 854-036 1:41 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 1:42 pm.
  • 854-037 1:41 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 043-068 1:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 1:49 pm to 1:50 pm.
  • 043-069 1:50 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 4:55 pm.
  • 043-070 4:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John Ford talked on the telephone from 4:55 pm to 4:57 pm.
  • 043-216 4:57 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:57 pm and 5:40 pm.

All 55 conversations from February 13, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 043-071, February 13, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/043-071 (accessed October 1, 2026).