Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 87 › Conversation 087-005

White House tour group on White House tours and Cabinet Room

Monday, January 3, 1972 · 4:44 PM–2:45 PM ET · Cabinet Room · 7 min

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation087-005 on Tape 87StartMonday, January 3, 1972 at 4:44 PMEndThursday, January 20, 1972 at 2:45 PMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 087-005 ↗

AI Summary

An unidentified guide leads a White House tour group through the Cabinet Room, providing historical context regarding the room's layout and furniture. The discussion focuses on the history of the Cabinet table and the tradition of departing Cabinet members receiving their chairs as gifts. The guide highlights President Nixon’s efforts to improve the room’s configuration to foster better communication among members.

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, 1:21:46

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 087-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 87-5

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 arrangement
                -The President, Vice President
          -Table, chairs
          -Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt, [Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
          -Seating arrangement
                -Cabinet Secretaries
                     -Stag Party in the White House
                           -Presentation of chairs as gifts to departing Cabinet members
          -Cabinet meeting
          -Table

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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).

These are Preston Dixon's choices.
City Roastwell, after the Roastwell question, couldn't imagine it.
Great Academy, just before the major Preston would come through here, as he sits and tries and tries on this.
And he's watching, he's not going to sit here.
Come on the other side.
A lot of smoking was done.
And they do the same thing all the time here.
It's just the other way around.
Phone, computer.
15th of Monday.
Came in.
Secondary State.
Interior.
What's the first thing?
They're going to need you to take the chair.
What did you leave all the time for the student?
They wanted the chair.
I really don't know.
They did a lot of research on yellow ones and all.

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.
  • 087-003 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.
  • 087-004 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.
  • 087-006 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 087-005, 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/087-005 (accessed November 2, 2026).