Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 43 › Conversation 043-095

Nixon phone call with Eisenhower on Secret Service and Personnel management

Thursday, February 15, 1973 · 4:36 PM–4:41 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Eisenhower, Julie Nixon; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Eisenhower, Julie NixonConversation043-095 on Tape 43StartThursday, February 15, 1973 at 4:36 PMEndThursday, February 15, 1973 at 4:41 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 043-095 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and his daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, coordinate plans for a potential family trip to Florida and discuss the President's upcoming schedule. The conversation also features a detailed explanation from the President regarding personnel changes within his Secret Service detail, specifically concerning agents William L. Duncan and Robert H. Taylor. Despite Julie’s reservations about the circumstances of these staff reassignments, the President defends the administrative decisions as career-building moves for the agents involved.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I have Julie on the line, sir.
There you are.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi.
Julie?
Hi.
Well, how's the weather?
Beautiful.
East up in North Florida.
What's your view as to whether maybe I should come down?
Well, I looked at the weather report for this morning.
It said it's supposed to be nice, but you can't tell.
I mean, it's nice here now.
It's about 70 now.
I could check in the morning.
Sunny.
Let me ask you...
If I were to come tomorrow afternoon, could you and David come down or not?
Sure, we can come.
You could come on Friday, huh?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
We'd really like to.
Fine.
Fine.
Okay.
Incidentally, I got a hold of your note on Taylor and Duncan, and some of the information got there really, really wrong.
I'll explain to you later because I've...
In Duncan's case, we wanted to make him the head of the detail.
Yeah.
But he was too low-ranked, and he didn't want to jump the other people, and so he wanted to go to a field office because he's really, his ambition is to be the head of the Secret Service, see?
But, Daddy, the reason he didn't want to take it was that he didn't like the idea of Taylor being ousted, you see?
Well, but Taylor, the story on Taylor, though, is not this, he may not be completely aware.
came to us, came to John Ehrlichman about eight months ago and said that he served us 22 years and felt that he should go into private into another deal.
You know, he's been down the details six years.
And this is after his son was apparently killed and so forth.
He sort of was, I don't know, going through some torment.
Ehrlichman arranged for him to go to court administrator school, which he had done.
I've just got all the facts.
I didn't think he wanted to do that.
But at this time, then Ed Morgan, who is now in the Treasury Department, Assistant Secretary, talked to him about it.
And because he wants to stay, I had in mind the fact that he also was a potential candidate.
He's got 22 years.
And Duncan's only got 12.
He could be a potential candidate for Rowley's job, see, because Rowley's going to go out.
And he's thought about that.
And his move, basically, to another position
a much better chance to get that job than to just stay here.
You see, the Secret Service is in counterfeiting, it's in border control, it's in a lot of other things.
The man who goes to the top has to have a much broader experience than doing the presidential details, see?
But Duncan has taken a two-grade drop.
That was his choice.
We wanted him, he was offered to even up
but he has not been in the field in recent years and he felt he analyzed it and you know he's pretty cool about this and he said he would prefer to take the two-grade drop Secret Service and and go up because these these guys are all apparently very he was not asked to take a two-grade drop in fact he was urged not to urge to take a job here in Washington that he would by getting his field experience it would give him the preparation that he would want
in his record for it to go up so that's the way it worked i hope you're right i just heard a different story from everybody else yeah i mean i understand that well you know people well i don't know daddy i just don't think you're really getting the right story on that i still think that taylor was eased out and the reason wouldn't take the job is that he didn't want to take
Yeah, yeah.
We've really checked into it, and we will.
But we are both going to, frankly, a more important position in one sense.
He's got more people under him, and we'll have a chance to go up to the top.
And I have him very much in mind for that.
He's about the right age.
I just hate to lose Duncan, because I think he's our best friend.
Well, Duncan, as I said, we offered him the head of the detail.
Maybe it's because of the tailor thing and offered him another position.
But we're all for him.
And we'll be here four years.
I'll have a chance to give him a promotion perhaps after a year.
Because he really is loyal.
After he's had about a year, we can kick him right upstairs.
He's awful loyal.
I know.
He's great.
We're free from noon on because it's on half day.
I'm a cabinet tomorrow at 9.30 and so forth.
Fine, honey.
You decide to come, and if you don't, I'll help you go to Camp David.
Well, except it says it's supposed to rain up there.
But it would still be nice to get away and go up there even.
A lot of work done this week anyway.
I'm glad I came back.
It was too darn cold and windy in California.
It was.
And I had an enormous amount of work to do here.
You've gotten a lot done this week.
People love, you know, they like that stuff of going out into the little things, like raising the flag, sending the flowers, going out to dinner.
You know, people just love that.
But, Daddy, didn't we have fun at Trader Vic's?
That was great, and we'll do it again sometime.
If we go down this weekend to Florida, we'll go over to a restaurant.
Sure.
Go out for dinner and... We could go to the Costa Miana, you mean?
Yeah, or somewhere, you know.
It'd be really fun.
All right, sweetie.
Okay.
Bye-bye.
Bye.

NARA Description

On February 15, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 4:36 pm to 4:41 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 043-095 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 43-95

Date: February 15, 1973
Time: 4:36 pm - 4:41 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Julie Nixon Eisenhower.

[See Conversation No. 410-26]

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during
chronological review 2007-2013]

       The President’s schedule
            -Trip to Florida
                  -Weather
                  -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                  -[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
                                            -52-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

*****************************************************************

      Personnel
           -Secret Service
                 -William L. Duncan
                       -Career choices
                             -Presidential detail
                 -Robert H. Taylor
                       -Possible retirement
                             -Presidential detail
                       -John D. Ehrlichman
                       -Edward L. Morgan
                       -Possible promotion in future
                             -James J. Rowley
                 -Responsibilities
                       -Counterfeiting
                       -Border control
                       -Directorship
                 -Duncan

                       -Career choices
                  -Taylor
                       -New position
                  -Duncan
                       -Possible future positions

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during
chronological review 2007-2013]

      The President’s schedule
           -Weather

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/24/2019.
                                              -53-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                         Conversation No. 43-95 (cont’d)

Segment will remain closed.]
[Personal Returnable]
[043-095-w003]
[Duration: 34s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

*****************************************************************

       The President’s schedule
            -Cabinet meeting
            -Camp David
            -The President’s trip to California
            -Prisoners of War [POWs] return
                  -Raising the US flag
                  -Flowers
            -Trader Vic’s
                  -Dinner
            -Dinner in Florida

*****************************************************************

Also recorded on February 15, 1973

  • 043-092 4:24 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer talked on the telephone from 4:24 pm to 4:26 pm.
  • 043-093 4:26 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:26 pm and 4:34 pm.
  • 043-094 4:34 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 4:34 pm to 4:35 pm.
  • 043-218 4:34 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 043-096 4:42 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone from 4:42 pm to 4:44 pm.
  • 043-097 4:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft talked on the telephone from 4:50 pm to 4:52 pm.
  • 043-098 4:52 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:52 pm and 4:54 pm.
  • 043-099 4:54 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 4:54 pm to 4:56 pm.

All 41 conversations from February 15, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 043-095, February 15, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/043-095 (accessed October 1, 2026).