Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 76 › Conversation 076-007

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, International Seminar on…

Tuesday, September 21, 1971 · 12:17 PM–12:23 PM ET · Cabinet Room · 5 min

ParticipantsRichard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; International Seminar on Illicit Drug Traffic and Abuse; Tartaglino, Andrew C.; Belk, George; Buck, Walter H.; Warner, John W.; Rivkind, Perry A.; Rock, Edwin (Dr.); Hoffman, Ernst (Dr.); Thirty, Andre; Franç ois; Tomalty, Gordon; Pruneau, Reginald; Charles, S. T.; Rogers, W.; Spear, H. B.; Hasland, Alex; Ducet, Jean; Gevaudan, Honore; Reillac, Jacques; Noquet, Michel; Gemmer, Karl Heinz (Dr.); Jeschke, Jurgen; Vinale, Manlio; Fariello, Antonio; Kourayten, Hicham; Saade, Antoine; Wagner, Numa; Grindhaug, Sten; Krogh, Egil ("Bud"), Jr.; Minnick, Walter; Shepard, Geoffrey C.Conversation076-007 on Tape 76StartTuesday, September 21, 1971 at 12:17 PMEndTuesday, September 21, 1971 at 12:23 PMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 076-007 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417174257 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with international delegates from the Seminar on Illicit Drug Traffic and Abuse to discuss the global scope of drug trafficking and the importance of international cooperation. Nixon emphasized the seriousness of the issue, highlighting the cooperation received from governments like Turkey and the administration's commitment through the Cabinet Committee and a special White House adviser. He stressed that drug abuse is a societal problem, not confined to specific demographics, and expressed personal interest in combating it, presenting the delegates with presidential cufflinks as a token of their visit.

  • Illicit drug abuse
  • International drug trafficking
  • US cooperation with foreign governments
  • Turkish government
  • Cabinet Committee on International Drug Traffic
  • Societal impact of drug abuse
  • Presidential cufflinks

Audio

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part C, 1:33:28

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NARA Description

On September 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and members of the International Seminar on Illicit Drug Traffic and Abuse, including Andrew C. Tartaglino, George Belk, Walter H. Buck, John W. Warner, Perry A. Rivkind, Dr. Edwin Rock, Dr. Ernst Hoffman, Andre Thirty, Leon François, Gordon Tomalty, Reginald Pruneau, José Nieto; Esbjorn Esbjornsson, Jean Benoit, S. T. Charles, W. Rogers, H. B. Spear, Alex Hasland, Jean Ducet, Honore Gevaudan, Jacques Reillac, Michel Noquet, Dr. Karl Heinz Gemmer, Jurgen Jeschke, Manlio Vinale, Antonio Fariello, Hicham Kourayten, Antoine Saade, Numa Wagner, Sten Grindhaug, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., Walter Minnick, and Geoffrey C. Shepard, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 12:17 pm to 12:23 pm. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 076-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 76-7

Date: September 21, 1971
Time: 12:17 pm - 12:23 pm
Location: Cabinet Room

The President met with Andrew C. Tartaglino, George Belk, Walter H. Buck, John W. Warner,
Perry A. Rivkind, Dr. Edwin Rock, Dr. Ernst Hoffman, Andre Thirty, Leon Francois, Gordon
Tomalty, Reginald Pruneau, Jose Nieto, Esbjorn Esbjornsson, Jean Benoit, S. T. Charles, W.
Rogers, H. B. Spear, Alex Haslund, Jean Ducret, Honore Gevaudan, Jacques Reillac, Michel
Noquet, Dr. Karl Heinz Gemmer, Jurgen Jeschke, Manlio Vinale, Antonio Fariello, Hicham
Kourayten, Antoine Saade, Numa Wagner, Sten Grindhaug, Lucien Aube, Egil (“Bud”) Krogh,
Jr., Walter Minnick, and Geoffrey C. Shepard

[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

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

[This segment was declassified on 02/28/2002.]
[National Security]
[076-007-w001]
[Duration: 5m 26s]

       Illicit drug abuse and traffic
                 -Supply
                 -Traffic
                 -Foreign business
                 -International organization
                 -US cooperation with governments
                         -Turkish government
                                  -Suleyman Demirel and government
                 -International scope
                 -The William P. Rogers
                         -Chairmanship of cabinet committee
                         -Special White House group
                                  -Domestic issue
                 -Ghetto issue perception
                 -Issue for all of society
                 -History of civilization
                         -Vitality and strength
                 -Progress

