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

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation087-003 onTape 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

Download MP3 (part 1) · 110.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 64.4 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.

1:17:06This is the category of where the cadets meet each other on a regular basis.
1:17:15And each cadet member has a specific place to sit at the table.
1:17:18The president sits down here in the center, and the cadet meeting directly opposite is the vice president.
1:17:25And then the cadet members just sit around the table and sit person over on the side.
1:17:33And I don't know whether you've seen it on the jury's latest book.
1:17:35They had a photographer come in and take pictures of us while we were in here.
1:17:40And he took pictures all over the White House, but this was more of an incident for the attention here.
1:17:48We thought it was funny looking at the light in the shade of those little dots that you see at the back.
1:17:55And everybody gets very cold and suffering, so they can't really see that.
1:17:59But we can actually use film in here that's for outdoors, rather than indoor film.
1:18:05Filming?
1:18:06Yeah, so they can bring the light up, so they can use that very fine-grained film.
1:18:12And often times you'll see photographs of the president signing the bill into law, and he's sitting right here when he's doing it.
1:18:18We 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.
1:18:27That's when there's a formal signing in a small situation.
1:18:31We recently signed the cancer bill on December 23rd, and that was done in the state dining room, which you'll see later on.
1:18:39We 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.
1:18:55This room has been refurnished since we came in.
1:19:00This is a new table since we're here.
1:19:03The old one was not quite as nice as this one.
1:19:10Just before President Johnson left, they bought this rug for this floor.
1:19:15It had been rolled up and not in use, but it was designed specifically for this room.
1:19:20The president has his three favorite presidents.
1:19:25Here, right now, of course, many of your spellsmen, which are Wilson, who was going to his favor.
1:19:31We have another friend who came to move the paintings.
1:19:40Oh, yes.
1:19:40As 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.
1:19:47And some of us in our offices have paintings that have, you know, original paintings.
1:19:52I'll share another one in a moment.
1:19:54Nå er det nærmere altid at denne tid.

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

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 — 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 — 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 — 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 — 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 — 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 105 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 September 18, 2026).