Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 54 › Conversation 054-002

Peterson, Harlow & Poff on Government reorganization

Tuesday, April 20, 1971 · 7:55 AM–8:06 AM ET · Cabinet Room

ParticipantsPeterson, Peter G.;  Harlow, Bryce N.;  Poff, Richard H.;  [Unknown person(s)]Conversation054-002 onTape 54StartTuesday, April 20, 1971 at 7:55 AMEndTuesday, April 20, 1971 at 8:06 AMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 054-002 ↗

AI Summary

Peter G. Peterson, Bryce N. Harlow, and Richard H. Poff met to coordinate the agenda for an upcoming session with Republican Congressional leaders. The discussion focused on strategic messaging regarding government reorganization, 1972 appropriations, and specific policy objectives involving education, jobs, and health. The participants aimed to align the legislative schedule with the President’s goals, including briefings from Henry Kissinger and James Schlesinger.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 59.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

3:05:27You can take those to the tulips.

NARA Description

On April 20, 1971, Peter G. Peterson, Bryce N. Harlow, Richard H. Poff, and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:06 am. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 054-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 54-2

Date: April 20, 1971
Time: Unknown between 7:55 am and 8:06 am
Location: Cabinet Room

Peter G. Peterson and other unknown people met

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

     [Unintelligible]

[To listen to the segment (1m41s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-517.]

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

Bryce N. Harlow entered at an unknown time after 7:55 am

     Greetings

     Forthcoming meeting of Republican Congressional leaders, April 20, 1971
          -Agenda and topics
               -Government reorganization
               -1972 appropriations
               -Schedule
                     -President
               -William E. Timmons
               -Schedule
               -Dr. James R. Schlesinger and Henry A. Kissinger
               -Schlesinger
               -President’s objectives
                     -Strategy
                     -Report to the Congress
                     -Participation of developing countries
               -Education
                     -Jobs, health, food

Richard H. Poff entered at an unknown time after 7:55 am

                -Lectern
                -Education
                     -Low literacy rates
                -Growth

Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 8:06 am

Also recorded on April 20, 1971

  • 483-001 7:55 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 7:57 am.
  • 483-002 7:55 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:06 am.
  • 054-003 8:06 AM — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and Republican Congressional leaders, including Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin, Margaret Chase Smith, Norris Cotton, Gordon L. Allott, Peter H. Dominick, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, Barber B. Conable, Jr., Richard H. Poff, Robert C. ("Bob") Wilson, Robert T. Stafford, Robert J. Dole, George P. Shultz, Peter G. Peterson, Peter M. Flanigan, Dr. James R. Schlesinger, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, Kenneth E. BeLieu, Patrick J. Buchanan, Ernest Stern, C. Fred Bergsten, Jonathan C. Rose, Bryce N. Harlow, Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:44 am.
  • 483-003 8:06 AM · 1 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:46 am.
  • 483-004 9:46 AM · 1 hr 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:46 am to 11:15 am.
  • 483-005 11:15 AM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:15 am and 11:20 am.
  • 483-006 11:20 AM · 10 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 11:50 am.
  • 483-007 11:50 AM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:50 am to 12:15 pm.

All 51 conversations from April 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 054-002, April 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/054-002 (accessed September 18, 2026).