Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 87 › Conversation 087-003

White House tour group on White House tour and Cabinet Room

Monday, January 3, 1972 · 4:44 PM–2:45 PM ET · Cabinet Room · 3 min

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation087-003 on Tape 87StartMonday, January 3, 1972 at 4:44 PMEndThursday, January 20, 1972 at 2:45 PMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 087-003 ↗

AI Summary

An unidentified guide provides a tour of the Cabinet Room to a group of visitors, explaining the layout, seating arrangements, and historical details of the space. The discussion covers the room's recent refurnishing, the specific use of lighting and film for presidential photography, and the logistics of hosting formal bill signings like the Cancer Bill. The guide also notes the display of portraits of former presidents and the availability of artwork from government collections for use in White House offices.

Audio

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

part A, 1:17:04

087a.mp3
087b.mp3
087c.mp3

NARA Description

a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 087-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 87-3

Date: Unknown between January 3 and January 20, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:44 pm, January 3 and 2:45 pm, January 20, 1972
Location: Cabinet Room

Unknown people met

     Cabinet Room
          -Seating arrangements
          -Cabinet meeting
          -President, Vice President
          -Unnamed book
          -Photographers
          -Lighting in the Cabinet Room
                -Effect on photography

     State Dining Room
           -The President’s signing of the Cancer Bill, December 23, 1971

     Cabinet Room
          -New table, old table, rug
          -President
          -Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt, [Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
          -Paintings
                -Availability for White House office use

The unknown people left at an unknown time before 2:45 pm, January 20, 1972

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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

We have this arranged so that these chairs are out of the way, and then we have people standing right here, so I just want you to see the bill usually.
That's when there's a formal signing in a small situation.
We recently signed the cancer bill on December 23rd, and that was done in the state dining room, which you'll see later on.
We had a huge crowd of people in there, because all of the state sent the presidents and vice presidents of their cancer societies in for that time, along with all the members of Congress who were involved with it, and many other people as well.
This room has been refurnished since we came in.
This is a new table since we're here.
The old one was not quite as nice as this one.
Just before President Johnson left, they bought this rug for this floor.
It had been rolled up and not in use, but it was designed specifically for this room.
The president has his three favorite presidents.
Here, right now, of course, many of your spellsmen, which are Wilson, who was going to his favor.
We have another friend who came to move the paintings.
Oh, yes.
As a matter of fact, we have access to walls of paintings that are in any of the galleries here that have come into government operation.
And some of us in our offices have paintings that have, you know, original paintings.
I'll share another one in a moment.
Nå er det nærmere altid at denne tid.

Also recorded on January 3, 1972

  • 018-013 4:44 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:44 pm and 5:15 pm.
  • 018-014 4:44 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William P. Rogers, unknown person(s), and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:44 pm and 5:15 pm.
  • 087-002 4:44 PM · 5 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972.
  • 087-004 4:44 PM · 12 sec — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972.
  • 087-005 4:44 PM · 7 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972.
  • 087-006 4:44 PM · 1 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972.
  • 087-007 4:44 PM · 3 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972.
  • 087-008 4:44 PM — Michael J. Farrell, David N. Parker, and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 4:44 pm on January 3, 1972 and 2:45 pm on January 20, 1972.

All 84 conversations from January 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 087-003, January 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/087-003 (accessed November 2, 2026).