       Presidential cufflinks

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

The President left at 12:23 pm

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

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Nixonas far as supply and the international, uh, problem. It's that one of trafficking, an international standpoint, but also from the standpoint of, uh, of a seeing a treating of the of the ills, the far-off the bond portion of something.
NixonUh it's it's an area where international organizations have expressed an interest, the United Nations, and this group, which is particularly, uh, tuned in to careers. Uh and it's an area, also, where we, uh, uh,
Nixonand where we have been very gratified with the cooperation we have had from so many other governments. Uh the a rather landmark decision was made by the Turkish government, uh where when required, their Prime Minister and their government taken action in a way that is, perhaps,
Nixonsomewhat hazardous to us, but most dramatic. Uh, and in and in and in the case of each country here, uh, each of the areas has an interest which, uh, uh, is is perhaps different in some ways, but common in other ways. And common in the sense of our total objective
Nixonof, uh, of dealing with this problem effectively on the international front. And, uh, my, uh, my wish to, uh, show you that, uh,
Nixonthe the extent, uh, and how direct it all is from our government to to support the efforts, uh, in the the activities which, uh, which you determine are useful to deal with this problem. Uh the Secretary of State, of course, is the chairman of the cabinet committee,
Nixoncommittee, and that indicates the priority we give to this. The cabinet committee dealing with the problem on the international front. And, uh, we, of course, have a special White House, uh, adviser in this area, uh, and we, uh, uh, to say that, on the domestic front,
Nixonuh except for the for the obvious problems of the economy, which are always with us, but first, uh this is probably our number one concern. Uh it's our number one concern because, uh like, it's being a a growing problem, and it's a problem
Nixonwe used to be able to sort of put aside and say, "Well, that's a problem of the of the ghettos, it's a problem of, uh, the poor," et cetera. Now it's the problem of the whole society. Uh, and to a certain sense, uh as we look at the history of civilizations, too,
Nixonuh we we history uh certainly a pretty good evidence of the fact that once a nation starts down this road, it goes beyond the point of no return uh because basically uh the a drug society, a uh a decadent society, not the one that can retain its vitality and strength,
Nixonuh it's uh it's um ability to uh uh to live up to its uh capabilities. So, uh, for all this time, I
NixonI see your program, which will allow for the discussions you'd like to have with the experts, the people who have the experience in this area, uh, and I want you to know that that's the reason why the White House uh is pleased to take her
Nixonspecial guests, because you're here on business. We're very much We want you to feel very much at home, and we're here appreciative that you came. When you go back to your countries and your departments, I hope that to each government, if you might be able to, you could express my personal sense so that they know that this is not simply something that we put out in the garage,
Nixonthat it's not something that we uh expect to handle at lower levels, but something for which I have personal interest and personal character to it. That's why I'm holding the people in our office personally accountable uh to to produce.
NixonAnd with your help, um we believe that we can make some dramatic progress.
NixonAnd to that end, you can't come a long way. I think you'd like to have a little remembrance. So, I've, uh, asked Mr. Bull to go around and provide for each of you a, uh, um a pair of handy presidential cufflinks, which has the presidential seal on it.
NixonUh you can take back to prove that you've been here. [laughter]
Unknown[unintelligible] this code that I got the activity in.

Also recorded on September 21, 1971

  • 449-005 11:33 AM · 5 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:33 am and 11:38 am.
  • 449-006 11:38 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:38 am to 11:40 am.
  • 449-007 11:40 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:40 am and 11:48 am.
  • 449-008 11:48 AM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Paul G. Hoffman, Col. Richard T. Kennedy, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:48 am to 12:14 pm.
  • 449-009 12:14 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:14 pm and 12:17 pm.
  • 449-010 12:23 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:23 pm and 12:25 pm.
  • 449-011 12:25 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Kenneth E. BeLieu, William E. Timmons, White House photographer, and Clark MacGregor met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:25 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 449-012 12:35 PM · 1 hr 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:35 pm to 1:40 pm.

All 31 conversations from September 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 076-007, September 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417174257). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/076-007 (accessed November 2, 2026).