Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 84 › Conversation 084-021

White House tour group on Cabinet Room and Cabinet chairs

Tuesday, November 16, 1971 · 10:56 AM–9:57 AM ET · Cabinet Room · 44 sec

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation084-021 on Tape 84StartTuesday, November 16, 1971 at 10:56 AMEndWednesday, December 1, 1971 at 9:57 AMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 084-021 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417174305 ↗

AI Summary

A White House tour group visited the Cabinet Room, where the conversation focused on the ownership and hierarchy of the cabinet chairs, with specific mention of Melvin R. Laird, George P. Shultz, and William P. Rogers.

Audio

Download MP3 · 1.7 MB

This clip of the conversation was cut from the tape by the National Archives (catalog record ↗).

Listen to the full tape segment it comes from

part C, 1:24:56

084a.mp3
084b.mp3
084c.mp3
084d.mp3

NARA Description

a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 084-021 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 84-21

Date: Unknown between November 16 and December 1, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:56 am, November 16 and 9:57 am, December 1, 1971
Location: Cabinet Room

A tour group met

       Cabinet room
            -Chairs
                  -Ownership
                  -Melvin R. Laird

                   -George P. Shultz
                   -William P. Rogers

The tour group left at an unknown time before 9:57 am, December 1, 1971

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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

UnknownFound a way to hide that.
UnknownBecause the cabinet belongs to each one of the cabinet members. When they leave, they either retire or what, he takes his chair with him.
Unknown[unintelligible] hierarchy. Secretary of State's the first one, right here. [unintelligible] Secretary of State.

Also recorded on November 16, 1971

  • 084-002 10:56 AM · 28 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-003 10:56 AM · 8 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-004 10:56 AM · 24 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-005 10:56 AM · 35 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-006 10:56 AM · 4 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-007 10:56 AM · 8 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-008 10:56 AM · 1 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.
  • 084-009 10:56 AM · 9 sec — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:56 am on November 16, 1971 and 9:57 am on December 1, 1971.

All 77 conversations from November 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 084-021, November 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417174305). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/084-021 (accessed November 2, 2026).