Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 83 › Conversation 083-001
Nixon, Cabinet officers & Rogers
Monday, November 15, 1971 · 3:36 PM–11:59 PM ET · Cabinet Room · 59 min
Audio
This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.
Listen to the full tape segment
part A, 0:43
083a.mp3
083b.mp3
NARA Description
On November 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Cabinet officers, including William P. Rogers, John B. Connally, Melvin R. Laird, John N. Mitchell, William T. Pecora, Clifford M. Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, James D. Hodgson, John G. Veneman, George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, David M. Kennedy, George P. Shultz, Donald H. Rumsfeld, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Alexander P. Butterfield, William Bird, Chester C. Spurgeon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Clark MacGregor, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 3:36 pm and 11:59 pm. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 083-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 083-001
Date: November 15, 1971
Time: 3:36 pm - unknown before 11:59 pm
Location: Cabinet Room
The President met with William P. Rogers, John B. Connally, Melvin R. Laird, John N. Mitchell,
William T. Pecora, Clifford M. Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, James D. Hodgson, John G. Veneman,
George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, David M. Kennedy, George P. Shultz, Donald H. Rumsfeld,
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Alexander P. Butterfield,
William Bird, and Chester C. Spurgeon
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]
TRANSPO ‘72
-Cabinet co-operation
-United States’ leadership
-Aircraft
-Theme
-Purpose
Ronald L. Ziegler entered and Bird and Spurgeon left at 3:40 pm
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[This segment was declassified on 02/28/2002.]
[National Security]
[083-001-w001]
[Duration: 21m 19s]
John A. Volpe's previous trip to Europe
-Purposes
-Transportation Safety Conference
-Experimental safety vehicles
-General Motors, Ford
-Germany
-Italy
-John B. Connally, George W. Romney
-President Giuseppe Saragat
-Mariano Rumor
-Amintore Fanfani
Clark MacGregor entered at 3:45 pm
-Graham A. MartinShow the rest of the log (192 more lines)
-Memo to William P. Rogers
-Rumania
-Volpe's Conversation with President Nicolae Ceausescu
-Middle East
-Israel
-India-Pakistan
-Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan
-Conversation with Ceausescu
-Volpe's conversation with the Prime Minister of Poland
-Vietnam
-Volpe's conversation with Rogers
-United States troop withdrawal
-Airplanes
-Spain
-Possible order for equipment
-Rumania
-Volpe's schedule
-Poland
-Orville Freeman's previous visit in 1962
-Volpe's previous meeting with Stefan Cardinal
Wyszynski in Rome
-Church-State relations
-Church Attendees
-Volpe's previous trip to Soviet Union [USSR]
-Volpe's meetings with Bishops
Ziegler left at 3:55 pm
-Views of Poles toward the United States
-Minister of Transport
-President of Science Academy
-Chairman of State Council on Science and Technology
-Automotive Research Center
-Volpe's meeting with foreign minister
-U.S. Ambassador Walter J. Stoessel, Jr.
-Graham Martin
-Volpe's meeting with Jozef Cyrankiewicz
-Agenda
-India-Pakistan
-Middle East
-Cyrankiewicz's previous conversation with Josip Broz Tito
-Volpe's meeting with the new Polish ambassador
Ziegler entered at 4:00 pm
-The President's forthcoming trips to the Soviet Union [USSR] and the People's
Republic of China [PRC]
-Volpe's conversations
******************************************************************************
Budget
-Continuing resolution
-MacGregor
-The President’s previous meeting with congressmen
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield and Hugh Scott
-Allen J. Ellender and Milton R.Young
-Gerald R. Ford, George H. Mahon and Frank T. Bow
-Carl B. Albert and [Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Views of Mansfield and Ellender
-Timing
-Ford’s views
-Mitchell’s opinion
-Previous resolutions
-Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]
-Cut-off of funds
-Effect on government
-Ellender’s views
-House of Representatives’ rules
Connally
-Schedule
-Cost of Living Council
Opium poppies
-Utility
-Color
******************************************************************************
[This segment was declassified on 02/28/2002.]
[National Security]
[083-001-w002]
[Duration: 1m 28s]
-Production
-Turkey
-United States program
-Ambassador William J. Handley
-Dr. Rex R. Taggart
-Prime Minister
******************************************************************************
Opium poppies
-Role of opium in the plant
-Usage
-Hardin’s conversation with an unknown Turkish poppy breeder
-Aid to the United States
-Cultivation
-Unknown man’s visits
-Creativity of youth to find drugs
******************************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/18/2017.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[083-001-w003]
[Duration: 40s]
President relates story of friend in Florida
-Teenage son
-Heroine
-LSD
-Car crash
-Parents kick son out of house
-Son growing marijuana in garden
******************************************************************************
Hardin
-Resignation from Cabinet
-Tenure in office
-Replacement
-The President’s conversation with Senator Young
-Chair
-US Department of Agriculture [USDA] staff
-The President’s conversation with Carl T. Curtis
-Book on Nebraska football, Big Red
-[Forename unknown] Ryboe [sp?]
-Lloyd Cardwell
-[Forename unknown] Stauer [sp?]
-Former coach of Wyoming
-Hardin’s role
-Albert
-Chair
-US Department of Agriculture [USDA] staff
Agriculture
-Hardin’s tenure and future
-The President’s program
-Views of Tony C. DeChant
-National Farmers’ Union
-Role in Democratic Party
-Farm prices
-Port strike
-Animal growers
-Prospects
-Loan program
-Earl L. Butz
-Confirmation as Secretary
-Grange, Farm Bureau, and National Farmers’ Union
-Soil conservation
-US Department of Agriculture [USDA]
-Monthly meetings
-The President’s Palm Springs radio broadcast
-Importance
-Dust Bowl
-Butz’s statement
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
******************************************************************************
[Previous archivists categorized this section as unintelligible. It has been rereviewed and
released 10/18/2017.]
[Unintelligible]
[083-001-w004]
[Duration: 5m 36s]
General conversation
Raising standards
John N. Mitchell
Ronald L. Ziegler
Alexander P. Butterfield
-President’s question
The President’s schedule
Unknown person’s visit to New York
******************************************************************************
The President and Rumsfeld left at 4:26 pm; Rogers, et al. left at an unknown time before 11:59
pmTranscript (AI-generated)
No transcript is available yet for this conversation.
Also recorded on November 15, 1971
- 618-032 1:53 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Dr. C. Jackson ("Dan") Grayson, Jr., George H. Boldt, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Stephen B. Bull, White House photographer, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:53 pm to 2:02 pm.
- 618-033 2:02 PM · 2 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:02 pm and 2:13 pm.
- 014-105 2:13 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 2:19 pm.
- 618-034 2:13 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 2:19 pm.
- 618-035 2:13 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 2:19 pm.
- 618-036 2:13 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 2:19 pm.
- 618-037 2:13 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 2:19 pm.
- 014-106 2:20 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Howard H. Baker, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:20 pm to 2:21 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 083-001, November 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417174277). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/083-001 (accessed November 2, 2026).