Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 85 › Conversation 085-003

Nixon White House recording on Cabinet Room and Technical Operations

Friday, December 3, 1971 · 12:00 AM–10:08 AM ET · Cabinet Room

Participants[Unknown person(s)]Conversation085-003 onTape 85StartFriday, December 3, 1971 at 12:00 AMEndFriday, December 3, 1971 at 10:08 AMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 085-003 ↗

AI Summary

This recording captures an unidentified group meeting in the Cabinet Room, though the audio quality is largely unintelligible. The brief, cryptic fragments of dialogue suggest a focus on technical or procedural matters involving unspecified sighting and focusing operations. Due to the lack of clear content or identifiable participants, no substantive policy decisions or actionable outcomes can be determined from the transcript.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 113.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 4) · 26.0 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.

2:55:00Sighting.

2:55:00Sighting is to go through that piece of the light.

2:55:03Focus.

2:55:04Yeah, that's right.

2:55:04Oh yeah.

2:55:05A lot of important things.

NARA Description

On December 3, 1971, unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 085-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 85-3

Date: Unknown between December 3 and December 6, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:00 am, December 3 and 10:08 am, December 6, 1971
Location: Cabinet Room

Unknown men met

     [Unintelligible]

The unknown men left at an unknown time before 10:08 am, December 6, 1971

Also recorded on December 3, 1971

085-001 12:00 AM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-002 12:00 AM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-004 12:00 AM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-006 12:00 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-007 12:00 AM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-008 12:00 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-009 12:00 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.
085-010 12:00 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 10:08 am.

All 14 conversations from December 3, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 085-003, December 3, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/085-003 (accessed September 18, 2026).